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אלשיך — ועיני לאה רכות

Why does the Torah report the seemingly trivial detail that 'ועיני לאה רכות'? And what does the midrash mean that they were 'soft from weeping'?

[Cohen's chapter focuses on Leah's eyes — 'רכות מבכיה' that she might marry Esav.] רכות מבכיה, שהיו אומרים כך היו התנאים: הגדולה לגדול והקטנה לקטן; והיתה בוכה ואומרת: יהי רצון שלא אפול בגורלו של רשע.

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אלשיך

Alshekh on Torah, Genesis 29:17

Vayetzei

Q — Why does the Torah report the seemingly trivial detail that 'ועיני לאה רכות'? And what does the midrash mean that they were 'soft from weeping'?

A — Leah feared the apparent matching logic — Rivka had two sons, Lavan had two daughters, so 'the older to the older, the younger to the younger,' meaning she would be paired with Esav. Her tears were tefillah that this not be her fate. The Alshich brings this out as a chiddush about the power of tefillah to redirect what seemed already fated, and about how a Torah-narrated physical detail is in fact reporting an act of spiritual avodah.

רכות מבכיה, שהיו אומרים כך היו התנאים: הגדולה לגדול והקטנה לקטן; והיתה בוכה ואומרת: יהי רצון שלא אפול בגורלו של רשע.

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