The Short Vort by Rabbi Eisenman

There are certain places which transcend time and place and override cultural and religious differences.

Kever Rochel is one of those places.

It is a place apart from partisan politics and religious sectarianism.

It was, it is, and, it will always remain a place of unity where Jews of all colors and stripes come together to beseech Hashem through the merit of Rochel Imainu to bring salvation for the community and the individual.

Last night, on Motzei Shabbos I had the unique privilege of davening to Hashem with my grandson at Kever Rochel.

I was privileged to see Chassidim and secular Jews all united in their fervent Tefillos for Klal Yisroel in its time of need.

Just as Rochel Imainu overcame her feelings of sibling rivalry -as she revealed the secret password she and Yaakov had made up between them to Leah, -for the sake of unity and preventing her sister from being humiliated, so too, we must overcome our petty feelings of jealousy and our rivalries with each other and learn to live together in Shalom.

Rochel represents for us the model Tzadekes who for the sake of her sister’s dignity, forfeited her own “husband.”

It is this self-sacrifice which Rochel Imainu exemplified which we need to emulate.

In the Zechus of Rochel- whose “Parsha” is this week - may we be privileged to feel each other’s pain and may our Tefillos be answered and may we soon merit to see all of “Rochel’s Children” come home as the Passuk says, Veshavu banim lig'vulam- “And your children will return home…”