Rachel: A Matriarch's Journey Through Love and Sacrifice

1. Rachel is the daughter of Laban the Aramean and the younger sister of Leah, both of whom were wives of Jacob.

2. Jacob worked seven years for Laban to marry Rachel, but Laban deceived him and gave him Leah instead.

3. Rachel, knowing Leah would be embarrassed when Jacob discovered the truth, gave her signs to avoid humiliation.

4. Jacob wouldn't give up and worked another seven years, eventually marrying Rachel. Hence the expression: "With Rachel, your younger daughter," which are Jacob's words to Laban, meaning an explicit statement to avoid deception.

5. Initially, Rachel was barren and pleaded with Jacob to pray for her, saying: "Give me children, or else I die." Jacob was upset and replied, "Am I in Hashem's place?"

6. Seeing she was still without a child, Rachel asked Jacob to marry her maid Bilhah, hoping to have children through her. Eventually, Rachel herself was blessed with two sons, Joseph and Benjamin.

7. Rachel tried to dissuade her father Laban from idolatry by stealing his statues, hiding them beneath her when he came searching. Jacob, unaware of their whereabouts, declared, "Whoever has your gods shall not live."

8. Consequently, Rachel passed away shortly thereafter, at the age of thirty-six, while journeying to Ephrath, right after giving birth to Benjamin.

9. Rachel is the only matriarch not buried in the Cave of Machpelah. According to most commentators, she is buried in Bethlehem.

10. According to the Midrash, Rashi writes that Rachel rises from her grave and weeps, pleading for mercy on her children. Jeremiah prophesizes: "A voice is heard in Ramah... Rachel weeping for her children..." and she becomes a national symbol of a mother praying for her children.