General: Four Imahos

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General: Four Imahos

Mishael asked:

Thank you for your answer Rabbi Chrysler, it was very insightful. However, I 
have another one of my famous questions for you.

Why were Bilha and Zilpa zoche (merit) to be the mothers of the Shivatim. I 
know that this seems like a very simple question but in essence I think it is 
not. All of our four imahot (mothers), Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah, merited 
to have the Jewish nation come from them. Sarah was a prophetess and she had 
the brocha of the dough and candles, Rivka helped Yaakov get the brachos from 
Yitzchak, Rachel was quiet when she made the switch with Leah, and Leah cried a 
lot and was able to marry Yaakov. What did Bilha and Zilpa do. One of my Rebbis 
has a program where he can search all Midrashim, however, he was unable o come 
up with any answers from it. I tried to look at all the commentators but I did 
not find anything. So if you can I will highly appreciate it if you can help me 
answer this question and, bi'ezrat HASHEM, I will share it with my friends and 
Rabbis.

By the way I am a Baal Teshuva and I am trying to learn and grow and I am sorry 
if this is easy question, but I really could not find anything. Thank you for 
all your help, all the best.

Mishael
--------------------------
The Kollel replies:

The story is told of the Gerrer Rebbe, who once asked a Bachur in which 
Yeshivah he was learning. The Bachur replied 'in Or Samei'ach', quickly adding 
'But I'm not a Ba'al Teshuvah!'

Back came the reply 'Why not?'

So we're in the same boat. Just like you, I'm a Ba'al Teshuvah. I'm trying to 
learn and grow, and I'm sorry if I don't manage to do justice to your very good 
question. To be honest with you, the question has bothered me too, but now 
you've forced me to address it ...

Interestingly, the Seifer Otzar Ishei ha'T'nach has a few entries about Bilhah, 
but nothing on Zilpah. Here are the entries that are relevant to your question:

1. As long as Rachel and Le'ah were alive, the Shechinah dwelt with them. When 
they died, the Shechinah did not depart from the house. It dwelt with Bilhah.

2. When Rachel died, Ya'kov took Bilhah's bed and placed it next to his own. 

3. Bilhah served Ya'akov in Egypt. When he became ill, she came and told 
Ya'akov.

4. Yosef sent ten asses to collect Ya'akov and his family. Five for Ya'akov and 
five for Bilhah, his step-mother.

5. And they instructed that Yosef be told ... . Whom did they instruct? Bilhah.

Whatever Bilhah did or did not do, she must have been an extremely righteous 
woman, to have had the Shechinah rest in her home, and for Ya'akov to have 
taken her bed (and not that of Le'ah) into his tent.

Moreover, she seems to have served Ya'akov's faithfully all her life, and she 
was the one whom the brothers trusted implicitly to perform their errands.

We find no fault with Bilhah or Zilpah. There is no intrigue, no jealousy. They 
seem to have accepted, without complaint, the fact that they, together with 
their children, were in a sense, inferior to Rachel and Le'ah and their 
children,

And Zilpah, for her part, did not even complain about the role that Bilhah 
played in all of the above.

There were problems with the relationship between Rachel and Le'ah, there were 
problems between the relationship between Ya'akov's sons. But Bilhah and Zilpah 
seem to have lived in total harmony with the entire family - and that despite 
having been brought up in the home of Lavan (whose Midos were sorely lacking).

Finally, the Torah describes Moshe Rabeinu as 'Anav mi'Kol Adam' - the humblest 
of all men. It seems to me that the modest and humble way in which Bilhah and 
Zilpah lived their lives amply justifies their choice, as Ya'akov's wife and 
the mothers of four of the tribes.

Be'Virchas Kol Tuv,
Eliezer Chrysler

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