VAYEITZEI
The Beauty of Imperfection
The turbulent marriage story of Yaakov with Rachel and Leah, and the Torah testifies that Hashem looked into the depths of Leah’s heart and saw that she felt hated.
Hashem’s compassion was aroused for her, and her womb was opened to give birth to the main children of Yaakov.
Although Leah wasn’t actually ‘hated’, the Torah emphasizes twice that Yaakov loved “also Rachel more than Leah,” she wasn’t the favorite. And that’s the whole issue.
A human being cannot bear being second best. A person strives for excellence and cannot appreciate half-love. To be number two is to be zero. Therefore Leah, who was number two to Yaakov’s love for Rachel, felt “hated.”
