How Did Our Father Jacob Marry Two Sisters?

Hello,

You asked well: how did our father Jacob marry two sisters, when it is written that the Patriarchs observed the entire Torah even before it was given? Regarding our father Jacob, see Rashi on Genesis 32:5, on the verse "I have lived with Laban"; garti has the numerical value of 613, meaning: with the wicked Laban I lived, and the 613 mitzvot I kept. Several answers have been given for this, among them:

1. The Ramban (Genesis 26:5) explained that the Patriarchs observed the entire Torah only in the Land of Israel, and our father Jacob married the two sisters outside the Land.

2. The Daas Zekeinim (Parashat Vayeishev 37:35) explained that since he had not been commanded regarding the Torah, although it was known through Divine inspiration, whatever he wished he observed, and whatever he wished he left aside. Similarly, the Rema wrote in his responsa (siman 10) that only Abraham our father observed all the commandments of the Torah, including rabbinic commandments, as explained in tractate Yoma (28b). However, the members of his household observed only the seven Noahide laws, and therefore Jacob could marry two sisters, since this is not one of the seven Noahide laws. See there. This is unlike what is explained in Rashi on the Torah, cited above.

3. The Chizkuni (Genesis 29:28) explained that since Rachel and Leah were gentiles, when they married Jacob they converted, and a convert who converts is like a newly born child (see tractate Yevamot 22a). Accordingly, they no longer had any kinship at all and were not considered sisters. This was also written in explanation by the responsa of the Radbaz, part 2 (siman 796), the Maharsha on tractate Yoma (28b, s.v. mitzvotai), the Maharal of Prague in Gur Aryeh (Genesis, chapter 46, note 5), the Yefeh Toar (Bereishit Rabbah 16:9), and the Chida in his book Rosh David (Parashat Vayishlach, s.v. ve-ethalacha).

(However, at first glance this is difficult in light of the Gemara in tractate Pesachim 119b, which says that in the future Hashem will make a feast for the righteous on the day He shows kindness to the seed of Isaac. After they eat and drink, they give Abraham our father a cup of blessing to recite the blessing, and he says to them: I will not bless, since Ishmael descended from me. They say to Isaac: Take it and bless; he says to them: I will not bless, since Esau descended from me. They say to Jacob: Take it and bless; he says to them: I will not bless, since I married two sisters during their lifetimes, and the Torah that will in the future be given will forbid them to me. According to this answer, since they converted and are considered like newly born children, why did Jacob say that the Torah would in the future forbid them to him? In that case, there is no Torah prohibition in marrying two sisters. The Emet LeYaakov also raised this question on Leviticus 20:17. See also Sefer Parashat Derakhim, discourse 1.)

4. The Chizkuni there further explained that some say Leah and Rachel were from two different women, and a gentile’s children are traced only after the mother, as derived from the verse Ki Yasir es bincha (Deuteronomy 7:4); therefore they were permitted to Jacob.

5. The Maharal of Prague, in his works Gur Aryeh (Genesis, chapter 32, note 6, and chapter 46, note 5) and Tiferet Yisrael (end of chapter 20), wrote another explanation: our father Jacob married the two sisters by way of Divine inspiration. In this manner, the Yefeh Toar cited above also wrote that one may say that Jacob married the two sisters by way of direct communication from Hashem.

Similarly, the Or HaChaim (Genesis 49:3, s.v. veha-avot) wrote that because of their belovedness before Hashem and their longing for supernal bliss, the Patriarchs observed everything, etc. But where they saw benefit for their own success, as one might say with Jacob, when he sensed the success involved in marrying the two sisters, he turned a blind eye to the gain that would have come from fulfilling that mitzvah, since he would incur no punishment if he did not fulfill it so long as the Torah had not yet been given. All the more so if we say they acted by direct communication, since the Patriarchs were prophets (Megillah 14a), and Hashem told them to do so. Likewise, see in Nefesh HaChaim (Gate 1, chapter 21) that since the Patriarchs were not obligated by law to fulfill the mitzvot, when our father Jacob of blessed memory understood that, according to the root of his soul, great rectifications in the higher powers and worlds would result if he married these two sisters, Rachel and Leah, and that both of them would build the House of Israel, he exerted much effort and undertook many endeavors to obtain them so that they would marry him. See there.

See also what was written on this question in the responsa of the Rashba, part 1 (siman 94), and what was written about his words in the responsa of the Radbaz there. Also see the Maharsha on tractate Sanhedrin (19b, s.v. malveh), Sefer Midrash Talpiot (Anaf Yaakov), Shdei Chemed, part 1 (page 54, note 186, and page 155), and responsa Igrot Moshe, Even HaEzer, part 4 (siman 9, note 1).

With blessings,

Hillel Meirs