(יט) וְלָבָ֣ן הָלַ֔ךְ לִגְזֹ֖ז אֶת־צֹאנ֑וֹ וַתִּגְנֹ֣ב רָחֵ֔ל אֶת־הַתְּרָפִ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לְאָבִֽיהָ׃
(16) They set out from Bethel; but when they were still some distance short of Ephrath, Rachel was in childbirth, and she had hard labor. (17) When her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Have no fear, for it is another boy for you.” (18) But as she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named him Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. (19) Thus Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrath—now Bethlehem.
(ב) ותגנב רחל את התרפים. לְהַפְרִישׁ אֶת אָבִיהָ מֵעֲ"זָ נִתְכַּוְּנָה (בראשית רבה):
(ב) התרפים. ...והקרוב אלי שהתרפי' הם על צורת בני אדם והיא עשויה לקבל כח עליונים ולא אוכל לפרש... ויש אומרים שרחל גנבתם לבטל עבודת כוכבי' מאביה ואילו היה כן למה הוליכה אותם עמה ולא טמנם בדרך. והקרוב שהיה לבן אביה יודע מזלות ופחדה שאביה יסתכל במזלות לדעת אי זה דרך ברחו:
(2) THE TERAPHIM ... I believe that the teraphim are human images made to draw power from above. I am not permitted to explain this any further. ... Some say that Rachel stole the teraphim in order to keep her father from idolatry. If this were the case, why did she take them with her and not bury them on the way? The most likely reason that Rachel stole the teraphim was that Laban, her father, was an astrologer, and Rachel feared that he would look at the stars and discover which way they fled.
(א) ולבן הלך לגזוז את צאנו. ...ואף רחל מצאה לגנוב את התרפים שהיו מדברים ואומ' ע"י מכשפים ולכך חמדתן רחל אבל לבן היה עובד אותן ועשה אותן ע"ז וגנבה רחל את התרפים ויעקב לב לבן וע"י שתיהן נרדף אחריהן:
ולבן הלך לגזוז את צאנו. Even Rachel came to steal the Teraphim because they were talking to her through witchcraft and therefore Rachel desired them, but Lavan would serve them and use them for Avodah Zara; Rachel stole the Teraphim and Yaakov stole Lavan’s heart, and therefore he chased after both of them.
(א) רש"י ד"ה ותגנב רחל את התרפים, להפריש את אביה מע"ז נתכוונה (בראשית רבה עד, ה). ובזוהר מוער: אף־על־גב שרחל עשתה זאת לעקור ע"ז מאת אביה, נענשה על זה שלא זכתה לגדל את בנימין, ולא התקיימה אתו אפילו שעה אחת - מפני צער אביה, ואע"ג שנתכוונה לטובה (זוהר ח"א קסד:).
In the Zohar it is found, even though Rachel did this in order to uproot the habit of idol worship from her father, she was punished for this that she would not raise Benjamin, and she didn’t even survive with him for one hour— because of the pain of her father, even though she meant it for good.
The other concerns Jacob and Rachel. Rachel had stolen her father’s terafim, “icons” or “household gods,” when they left Laban to return to the land of Canaan. She did not tell Jacob that she had done so. The text says explicitly, “Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the gods” (Gen. 31:32). When Laban pursued and caught up with them, he accused Jacob’s party of having stolen them. Jacob indignantly denies this and says “If you find anyone who has your gods, he shall not live”. Several chapters later, we read that Rachel died prematurely, on the way. The possibility hinted at by the text, articulated by a Midrash and by Rashi,[4] is that, unwittingly, Jacob had condemned her to death. In both cases, misunderstanding flowed from a failure of communication. Had Rebecca told Isaac about the oracle, and had Rachel told Jacob about the terafim, tragedy might have been averted. Judaism is a religion of holy words, and one of the themes of Genesis as a whole is the power of speech to create, mislead, harm or heal. From Cain and Abel to Joseph and his brothers (“They hated him and could not speak peaceably to him”), we are shown how, when words fail, violence begins.
(א) לא יחיה. כי חשב שגנב אותם אחד מעבדיו לעבדם ולחזור לסורו, ובזה היה חייב מיתה (רע"ס):
He shall not live. Because he thought that one of his slaves stole them in order to serve them and return to his bad ways, and with this he would be liable for death.
(א) לא יחיה. רק אהרגנו. ויש אומרים שהי' דרך תפלה על כן מתה רחל בדרך. אם כן יודיענו מי התפלל על אשת פנחס:
(1) HE SHALL NOT LIVE. Because I will put him to death. Some say that this was a prayer and it was because of this utterance that Rachel died on the way. If this be so, let them tell us who prayed and thus caused the death of Phinehas’ wife?
“And Yaakov said to his house and to all with him, ‘Remove the foreign gods in your midst’” — but until this point, he did not say this to them. Now, Rachel stole her father’s terafim, because under their father’s law they all were, the women and the children. This is what is written there (ibid. 31:53), “The God of Avraham and the god of Nachor will judge between us, the God of their fathers.”
“‘And purify yourselves’” — wash yourselves, because until now you have served foreign gods. Therefore, “‘And change your clothes,’” similar to (Devarim: 21:13), “And she will remove her clothes of captivity,” for all of the garb and jewelry of idolaters is impure, and one may not even benefit from them. Therefore, they gave the rings to him, and Yaakov hid them.
(א) לא יחיה כי חשב שגנב אותם אחד מהעבדים לעבדם ולחזור לסורו:
(1) לא יחיה. He thought that one of the servants must have stolen the teraphim in order to worship them as he had been doing before becoming part of Yaakov’s household.