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In Parshas Toldos, aside from Yaakov and Eisav, where are the second set of twins mentioned?

Moshe
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4 Answers4

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Yitzchak tells Yaakov to marry "one of the daughters of Lavan your uncle" (Gen. 28:2). According to Seder Olam Rabbah (ch. 2), Leah and Rachel were twins.

Alex
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  • There are Meforshim that say they had different mothers. – Gershon Gold Nov 11 '10 at 01:06
  • Really? I know that some say that Bilhah and Zilpah were Lavan's daughters by a concubine (that's why they were originally maidservants). But where does it say that Leah and Rachel themselves had different mothers? – Alex Nov 11 '10 at 01:24
  • Will get you the source later – Gershon Gold Nov 11 '10 at 03:52
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    This is by no means a primary source, but אגרות משה אבן העזר חלק ד סימן ט ענף א mentions in passing the possibility of different mothers. Link: http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=921&st=&pgnum=16 – WAF Nov 11 '10 at 18:40
  • Not what I was thinking of. I was thinking of a Rashi... – Moshe Nov 11 '10 at 21:12
  • Rabeiniu Bachya mentions that Rochel was 5 years old when Yaakov arrived to the well, and that is why he could kiss her as she was a Ketana. The reason Rochel was sent out with the sheep and not Leah, was because Leah was a Gedola and Lavan did not want Leah to go out and she would be noticed. From this Rabeinu Bachya it seems that they were not twins. – Gershon Gold Nov 12 '10 at 03:54
  • Regarding the different mothers, I saw it last week somewhere as a Terutz why he married 2 sisters, however as of now have not been able to locate it yet. When I do I will put in the source. – Gershon Gold Nov 12 '10 at 03:58
  • Moshe, according to the way you worded the question, this is a more accurate answer than an explicit mentioning of twins in Rashi since it's in the Parasha itself. – YDK Nov 12 '10 at 15:12
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In the first posuk, it says "Avraham holid es Yitzchak" to teach us that Hashem made Yitzchak look exactly like Avraham to stop the scoffers from saying that Yitzchak was really conceived from Avimelech.

Yahu
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3

Rashi says that Tamar also had twins.

yydl
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I do not know if this is correct, however I will try.

The Posuk says "Shnei Goyim B'Vitnaich" Rashi says it says Gayim, not Goyim which alludes to Rabbi & Antoninus. There is a well known story about how Antoninus saved Rabbi's life when they were both infants, by Antoninus's mother and Rabbi's mother switching them around in order that the Romans should not see that rabbi was circumcised. I do not know if they were born the same day or if they were a few days apart, and they were definitely not twins, however their lifetime friendship is well documented, and maybe this is what the question is alluding to.

Gershon Gold
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