{"id":38255,"date":"2018-08-21T08:35:50","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T05:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=38255"},"modified":"2022-03-15T12:11:53","modified_gmt":"2022-03-15T10:11:53","slug":"leahs-gratitude-amidst-heartbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leahs-gratitude-amidst-heartbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"Leah\u2019s Gratitude Amidst Heartbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[519,520,490,518],"acf":{"old_id":"38255","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37918,"related_cahpter":"29","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"It is one thing to be grateful when everything is wonderful, but it is quite another when life is complicated","content":"

It\u2019s not often that a biblical character makes you want to cry, but if you pay careful attention to the matriarch Leah, she can break your heart. Leah is married to Jacob, a man who does not love her\u2014indeed, who barely notices her.<\/span><\/p>\n

The way the story unfolds is well-known. Jacob works for seven years for the right to marry Rachel, but Laban deceives him, and Jacob ends up being married to Leah, whom he does not love and does not want. <\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine Leah\u2019s humiliation when, on the morning after her wedding, her husband\u2019s only response to discovering that she, rather than her sister, is his wife is an excruciating mix of outrage and disappointment. <\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis tells us simply that Jacob \u201cloved Rachel more than Leah\u201d (29:30), but Leah wishes for something different: She names her first son Reuben, hoping \u201cNow my husband will love me (Ye\u2019e<\/span>hevani<\/b>\/Re<\/span>uven<\/b>)\u201d (29:32). Her second son, Simeon, proves that her hope with Reuben did not come to fruition: \u201cThis is because the Lord heard (<\/span>Shama<\/b>\/<\/span>Shimo<\/b>n) that I was unloved and has given me this one also\u201d (29:33). Leah names her third son Levi, and declares: \u201cThis time my husband will become attached (Yi<\/span>laveh\/Lev<\/b>i) to me, for I have borne him three sons\u201d (29:34). Still, nothing changes. <\/span><\/p>\n

Leah bears a fourth son, and we wait for yet another expression of her sadness and desolation. But something else entirely occurs: \u201cShe conceived again and bore a son, and declared: \u2018This time I will praise (<\/span>odeh<\/b>) the Lord.\u2019 Therefore, she named him Judah (Ye<\/span>hudah<\/b>)\u201d (29:35). What has happened here? How does she do a total about-face and express gratitude rather than longing?<\/span><\/p>\n

Leah has somehow found the courage to accept that her life is not going to turn out as she had hoped. Her disappointment is real and deep. But something inside of her shifts, and she is able to embrace the beauty and fullness of what she still has. <\/span><\/p>\n

Simeon b. Yohai says that Leah was the first person in the history of the world who expressed gratitude to God (BT, Berakhot 7b). It is one thing to be grateful when everything is wonderful, but it is quite another to be grateful when life is complicated. <\/span><\/p>\n

Strikingly, Yehudah becomes the basis for the name of all Jews (<\/span>Yehudim<\/b>, from <\/span>Yehud<\/b>ah). Who is a Jew? One who discovers the possibility of gratitude even amidst heartbreak.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":38259,"id":38259,"title":"leah","filename":"leah.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/leah.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leahs-gratitude-amidst-heartbreak\/leah\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"leah","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":38255,"date":"2018-08-21 05:50:19","modified":"2022-03-15 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