Parshat Vayetze: Measure for Measure

(23) When evening came, he took his daughter Leah and brought her to him; and he cohabited with her...(25) When morning came, there was Leah! So he said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? I was in your service for Rachel! Why did you deceive me?”(26) Laban said, “It is not the practice in our place to marry off the younger before the older.

Rather, it must be understood that when Jacob met Rachel, he said to her: Will you marry me? She said to him: Yes, but my father, Laban, is a swindler, and you will not be able to outwit him. Jacob alleviated her fears, as he said to her that he is her father’s brother, referring not to their familial affiliation but rather to his ability to deal with her father on his level, as if to say: I am his brother in deception. She said to him: But is it really permitted for the righteous to be involved in deception? He said to her: Yes, it is permitted when dealing with deceptive individuals, as the verse states: “With the pure you will show yourself pure, and with the perverse you will show yourself subtle” (II Samuel 22:27), indicating that one should deal with others in the manner appropriate for their personality.Jacob then said to her: What is the deception that he will plan to carry out and I should be prepared for? Rachel said to him: I have a sister who is older than I, and he will not marry me off before her, and will try to give you her in my place. So Jacob gave her certain distinguishing signs that she should use to indicate to him that she was actually Rachel and not her sister.When the wedding night arrived, and Laban planned to switch the sisters, Rachel said to herself: Now my sister will be embarassed, for Jacob will ask her for the signs and she will not know them. So she gave them to her. And this is as it is written: “And it came to pass, that in the morning, behold, it was Leah” (Genesis 29:25). Does this imply by inference that until now she was not Leah? Rather, due to the distinguishing signs that Rachel had given to Leah, he did not know until now...

(26) With the loyal You deal loyally; With the blameless hero, blamelessly.(27) With the pure You act in purity, And with the perverse You are crafty.(28) To humble folk You give victory, And You look with scorn on the haughty.(29) You, O LORD, are my lamp; The LORD lights up my darkness.

...All night she pretended to be Rachel, "When morning came, there was Leah!" He said to her: Daughter of a trickster, why did you deceive me? She said to him: What about you? Why did you trick your father? When he said to you: Is this my son Esau, you said to him I am Esav your firstborn" Now you are saying: Why have you tricked me? And did your father not say Esav (in Gen. 27:35) "Your brother came with deceit" So because of these things with which she scolded him, he began to hate her.

(2) Another answer: (op. cit. 145) "God supports all those who have fallen" - these are the barren, whose [status] have "fallen" within their households. And "straightens the bent" - when the Holy One, Blessed be He rewards them with children, they straighten up [in joy.] Similarly, Leah was hated by her household, and when the Holy One, Blessed be He visited her [and gave her pregnancy], she was straightened... Everyone would mock her: The travelers on the sea mocked her, the travelers on the road mocked her, and even the ladies behind their backs mocked her, saying, "This Leah leads a double life; she appears righteous but is not really righteous. For if she were righteous she would not have cheated her sister. Rabbi Chanin in the name of Rabbi Shmuel son of Rabbi Yitzchak said: When Yaakov our Forefather saw how Leah deceived him by pretending to be her sister, he determined to divorce her. But as soon as the Holy One, blessed be He, visited her with children he exclaimed, ' Shall I divorce the mother of these children! ' Eventually he gave thanks for her, as it says, "And Israel bowed down [in thanksgiving] for the bed's head" who was the head of our father Jacob's bed? Surely Leah.

(29) And when the time approached for Israel to die, he summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “Do me this favor, place your hand under my thigh as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty: please do not bury me in Egypt.(30) When I lie down with my fathers, take me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial-place.” He replied, “I will do as you have spoken.”(31) And he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.