(31) The Eternal saw that Leah was unloved and opened her womb; but Rachel was barren. (32) Leah conceived and bore a son, and named him Reuben; for she declared, “It means: ‘The Eternal has seen my affliction’; it also means: ‘Now my husband will love me.’” (33) She conceived again and bore a son, and declared, “This is because the Eternal heard that I was unloved and has given me this one also”; so she named him Simeon. (34) Again she conceived and bore a son and declared, “This time my husband will become attached to me, for I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. (35) She conceived again and bore a son, and declared, “This time I will praise the Eternal.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing.
Shai Held The Heart of Torah Va-yetze' 1
Leah has somehow found the courage to accept that her life is not going to turn out as she had hoped. She has spent years aching for the love of her husband, repeatedly convincing herself that perhaps it is just around the corner. But now, suddenly, she sees that this constant yearning will only generate more fantasy, and illusion, and the steadily mounting pain of a dream dashed time and again. Something inside of her shifts, and rather than sinking in the sorrow of what she does not have, she is able to embrace the beauty and fullness of what she does...
(9) Then the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph...(19) In three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and impale you upon a pole; and the birds will pick off your flesh.” (20) On the third day—his birthday—Pharaoh made a banquet for all his officials, and he singled out his chief cupbearer and his chief baker from among his officials. (21) He restored the chief cupbearer to his cupbearing, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand; (22) but the chief baker he impaled—just as Joseph had interpreted to them. (23) Yet the chief cupbearer did not think of Joseph; he forgot him.
Questions:
Was Joseph's request reasonable? Why did the Cupbearer forget Joseph?
Have you ever been grateful to someone? How have you expressed that gratitude?
(1) A psalm for giving thanks.-a
Raise a shout for the Eternal, all the earth;
(2) Serve the Eternal in Joy; Enter God's presence with shouts of joy.
(3) Acknowledge that the Eternal is God; It is God who made us, to whom we belong-b We are God's people and flock.
(4) Enter God's gates with thanksgiving, And into God's courts with praise. Give Thanks and bless God's name!
(5) For the Eternal One is good; God's lovingkindness is everlasting with faithfulness to all generations.
Questions:
How do we express gratitude? Is gratitude a kind of praise of God?
How is serving God in Joy connected to gratitude?
Shai Held The Heart of Torah Va-yetze' 1
It is crucial to emphasize that Leah's gratitude does not magically set everything aright and banish every other feeling she has. Her disappointment is real, and deep: She will never have the kind of love, or the kind of marriage, she has so fiercely hoped for...
Leah is disappointed, and as we have seen, she has every right to be. But she is also grateful--despite the intensity of her pain, she too, has her blessings...With the birth of Judah, Leah has discovered the awesome capacity to feel grateful even amid her sorrows...
It is one thing to be grateful when everything is wonderful, when all our dreams have been fulfilled and all our hungers sated. But it is quite another to be grateful when life is complicated, when some of our most cherished dreams have remained painfully unrealized, when some of our yearnings are so intense that they threaten to burn right through us. Leah is the first person to feel and express gratitude even and especially amind profound sorrow and enduring disappointment.
Strikingly, the name Leah gives her fourth son, Judah, meaning "I will praise" or "I will express gratitude," becomes the name of the Jewish people as a whole...Who is a Jew? One who discovers the possibility of gratitude even amid heartbreak...