Matriarch Rachel

by Rabbi Katz, Exec Director

10/21/2026, 5:59:22 PM

Tonight is the Yahrtzeit of Mama Rachel, when thousands will pour out their hearts at her sacred tomb in Bethlehem, Israel. It was there that she wept inconsolably for her children as they were led into exile, refusing to be comforted, and it was there that the Divine promise was bestowed: “Veshavu banim l’gvulam – And children shall return to their borders” – that there is reward for her toil, and her children shall return from the land of the enemy.

For what deed was Rachel rewarded? And why is she enshrined as the Mother of Klal Yisroel? Astonishingly, she bore only two children. Her eldest, Yosef, she beheld for but a few fleeting years. Her second son, Binyamin, she did not even merit to raise. How, then, did she become the matriarch, the nurturer and upbringer of the entirety of Am Yisroel?

The answer lies in an act she performed long before she ever brought children into this world, before she ever raised a child – when she selflessly surrendered the secret signs to her sister Leah, so that Leah would not be humiliated beneath the chuppah.

In merit of that profound preparation, Hashem conferred upon her the gift of being the mother of all tribes, the mother of all Jews. She had prepared herself so exquisitely for motherhood. So much inner labor is required before we bring children into this world, before we transmit our legacy to our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. It is incumbent upon us to refine ourselves to be as perfect as possible in kindness, in benevolence, in self-abnegation, in living for others rather than for ourselves.

As a Rabbi once said: When does our day to educate our children begin? The answer is twenty years before the child is born. When a person enters this world, he must labor and toil upon his middos, upon his deeds, to become someone, to become a paragon, a role model.

And one who becomes such a consummate mother is no longer merely a mother to Yosef and Binyamin, to two children. She becomes a mother to everyone. She becomes the Mother of the Jewish Nation, because this is what Hashem seeks from us – selflessness, magnanimity, being there for one another. Long before we instruct our children with words, we are teaching them by the very person we become. Rachel’s selfless act before motherhood continues to shield her children thousands of years later, and that is the eternal power of Veshavu banim l’gvulam.