The biblical figures Rachel and Leah hold a prominent place in the narrative of the Book of Genesis, perhaps more so than any other female characters. In parts of the story, we find the two sisters standing together as a united front, yet they are also frequently rivals. The contrast is particularly striking in Jacob’s relationship with them. The text tells us that while Jacob loved Rachel, he hated Leah (Genesis 29:31). Even Leah herself recognized this, declaring after the birth of one of her sons that it was on account of God hearing that she was hated that he blessed her with a child.
The notion that Jacob’s wife, one of the four Jewish matriarchs and mother of half of the 12 tribes, was hated in Jacob’s household was unacceptable to the Jewish commentators, who tended to protect Leah by covering up her apparent inferiority to Rachel. The Zohar too attempted to deal with this difficulty from its unique perspective:
“And God saw that Leah was hated” — Why was she hated? … Assuredly, the Jubilee is always the Hidden World, and its words are never revealed. Therefore, all its acts were hidden from Jacob.
Come and see: The lower world is revealed, and it is the foundation of all to ascend in stages, just as supernal wisdom is the foundation of all, so too is the lower world a manifestation of wisdom, and it is the foundation of all. Therefore, we call it “You,” because it is Shmita and is revealed, while the upper world, which is the Jubilee, we call “He,” for all its words are hidden …
He is the supernal world that is always concealed, and Jacob did not cleave in his will to what is concealed, but rather to what is revealed …
Adapted from Zohar, Volume I, 154a-b
To understand the answer the Zohar offers, we need to understand the midrashic language being employed. Shmita and Jubilee (both references to years in the Jewish agricultural cycle), as well as the “lower world” and the “Hidden World,” correspond to the two feminine sefirot: Malchut and Binah. These further correspond to the two heroines of the story, Rachel and Leah. In the Zohar’s view, Rachel represents Malchut, the lowest sefirah and the one that mediates between the spiritual realm and the earthly world. Leah represents Binah, which is located within the system of the sefirot in its upper, sublime and hidden part.
According to the Zohar then, Jacob’s feelings toward Leah did not stem from her inferiority to Rachel, but from her superiority. Jacob hated Leah because she represented the Hidden World, which was not within his grasp. Because of her sublime nature, Jacob could not “cleave to her in his will” and discern her essence. Only to Rachel did Jacob cleave. Precisely because of her lower status in the sefirotic system, Rachel was comprehensible to Jacob and so he loved her.
Looming behind this interpretation is the medieval struggle between Judaism and Christianity. In their interpretation of the Book of Genesis, early church leaders insisted that in its stories about pairs of characters (usually brothers), where one is the chosen son and the other the rejected son, the text is alluding to the rejection of Judaism in favor of Christianity. And indeed, the figures of Rachel and Leah also served as an allegory for the chosen church (Ecclesia) and the rejected synagogue (Synagoga). Leah was identified with the old, hated religion while Rachel was the young beloved one.
In medieval times, these figures were sculpted on the facades of many Christian churches. Ecclesia was depicted as a queen with her crown on her head and a wine goblet in her hands, while Synagoga was depicted as a defeated queen with her crown fallen and her spear broken, her eyes cast down. These figures, displayed openly in the urban Christian space (and to the urban Jewish population), conveyed a theological message about the humiliation of Judaism and the victory of Christian truth. Jacob’s hatred toward Leah thus served as a homiletical weapon against the Jewish religion.
The Zohar, in its way, did not directly argue with Christian typology. But by elevating Leah to the level of Binah, the Zohar exalted Synagoga relative to Ecclesia. The fact that Synagoga is not “beautiful in form and appearance” like her sister (see Genesis 29:17) does not stem from her inferiority, but rather from the fact that she is exalted beyond all appearances, just as Binah is hidden from every eye. And just as Leah is hated because she is hidden, so is Judaism, which cannot be discovered by outsiders who have eyes of flesh because it exists above and beyond human perception.
The Christian tendency to reject the ancient religion in favor of a younger one therefore comes from theological blindness, and whoever chooses thus does so out of a dullness of the senses, an inability to grasp the beauty of Judaism and discern its depth. They prefer the lower, revealed dimensions of religion (represented by Rachel) to the higher, hidden dimensions (represented by Leah).
The Zohar’s exploration of Jacob’s hatred for Leah thus serves as a tool to restore the image of Judaism, first and foremost in the eyes of the Jews themselves, who were exposed to Christian iconography on cathedral facades and in city squares, and to reflect to them the hidden depth of the Jewish religion.
This piece was originally published as part of A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone, an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria. Sign up for the entire series here.
