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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>From: Yitzhak Grossman <A
href="mailto:celejar@gmail.com">celejar@gmail.com</A><BR><BR>>>But note
that none of the Imahos are described as loving their
husbands.<<<BR><BR>>>>>><BR>Hello?
Leah?!</FONT></DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial
color=#000000 size=2></FONT></DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent"
face=Arial color=#000000 size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>The poignancy of that whole situation has often struck me. Leah and
Rochel each had what the other most desperately longed for. And both were
left with thwarted longings that were never quite fulfilled. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>All her life Leah longed for her husband's love -- every one of her sons
was named with reference to this longing! And when Rochel died -- Yakov
/still/ didn't make Leah's tent his primary abode, but instead put his bed in
Bilhah's tent. Leah's pain over this situation must have been
palpable -- it induced her son Reuven to interfere on his mother's behalf
and try to get his father, finally, to make Leah his primary wife -- but
Reuven's plans backfired.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>(I have a theory as to why Yakov moved in with Bilhah -- Bilhah
was Rochel's shifcha so she must have been the one who was raising Rochel's
orphaned children. Those children, the last living link to the
beloved Rochel, must have been living in Bilhah's tent. My
guess.)</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>As for Rochel, she longed for children but did not live to raise
them. She never even had a chance to hold Binyamin, and probably never
even saw him. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>When you think about the whole "dudaim" story it's all there -- the whole
heartbreak, the pain on both sides. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Rochel: "Your little boy brought you flowers? Please, I have
no little boy, could I please just have those flowers?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Leah: "What do I care about the flowers? My husband doesn't
love me, he loves you, but please, could I just have this one night with
him?"</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" face=Arial color=#000000
size=2>Yes, I know that Yakov did love Leah too, but relatively, she felt
unloved. Rochel was always his true zivug and his true wife, which he
mentioned even on his deathbed, so many years after Rochel's death.</DIV>
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<DIV><FONT lang=0 face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><STRONG></STRONG><BR><B>--Toby Katz<BR>=============<BR></FONT><FONT
lang=0 face=Arial color=#000000 size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"></B>President Reagan talked with the Soviets while pushing ahead
with the deployment of Cruise and Pershing missiles in Europe. He spoke softly —
after getting himself a bigger stick. --Mark Steyn</FONT><FONT lang=0
face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2 FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><B><BR></B><BR></FONT></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient <A title="http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007" href="http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007" target="_blank">used cars</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>