Counted Among the Mothers
The six wagons the princes brought for the Mishkan stood, the Midrash teaches, for six mothers of the nation, and Bilhah and Zilpah are counted among them.
When the Mishkan was set up, the princes of the twelve tribes brought six covered wagons and twelve oxen to carry it, a wagon for every two princes and an ox for each one. The Midrash finds many meanings in the number six: the six days of Creation, the six orders of the Mishnah, the six steps of Shlomo's throne. Among them it sees six mothers of the nation: Sarah and Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah. Bilhah and Zilpah had come into Yaakov's house as maids, and their sons were once slighted as the sons of maids. Yet when the tribes brought the wagons that would carry the dwelling place of the Shechinah through the wilderness, the Midrash sees in them the two maids standing beside the four Matriarchs, mothers of the whole nation.
Source: Midrash Bamidbar Rabbah 12:17 (on Bamidbar 7:3)
Every family and every shul has people who carry the load without a title: the one who sets up the kiddush, the aunt who babysits, the gabbai's helper. The Midrash makes sure Bilhah and Zilpah are counted. This week, at your Shabbos table or at a meeting, name one such person out loud and say exactly what they did. Then send them a short note of thanks.