{"id":71253,"date":"2020-03-05T14:05:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T12:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71253"},"modified":"2020-03-05T14:05:25","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T12:05:25","slug":"rachels-tears-comfort-leahs-descendants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/rachels-tears-comfort-leahs-descendants\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel\u2019s Tears Comfort Leah\u2019s Descendants"},"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":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71253","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38552,"related_cahpter":"431","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"She becomes the mother of the entire people\r\n\r\n","content":"

Jeremiah, serving at this early stage as a tailwind for the vision of national healing, tells of a prophecy about the children of Rachel, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, who were exiled from their lands by Assyria. He has already promised her children that they will again plant vineyards on the Samarian hills. Now he illuminates his words: Those who passed by Ramah (the village of a-Ram, adjacent to Ramallah) as they were exiled will return. The procession of exiles passed by Rachel\u2019s Tomb on the \u201cRoad to Ephrath.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There is much disagreement about the location of this tomb. In the context of this chapter, the opinion of Noga Hareuveni seems most plausible: He identifies Ephrat with Nahal Perat (Wadi Qelt). Rachel, weeping for her children, is called upon to hold back her tears, for her children will return from hostile lands to their own borders \u2014 to Samaria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By turning directly to the tribes of Israel and mentioning Rachel, Jeremiah reaches the climax of his prophecies of consolation. The conflict between Rachel and Leah, between Joseph and Judah, between the House of David and the House of Saul, is about to end. Ephraim is the firstborn, and Rachel is the true mother.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A note: Our interpretation of Jeremiah’s famous words “A voice is heard in Ramah…” undermines two basic, highly charged premises within Jewish tradition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

First, tradition places Rachel’s Tomb in Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem in Judah, at a site that has been sanctified by thousands of years of Jewish tears. Second, Rachel is one of the most beloved figures in all of Jewish tradition: in Midrash, liturgy, poetry, literature, and art. The explanation offered here \u2014 that Rachel is buried in the portion of Benjamin and weeps only over her direct descendants, Ephraim and Manasseh \u2014 detracts from the raw emotion and power of these midrashim.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When discussing these famous lines, it is impossible not to mention the midrashic tradition \u2014 and all subsequent Jewish traditions \u2014 of Rachel comforting Leah’s descendants as they go into exile, forty years after Jeremiah spoke these words:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When Nebuzaradan exiled them, they passed by there, and Rachel left her grave and wept and begged for mercy on their behalf, as it says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, of mourning and great weeping \u2014 Rachel weeping for her children” [Jer. 31:14]. And God responds: “your work will be rewarded \u2014 declares the Lord…your children will return to their borders” [31:15]. (Rashi, ad loc.)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This midrash, and Rashi in its wake, has an awesome power. It has elicited Jewish tears throughout the generations, irrevocably sanctifying the site. And Rachel has become the mother of all Jews, including those descended from her sister, Leah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cA Voice Is Heard in Ramah” in the Post-Biblical Collective Jewish Memory\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":69252,"id":69252,"title":"jer-lau2","filename":"jer-lau2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/running-a-gauntlet-of-pain\/jer-lau2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer-lau2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":69251,"date":"2020-01-27 21:59:05","modified":"2020-01-27 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