"God remembered Rachel" (Genesis 30:22). He remembered her silence for her sister's sake when Leah was given in marriage to Jacob (Bereishit Rabbah 73:4).

The matriarch Rachel was one of the first prophetesses (Yerushalmi Berachot 9:3).

"I buried her there on the road" (Genesis 48:7). Jacob told Joseph: "Just as you wish that your mother had been buried in the Cave of Machpelah, so did I wish it". Joseph replied: "If so, give the order now, and I will rebury her there". Jacob responded: "You cannot, my son, for I buried her on the road by Divine command. In the future my children will go into exile. When they pass Rachelís tomb, they will embrace it. She will stand and pray for mercy on their behalf, and the Holy One, Blessed is He, will accept her prayer" (Pesikta Rabbati 3:60).

It is natural to think of Abraham and Sarah as the father and mother of the Jewish people. They are correctly viewed as the first Jewish couple. Yet Sarah, her greatness notwithstanding, must give way to her later descendant, Rachel, who through her life career, and particularly through her death and place of burial, becomes the emotional matrix of Judaism.

She didnít come from the most noble household. Her father, Laban, was a master of deceit, and it was only natural that she and Leah would be caught up in the wily old Mesopotamianís plan to entrap Jacob into marrying both his daughters. But Rachel prevails, even after she must endure the usurpation of her place in the marriage canopy by her older sister. She prevails despite her natural jealousy because she understands her role both in her family and in Jewish history. Unable at first to conceive, Rachel courageously reasons: ìIf I am not worthy enough to have the Jewish nation descend from me, let it descend from my sister, Leahî (Bereishit Rabbah 71:2).

But her goodness is rewarded, and although Leah gives birth to six-twelfths of the tribes of Israel, from Rachelís loins come Joseph and Benjamin, two especially blessed children of her and Jacobís union. By allowing the less desired Leah the opportunity to fulfill her familial desire with Jacob, Rachel would become the most sympathetic character in the Bible. She is seen, even Biblically, as the figure who would understand the suffering of the Jewish people. When the Jews were lead into captivity by the Babylonians after the destruction of the First Temple, they passed by Rachelís grave on the road to Bethlehem. There they heard: ìA voice on high, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her childrenî (Jeremiah 31:15).

Rachel becomes the mother to all the Jewish children of every exile. Her fame waxes centuries later in the literary realm of Herman Melville where, at the end of Moby Dick, Rachel, now depicted as a mother ship, rescues Abrahamís misbegotten son, Ishmael. Rachel, our Mother.