[Avodah] Vayeitze "Watch Whom You Marry"

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Richard Wolpoe wrote:
> Ya'kov did NOT have to marry 2 sisters at all.  Even if he
> did #1 he still could have  married Rachel whilst Le'ah was
> alive since after all it was a Mikach Ta'us.  Why Ya'kov
> chose what he chose and did what he did has already been
> justified to my satisfaction. To reiterate: the original
> question is strictly about the case of HBKH protecting
> tzadikkim from UNINTENDED acts.

I suspect that your presumptions are faulty. To say that "HKBH protects tzadikim from unintended acts" is incomplete and inaccurate. It would be better to say that "HKBH protects tzadikim from unintended and unnecessary acts".

The difference is that marrying these two sisters was a necessary act. Rachel and Leah both understood how critical it was that they should both be mothers to klal Yisroel. HaShem *couldn't* protect Yaakov from this sin, because He too understood that it was necessary.

Associated events, though, were not necessary. Your question about kesubah is a good one. Perhaps there was some way to arrange things so that (even if he does have to marry two sisters) he could avoid having relations with someone who he did not give a kesuba to. Similarly, perhaps there was some way he could avoid having relations with someone who was not mekudeshes to him.

When I thought of this "mekudeshes" example, a possible answer occurred to me: At the wedding, I suppose he gave Kiddushin not specifically to Rachel, but rather to whoever it was under that veil, with no preconditions. In that manner, the kiddushin was valid even to Leah. Similarly, rather than writing a document which would contain the wife's name, I suppose that he brought some specific valuable objects and gave them to the safekeeping of his wife's family, and that's what served as the kesubah. (Side question: Lavan was notoriously unreliable as regards to Yaakov, but perhaps he could be trusted to faithfully watch out for his daughters' interests?)

Akiva Miller