Bilhah is given to Rachel as a maid and would later serve as a surrogate mother for Rachel when she could not conceive. Though the story records none of Bilhah’s thoughts or words, she gives birth to two of Jacob’s sons for Rachel, Dan and Naphtali, and is remembered as one of the ancestresses of the Israelites.

Bilhah also took Rachel’s place in Jacob’s tent (Gen. Rabbati, Vayishlah, pp. 156–157). She was close to him until his dying day and served him when he fell ill (Pesikta Rabbati, Ba-Yom ha-Shemini 3). Bilhah was the one who informed Joseph that his father was ill.

After sending her children from New York to England, Bilhah Franks began writing to her son. These letters relate her experiences of New York society and her combination of devotion to Judaism and anger at its superstitions. Franks offers a window into the attempts of colonial American Jews to retain their religious identity while still participating in the larger society.

Oct 27, 2017 · Sarah explained to me that Bilhah and Zilpah were handmaidens of Rachel and Leah who were given to the sisters by their father. Bilhah and Zilpah gave birth to four sons—Naphtali, Dan, Asher, and Gad—fathered by Jacob, who became the heads of four of the T welve Tribes of Israel. Bilhah and Zilpah were slaves, not wives of a patriarch, but ...

Nov 21, 2023 · The Torah holds thirteen lines that mention Bilhah and eleven that mention Zilpah (and five that name both). Through the story, Bilhah is referred to as שִׁפְחָה shifcha (slave), אָמָה ama (concubine), אִשָּׁה isha (wife), and פִּילֶגֶשׁ pilegesh (concubine), while Zilpah transitions between shifcha, isha, and ama ...

Bilhah bore Jacob two sons, Dan and Naphtali, the first by her own merit, and the second by the merit of Rachel (Gen. Rabbati, Vayeze, p. 121). The Torah states that Rachel named Bilhah’s sons. When Dan was born, Rachel said : “God has vindicated me [dananni]; indeed, He has heeded my plea and given me a son.”

Through the initiative of Leah, Zilpah became a secondary wife to Jacob and bore him two sons, Gad and Asher. Though Gad (“fortune”) and Asher (“happy”) were borne to Jacob by Zilpah, they were considered to be children of Leah, who gave them names symbolic of her perspective on their births and their ability to gain favor for her with Jaco

According to another midrashic account, Zilpah was Rachel’s handmaiden, and her father exchanged her for Bilhah when he deceived Jacob, so that Zilpah became Leah’s handmaiden (Midrash Aggadah, ed. Buber, Gen. 29:24). When Leah saw that she ceased bearing, she gave Zilpah to Jacob. The Rabbis relate that Leah learned such conduct from Sarah.

The younger daughter of Laban and wife of Jacob, Rachel is the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, who become two of the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen 35:24; 46:15–18). Rachel, who died young, becomes an image of tragic womanhood. After the biblical period, “Mother Rachel” continued to be celebrated as a powerful intercessor for the people of Israel.

This teaches of the Rabbinic notion that Jacob thought differently of the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, on the one hand, and those of Leah and Rachel, on the other. According to the Rabbis, this distinction between the offspring of Rachel and Leah and those of the handmaidens continued to be reflected in later generations.