5785/2024
In Parashat VaYeitzei, Perek 30, Pesukim 1-2, Rachel tells Yaakov that if he doesn’t give her kids she will die. Rashi writes that she did not mean this literally but rather that someone who is childless is considered as if they are dead. The Ramban asks on this, if she did not literally mean that she would die, why did Yaakov get mad at her, and scorn her for blaming him and not Hashem? Rashi says that Yitzchak was only able to daven like he did for Rivkah because he did not have any kids at all, but Yaakov, who already had kids, could not do the same. Yaakov davening would be ungrateful because he had kids but Rachel, who had not yet had kids could daven the way Rivkah did. The Ramban asks, what about Eliyahu and Elisha who davened for strangers? It must be because Yaakov already had children destined for greatness so it would have been ungrateful for him to ask for more kids. Therefore we must conclude that when Rivkah said she would die, she was asking Yaakov to daven for her. Yaakov must have responded with anger because Rachel was acting like Hashem had not yet given him enough.