{"id":14389,"date":"2025-11-26T17:32:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T17:32:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/?p=14389"},"modified":"2025-12-02T16:43:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T16:43:07","slug":"rachel-crying-for-her-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachel Cries For Her Children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Chaim Mintz:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n

Rachel was buried on the side of the road\u00a0in\u00a0Kever\u00a0Rachel<\/em>, and\u00a0not\u00a0in\u00a0Me\u2019erat\u00a0Hamachpeilah<\/em>.\u00a0This was\u00a0so that\u00a0when\u00a0the Jewish people\u00a0would pass her tomb on their way\u00a0into\u00a0galut<\/em> (exile), she would\u00a0daven\u00a0<\/em>(pray) for them, as the\u00a0pasuk<\/em>\u00a0says, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRachel\u00a0mevakah\u00a0al\u00a0ba\u2019neha<\/em>” \u2014Rachel cries for her children (Yirmiyahu<\/em>\u00a031:14<\/a>). But Rachel was the mother of only two of Yaakov\u2019s twelve sons,\u00a0so\u00a0why\u00a0is the entire Jewish nation\u00a0described as \u201cher\u201d children?\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Rabbi Chaim Mintz responds<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I will answer the question based on a true story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divorce?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A young couple married, looking forward to a long and happy life together. Alas, it was not to be. Shortly after their marriage, they discovered that the husband was unable to have children<\/a>. They went to their Rabbi to discuss what to do. Should they get divorced, <\/em>granting the young woman a new lease on life and the chance to raise a family? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rabbi shared the following thought with the husband: \u201cAlthough in your situation it seems improbable that you will ever have children, you can still have the merit of bringing children into the world. Since you are the one who holds the key to your wife\u2019s chance of having a family, by letting her do so, all her future offspring will be considered your children. As Chazal<\/em> say “Gadol hame\u2019aseh yoter min ha\u2019oseh<\/a><\/em>” – one who enables others to perform a mitzvah<\/em> is greater than the one who actually performs the mitzvah<\/em>. So even for your sake it would be worthwhile to get divorced.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The husband agreed to divorce her, and she remarried and had a family. In a stroke of hashgacha<\/em> pratit<\/em> (Divine providence), many years later, a remedy was found for the husband, and he too remarried and had children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preserving Humility<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The same can be said about Rachel. When Yaakov asked Rachel to marry him, she warned him that her father Lavan was a swindler<\/a>, and he may attempt to substitute her sister for her. To prevent this, Yaakov gave Rachel a secret code to use on the night of their wedding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, when Rachel realized that Leah was about to be terribly humiliated, she shared the code with her, sacrificing her own future as the matriarch of the Jewish people to save her sister from disgrace. Since it was Rachel\u2019s remarkable act of benevolence that paved the way for Leah and her maidservant, Zilpah, to marry Yaakov, their children are also considered Rachel\u2019s children, earning her the status of a matriarch of all of Yaakov\u2019s children. This is why Rachel\u2019s crying for the entire Jewish nation can aptly be described as crying for \u201cher\u201d children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her Merit Will Save Us<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, the Midrash tells us that it was this noble and selfless act that makes her tefillot <\/em>(prayers) so potent and the ones that will ultimately bring us back from galut<\/em>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a very powerful thought. As we have mentioned in the past, when we seek to invoke the merits of the Avot<\/em> and Imahot<\/em> (forefathers and foremothers), it is not sufficient to merely mention their greatness; rather, we must strive to follow in their footsteps. By emulating Rachel and sacrificing our own comforts for the sake of others, we too become worthy of having our tefillot<\/a><\/em> answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Short:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rachel facilitated her sister Leah\u2019s marriage to Yaakov, so all of Leah\u2019s children are considered hers as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
Learn more about the Avot and Imahot with a study partner. Sign up to TorahMates today!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Written by Rabbi Aaron Shapiro<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have another question to ask a rabbi<\/a>? You can ask Rabbi Mintz your own question by joining Ask the Rabbi Live on Tuesdays at 9PM ET. You can also submit your questions to asktherabbi@oorah.org<\/a>, or head to oorah.org\/asktherabbi\/<\/a> to watch the latest Q&As.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ask the Rabbi with Rabbi Chaim Mintz: Rachel was buried on the side of the road\u00a0in\u00a0Kever\u00a0Rachel, and\u00a0not\u00a0in\u00a0Me\u2019erat\u00a0Hamachpeilah.\u00a0This was\u00a0so that\u00a0when\u00a0the Jewish people\u00a0would pass her tomb on their way\u00a0into\u00a0galut (exile), she would\u00a0daven\u00a0(pray) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[598,35,761,702,8],"tags":[252],"class_list":["post-14389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-the-rabbi","category-guides","category-jewish-faith","category-jewish-philosophy","category-judaism-101","tag-ask-the-rabbi"],"yoast_head":"\nRachel Cries For Her Children - Jewish Resources<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rachel is buried on the side of the road so her children can pray at her tombstone. Learn why Rachel's noble act gives us merits today.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rachel Cries For Her Children - Jewish Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rachel is buried on the side of the road so her children can pray at her tombstone. Learn why Rachel's noble act gives us merits today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jewish Resources\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/torahmates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-26T17:32:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-02T16:43:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/shutterstock_2668448149.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"680\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TorahMates\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@oorah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@oorah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TorahMates\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"TorahMates\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/person\/df1cd798c41777159e9fee85cb392ef9\"},\"headline\":\"Rachel Cries For Her Children\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-26T17:32:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-02T16:43:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\"},\"wordCount\":746,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"ask the rabbi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ask the Rabbi\",\"Guides\",\"Jewish Faith\",\"Jewish Philosophy\",\"Judaism 101\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\",\"name\":\"Rachel Cries For Her Children - Jewish Resources\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-26T17:32:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-02T16:43:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Rachel is buried on the side of the road so her children can pray at her tombstone. Learn why Rachel's noble act gives us merits today.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rachel Cries For Her Children\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/\",\"name\":\"JEWISH RESOURCES by Oorah's TorahMates\",\"description\":\"brought to you by Oorah's TorahMates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#organization\",\"name\":\"TorahMates\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tm.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tm.jpg\",\"width\":921,\"height\":824,\"caption\":\"TorahMates\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/torahmates\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/oorah\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/torahmates\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/oorah-inc?original_referer=https:\/\/www.oorah.org\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oorah\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/OorahKR\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oorah_(organization)\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/person\/df1cd798c41777159e9fee85cb392ef9\",\"name\":\"TorahMates\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26e85981eb7a7ffe0e513841f5d6b26a09f4f1ab01d3eff73b79b111f5b3a80c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26e85981eb7a7ffe0e513841f5d6b26a09f4f1ab01d3eff73b79b111f5b3a80c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"TorahMates\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rachel Cries For Her Children - Jewish Resources","description":"Rachel is buried on the side of the road so her children can pray at her tombstone. Learn why Rachel's noble act gives us merits today.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rachel Cries For Her Children - Jewish Resources","og_description":"Rachel is buried on the side of the road so her children can pray at her tombstone. Learn why Rachel's noble act gives us merits today.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/","og_site_name":"Jewish Resources","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/torahmates","article_published_time":"2025-11-26T17:32:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-12-02T16:43:07+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/shutterstock_2668448149.jpg","width":1024,"height":680,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"TorahMates","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@oorah","twitter_site":"@oorah","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TorahMates","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/"},"author":{"name":"TorahMates","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/person\/df1cd798c41777159e9fee85cb392ef9"},"headline":"Rachel Cries For Her Children","datePublished":"2025-11-26T17:32:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-02T16:43:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/"},"wordCount":746,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#organization"},"keywords":["ask the rabbi"],"articleSection":["Ask the Rabbi","Guides","Jewish Faith","Jewish Philosophy","Judaism 101"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/","url":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/","name":"Rachel Cries For Her Children - Jewish Resources","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-11-26T17:32:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-12-02T16:43:07+00:00","description":"Rachel is buried on the side of the road so her children can pray at her tombstone. Learn why Rachel's noble act gives us merits today.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/rachel-crying-for-her-children\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rachel Cries For Her Children"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/","name":"JEWISH RESOURCES by Oorah's TorahMates","description":"brought to you by Oorah's TorahMates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#organization","name":"TorahMates","url":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tm.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/tm.jpg","width":921,"height":824,"caption":"TorahMates"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/torahmates","https:\/\/twitter.com\/oorah","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/torahmates\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/oorah-inc?original_referer=https:\/\/www.oorah.org\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oorah\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/OorahKR","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Oorah_(organization)"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/person\/df1cd798c41777159e9fee85cb392ef9","name":"TorahMates","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26e85981eb7a7ffe0e513841f5d6b26a09f4f1ab01d3eff73b79b111f5b3a80c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/26e85981eb7a7ffe0e513841f5d6b26a09f4f1ab01d3eff73b79b111f5b3a80c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"TorahMates"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14389"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14423,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14389\/revisions\/14423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.torahmates.org\/jewish-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}