Leah or Rachel?
Question
In Genesis, when Joseph has the dream about the sheafs of wheat bowing to him; and Jacob asks him “Will your mother and I bow down to you?” Is the mother Jacob refers to Rachel or Leah? If my understanding is correct, Rachel has been dead for several years when this happened. Did Leah become Joseph and Benjamin’s mother when Rachel died?
Answers
The Rabbis ask the same question! They explain that after Rachel died, her maidservant, Bilhah, brought up Joseph and Benjamin as if they were her own children. It is to Bilhah that the dream is referring.
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