THE BIRTH OF REUVEN

DATE OF BIRTH: 14 KISLEV 2193

(NOVEMBER 25, 1532 BCE)

YEAR OF DEATH: 2318

LIFE SPAN: 125 YEARS

And Leah became pregnant and she bore a son and she named him Reuven because she said, “Because Hashem has seen my affliction, for now my husband will love me.” (Bereishis 29:32)

All of Yaakov’s sons were named by their mothers through prophecy (ruach hakodesh) and the names signify the characters and deeds of the ones they named (Midrash).

“And Leah became pregnant and she bore a son.” The proximity of the two words, vatahar (“and she became pregnant”) and vateled (“and she bore”) teaches that the birth took place quickly, that her pregnancy lasted only seven months. This expression is used with the births of all of Yaakov’s children that were born in Charan, and it means that all of them were born after only seven months of pregnancy. (The only exceptions to this are the pregnancies of Zilpah, as will be explained in Bereishis 30:10. See page 44.) The only one of Yaakov’s sons not born after seven months of pregnancy was Binyamin, who was not born in Charan but on the way back to Canaan (Rabbeinu Bachaya).

Leah named her first son “Reuven” for two reasons. The first is, as stated in this pasuk, that Leah said, “Because Hashem has seen my affliction.” Leah was the “unloved” wife (compared to Rachel), but by giving birth to children, she felt loved, and therefore said, “For now, my husband will love me.” This emotion is expressed in the name Reuven. The word Reuven can be broken up into two Hebrew words: re’u (“see”), that Hashem saw her affliction; and ben (“son”), that as a result of this “seeing,” Hashem granted her a son.

The second reason for the name Reuven is that this was a prophecy. Again, the word Reuven is broken up into two words: re’u (“see”), and bein (“between”), to say the following:

Leah exclaimed: “See the difference between my son Reuven and Esav — the son of my father-in-law Yitzchak. Esav himself sold his birthright to his brother Yaakov.” As stated in Bereishis 25:33, “And he [Esav] sold his birthright to Yaakov.” Even many years later, Esav still hated Yaakov because he “took” his birthright, and wanted to kill him, as stated in Bereishis 27:41, “And Esav hated Yaakov... and he said, ‘I will kill my brother Yaakov.’ ”

Leah continued: “But it is not so with my son Reuven.” The differences are as follows:

1. Reuven did not voluntarily give away his birthright. Rather, he lost it to Yosef, as is explained in Bereishis 49:3 (see p. 103).

2. Reuven did not sell his birthright voluntarily, and when it was taken away from him, Reuven did not even complain about his loss.

3. Reuven did not hate his brother Yosef for the loss of the birthright, and indeed it was Reuven who wanted to take Yosef out of the pit in order to rescue him from death, as is stated in Bereishis 37:2, “And Reuven heard the brothers’ plot to kill Yosef, and Reuven rescued Yosef from their hands by declaring, ‘We shall not kill him’ ” (Rashi).

The Midrash explains the name Reuven to be a prophecy relating to the future redemption of the Bnei Yisrael. It has reference to the pasuk, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people” (Shemos 3:7).

THE BIRTH OF SHIMON

DATE OF BIRTH: 28 TEVES 2194

(JANUARY 26, 1534 BCE)

YEAR OF DEATH: 2314

LIFE SPAN: 120 YEARS

And she [Leah] became pregnant again and she bore a son and she said, “For Hashem has heard that I am hated [unloved] and He gave me also this [son].” And she named him Shimon. (Bereishis 29:33)

The root of the name Shimon is shema, “hear.” With each child Leah bore, Yaakov’s love for her increased. This is reflected in the names of her children. At first, before Reuven was born, Leah “saw” that she was unloved, because Yaakov’s preference for Rachel was a visible one. She therefore named her first son Reuven, meaning “Hashem has seen my affliction.” With the birth of Reuven, Yaakov’s visible preference for Rachel disappeared. However, Leah could still detect in Yaakov’s “tone of voice” to Rachel that she (Leah) did not yet possess Yaakov’s full love. Therefore, Leah called her second son Shimon, because Hashem “heard” that she was still unloved (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch).

The Midrash explains the name Shimon to have reference to the future redemption by relating it to the pasuk, “And Hashem heard their cries, and Hashem remembered his covenant with Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov” (Shemos 2:24).

THE BIRTH OF LEVI

DATE OF BIRTH: 16 NISSAN 2195

(APRIL 2, 1535 BCE)

YEAR OF DEATH: 2332

LIFE SPAN: 137 YEARS

And she [Leah] became pregnant again and she bore a son and she said, “Now, this time, my husband will become attached to me, because I bore him three sons.” Therefore, he [Yaakov] named him Levi. (Bereishis 29:34)

The root of the name Levi is lavah, meaning “accompany” or “become attached.” Leah knew that Yaakov was destined to beget the twelve tribes from his four wives. Now that Leah had given birth to three sons, she had successfully completed her portion — one-fourth of the number of sons that Yaakov would have. With this name, Leah prayed that Hashem would “accompany” her children and that they would serve in the house of Hashem (Me’am Lo’ez).

With the birth of her third son Levi, Leah felt that now she was truly loved by Yaakov in a pure loving relationship between husband and wife. The name Levi is also connected with the word loveh (“debtor”). (The connection between the word “attached” and the word “borrow” is that the borrower considers himself indebted or “attached” to the lender.) The relationship of husband and wife should be the attachment of two people where each feels indebted to the other for his happiness and his whole life. Leah was assured that this was indeed the state of her relationship with Yaakov by the fact that, unlike her first two sons who were named by Leah, it was Yaakov himself who named this third son Levi (Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch).

When a woman has two children, she can carry one in each arm. When she bears a third child, her husband must hold one child. Therefore, Leah now said, With my third child Levi, my husband Yaakov will have to “join” me (Chizkuni, Toldos Yitzchak).

The matriarchs knew through prophecy that only one of Yaakov’s wives would be buried with him in Me’aras Hamachpelah. Now that Leah had borne three sons before any of the other wives had borne any, she knew that she would be the wife to share the eternal resting place of her husband. Now Yaakov would be “joined” or “attached” to her forever (Zohar).

“He named him Levi.” Yaakov named his son Levi because he saw prophetically that the tribe of Levi would be the servants of Hashem and the teachers of Torah. In this way, the tribe of Levi would be “attached” to Hashem (Radak). In addition. Yaakov chose Levi to preside over the yeshivah which he (Yaakov) set up for his children (Rambam, Hilchos Akum 1:3).

Another explanation of who gave Levi his name is that Hashem named him. He sent the angel Gavriel to bring the child before Him. He then named him Levi, and He gave him (He “attached” to him or He “accompanied” him with) the twenty-four gifts of the priesthood (the various gifts and maasros [tithes] by all of the other tribes of Yisrael to the Kohanim and the Leviim) (Rashi).

Generally, every tribe about whom it is written al ken (“therefore”), as in this pasuk, was a very populous tribe. The tribe of Levi is the only exception. This is because, in the desert, many Leviim died because of their lack of sufficient care in fulfilling their responsibility of guarding the holiness of the Ark (Rashi).

The Midrash relates the name Levi to the pasuk, “And many nations shall join themselves to Hashem on that day” (Zechariah 2:15), and states that the name has reference to the future redemption of the Jewish people.

The name Levi is comprised of three Hebrew letters, and the name of the greatest descendant of Levi, Moshe Rabbeinu, also consists of three letters. Both Levi and Moshe were the third child of their parents. Yaakov himself was third in the chain of our patriarchs. The Midrash teaches that the “third” is the element that is capable of reaching the highest level of perfection. And, indeed, in later years, the tribe of Levi (the third tribe) was chosen for the highest service, as is stated in Devarim, “At that time Hashem separated [chose] the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of Hashem’s covenant, to stand before Hashem and serve Him, and to offer blessings in His name. It is for this reason that Levi was not given any portion or inheritance along with his brothers, for Hashem is his heritage” (Rabbi Munk).