Vayetzee - Pray for me

(1) When Rachel saw that she had borne Jacob no children, she became envious of her sister; and Rachel said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die.” (2) Jacob was incensed at Rachel, and said, “Can I take the place of God, who has denied you fruit of the womb?”

(2) הבה לי GIVE ME [CHILDREN ] — Did, then, your father act so towards your mother? Did he not pray on her behalf (Genesis Rabbah 71:6).

(1) הבה לי בנים, “get me children!”...According to the plain meaning of the text, Rachel demanded children from her husband....Yaakov’s anger was aroused because she so misunderstood the power of prayer that she felt that the prayer of a צדיק automatically commits G’d to fulfill it...At any rate, after telling Rachel that the matter was not really in his hands, seeing that G’d had granted him children but not from her, she decided to pray on her own behalf. This is what the Torah means in verse 22 that G’d “listened to her,” as a result of which she bore Joseph.

(1) ויחר...אשר מנע ממך ...Yaakov’s anger was due to Rachel attributing her problem to Yaakov and something Yaakov had failed to do, and not to G’d, Who decrees who is barren and who is fertile. The demand to her husband הבה לי בנים, “get me children,” was entirely out of place. Had she asked Yaakov to plead with G’d to have mercy on her, she would have been perfectly in order. He would not then have become angry at her.