tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post116498741080453598..comments2024-03-05T21:22:43.426-05:00Comments on parshablog: parshat Vayeitzei: How old was Rachel?joshwaxmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03516171362038454070noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5589564.post-1164993158947384932006-12-01T12:12:00.000-05:002006-12-01T12:12:00.000-05:00I don't recall the source, but I do remember readi...I don't recall the source, but I do remember reading somewhere that Rachel was 5 when Yaakov first laid eyes on her. That explains his choice to work 7 years for her -- a period of time to bring her up to child-bearing age. So his kiss would be a cousinly one to a child at that first meeting -- not a sign that he had fallen in love. <BR/>Of course, that makes her far, far younger than Yaakov who was a senior citizen by our standards by the time he married her. But that would not have been an obstacle. Rashi quotes a midrash that Yaakov feared his brother would want to take Dina as a wife, and the age difference between them would have been a couple of decades greater.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com