The matriarchs of the Jewish people: Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, and Leah. Often also includes Bilhah and Zilpah.
Questions tagged [imahot-matriarch-mothers]
59 questions
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Why are there only four mothers?
Why aren't Bilhah and Zilpah considered matriarchs? If Yaakov married them, obviously they were great people, right?
shlomo
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Who are the "matriarchs"?
The Talmud does not consider Jacob's "other" two wives, Zilpah and Bilhah, to be "matriarchs":
תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: אֵין קוֹרִין ״אָבוֹת״ אֶלָּא לִשְׁלֹשָׁה, וְאֵין קוֹרִין ״אִמָּהוֹת״ אֶלָּא לְאַרְבַּע. -- The Sages taught in a baraita: One may only…
Maurice Mizrahi
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Rochel's tears vs. Leah's tears
In the Torah, Leah cried because she didn't wish to marry Esav, and wished to marry Yaakov instead. However, post-death, Rochel cried about the fate of the nation when we entered our exile.
Why would Leah, then, be considered the 'wife of Israel'…
Anna Steingold
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What is the Source for the Report that Leah and Rachel were Twins?
The Jewish Encyclopedia cites Seder Olam Rabbah 2:2 as a rabbinical claim that Rachel and Leah were twins:
Rachel and Leah were twin sisters, fourteen years old when Jacob came
to their father's house; consequently they were twenty-one years old
at…
Dan Fefferman
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