Tzaddeket

Zilpah

זלפה

Leah's young maidservant, given to Yaakov Avinu as a wife, who bore him Gad and Asher and is counted by the Midrash among the six mothers of Israel.

YahrzeitNot recorded

Biography

Early Life

Zilpah a"h grew up in Charan, in the household of Lavan the Arami, the brother of Rivkah Imeinu. The Torah calls her Lavan's maidservant, but Chazal teach that she was more than that. Lavan's words to Yaakov, my daughters, are spoken twice, and Rashi explains that the second time he meant Bilhah and Zilpah, who were also his daughters, born to him by a concubine. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer explains why they were called maidservants: the daughters a man had from a concubine were called by that name. Targum Yonasan, too, calls Zilpah Lavan's daughter whom his concubine bore him.

So the girl who would one day stand beside Yaakov's wives was in truth a half-sister to Leah and Rachel. She was also young. Rashi, following the Midrash, says that she was the youngest of all the women of Yaakov's house, still a girl in years when her story begins. The Torah tells us nothing of her childhood, only that she lived in a house of trickery and idol worship, and that she would leave it to become one of the mothers of the tribes of Hashem.

Leah's Maidservant

Yaakov came to Charan fleeing from Eisav, and he worked seven years for Rachel, Lavan's younger daughter. When the time came, Lavan gathered all the people of the place and made a feast. In the evening he brought Leah to Yaakov instead of Rachel. At that very point the Torah stops to tell us that Lavan gave his maidservant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her maid.

Rashi explains why the Torah mentions it here. The custom was to give the older maid to the older daughter and the younger maid to the younger. Lavan did the opposite. He gave the youngest, Zilpah, to Leah, so that Yaakov would not realize that it was Leah being brought to him. In the morning Yaakov saw that it was Leah, and he said to Lavan: Why did you deceive me?

A week later Yaakov married Rachel as well, and Lavan gave Rachel his maidservant Bilhah. From then on Zilpah served Leah, the older sister, whose heart longed for her husband's love. She was with Leah in the years when Hashem saw that Leah was unloved and gave her four sons, Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehudah.

Mother of Gad and Asher

Rachel had no children, and she gave Bilhah to Yaakov so that she might be built up through her. Bilhah bore Dan and Naftali. Then the Torah says that Leah saw she had stopped bearing, and she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Yaakov as a wife. Targum Yonasan adds that Leah first set Zilpah free. The Torah itself calls Bilhah and Zilpah the wives of Yaakov.

Zilpah bore Yaakov a son, and Leah said, Good fortune has come, and called him Gad. Rashi brings the plain meaning, luck has come, and also the Midrash that he was born already circumcised. Zilpah bore a second son, and Leah said, In my happiness, for women will call me happy, and called him Asher. The Midrash explains her words: people would say, Happy is the one who merited this.

Chazal noticed a small detail. For every other mother of the tribes the Torah says that she conceived and then bore. For Zilpah it says only that she bore. Rashi, following the Midrash, explains that she was so young that her pregnancy did not show. Leah named both boys, and the Torah counts them as Zilpah's: the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid, Gad and Asher, born to Yaakov in Padan Aram.

Her Enduring Legacy

When Yaakov left Lavan after twenty years, Zilpah went with him, and the Torah mentions the tent of the two maidservants among the tents Lavan searched for his stolen idols. At the river Yabbok Yaakov took across his two wives, his two maidservants and his children. When Eisav came toward him with four hundred men, Yaakov placed the maidservants and their children first, then Leah and her children, and Rachel and Yosef last. The maidservants came forward first with their children and bowed.

Years later, when Yosef was seventeen, the Torah tells that he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Rashi explains that his brothers slighted the sons of Bilhah, so Yosef made a point of keeping company with them, and that he told his father that Leah's sons treated the sons of the maidservants with contempt and called them slaves. Through all of this the Torah keeps naming Zilpah's sons as full tribes of Israel. When Yaakov's family went down to Mitzrayim, the Torah counts sixteen souls from Zilpah, among them Asher's daughter Serach. The Torah does not tell when Zilpah passed away or where she was buried.

Her sons received blessings from Yaakov and from Moshe Rabbeinu. Gad would be a warrior who strikes back at those who raid him, and Asher's bread would be rich, a son favored by his brothers who would dip his foot in oil. The Midrash says that Asher never had to lodge at an inn. The Midrash also counts Zilpah among the mothers of Israel: when the princes of the tribes brought six covered wagons to the Mishkan, the Midrash says, they stood for the six Imahos, Sarah, Rivkah, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah.

Rebbe Elimelech of Lizhensk, in the Noam Elimelech, asks why Leah, who already had four sons, gave Zilpah to Yaakov at all. He answers that the Imahos knew the twelve tribes would hold every kind of Jew. Leah wanted the two sons who would stand for the simple folk to come through Zilpah: Gad, the Jew blessed with good fortune and wealth, and Asher, the plain Jew who is not learned in Torah but behaves uprightly. Then Leah named her next sons, Yissachar and Zevulun, for the tzaddikim through whom such people are sustained and drawn close. Jews remember Zilpah as the young mother whose sons were counted, with all their brothers, among the tribes of Hashem.

Stories

The Youngest at the Wedding

On the night Lavan deceived Yaakov, he gave the youngest maid, Zilpah, to Leah, so that Yaakov would not realize whom he was marrying.

Seven years had passed, and to Yaakov they had seemed like a few days, so great was his love for Rachel. He came to Lavan and asked for his wife. Lavan gathered all the people of the place and made a feast. Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer relates that all the men of the place gathered to show kindness to Yaakov.

But Lavan had another plan. When evening came, he took his older daughter Leah and brought her to Yaakov. The Torah pauses at that moment to say that Lavan had given his maidservant Zilpah to Leah as her maid. Rashi explains the reason. It was the custom in those days to give the older maid to the older daughter and the younger maid to the younger. Zilpah was the youngest of them all, still a child in years. Lavan gave the youngest maid to the older daughter so that Yaakov would not realize that it was Leah being brought to him.

Chazal teach that Zilpah was Lavan's own daughter, born to him by a concubine. Rashi says plainly that Lavan gave her to Leah in order to deceive Yaakov. In the morning Yaakov saw that it was Leah, and he said to Lavan: Was it not for Rachel that I worked for you? Why did you deceive me?

Lavan's trick did not have the last word. The young girl he had given to Leah as part of his trick became, in time, a wife of Yaakov herself and the mother of two tribes of Israel.

Source: Bereishis 29:20–25; Rashi on Bereishis 30:10 (from Bereishis Rabbah 71:9); Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer 36; Rashi on Bereishis 31:50 (from Bereishis Rabbah 74:13). English: The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); Pirke de Rebbi Eliezer, trans. G. Friedlander (London 1916).

Practical lessonLeave others out of the trick

Rashi says that Lavan gave Zilpah to Leah in order to deceive Yaakov: even a gift to his daughter became part of his trick. Most of us would never do what Lavan did, but small versions are common: asking a coworker to say you are in a meeting, having a child tell a caller that you are not home. This week, if you are about to ask someone to cover for you, stop. Say the true thing yourself, and leave the other person out of it.

Good Fortune Has Come

Leah set Zilpah free and gave her to Yaakov, and the two sons born to her were named for luck and for happiness.

Leah had borne four sons, and then she stopped bearing. Rachel had already given her maid Bilhah to Yaakov, and Bilhah had borne Dan and Naftali. Leah saw this, and she took Zilpah and gave her to Yaakov as a wife. Targum Yonasan says that before she did so, she freed her.

Zilpah bore a son. Chazal point out that the Torah does not say she conceived, as it says of all the other mothers, but only that she bore. Rashi explains that she was so young that no one could see she was expecting until the child was born.

Leah said, Good fortune has come, and called him Gad. The Midrash hears even more in her words: the good fortune of the house has come, the good fortune of the world has come. Rashi adds the Midrash that Gad was born already circumcised.

Then Zilpah bore a second son. Leah said, In my happiness, for women will call me happy, and she called him Asher. The Midrash explains that people would see and say: Happy is the one who merited this. It also says that Asher never had to lodge at an inn, and Yaakov would later bless him that his bread would be rich, fit for kings.

The Torah sums it up simply: the sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid, Gad and Asher. Leah gave the names, but the children were Zilpah's, and they were counted among the twelve tribes.

Source: Bereishis 30:9–13 and 49:20; Targum Yonasan on Bereishis 30:9; Rashi on Bereishis 30:10–11; Midrash Bereishis Rabbah 71:9–10. English: The Sefaria Midrash Rabbah (2022); The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge (London 1862).

Practical lessonSay the good news out loud

Leah did not keep her joy quiet. She named each child for the good she felt: fortune has come, happy am I. This week, when something good happens to you or to someone close to you, a recovery, a new job, a child's small success, say it out loud with a word of thanks: Baruch Hashem, good fortune has come. Then tell one person who will be happy with you. Naming the good helps you notice it, and shared joy grows.

The Sons of the Maidservants

Zilpah's sons were sometimes looked down on as the children of a maid, but the Torah never let them be counted as less.

On the night before he met Eisav, Yaakov crossed the river Yabbok with his two wives, his two maidservants and his children. In the morning he saw his brother coming with four hundred men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two maids, and he set the maids and their children in front. When Eisav asked who all these were, Yaakov answered: the children Hashem has graciously given your servant. Zilpah and Bilhah came forward first with their sons and bowed, then Leah and her children, and last Rachel and Yosef.

Years later, at home in Canaan, a hurt grew among the brothers. The Torah says that Yosef, at seventeen, was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Rashi explains that Yosef made a point of keeping company with the sons of Bilhah in particular, because his brothers slighted them. Among the things he reported to his father about the sons of Leah, Rashi says, was that they treated the sons of the maidservants with contempt and called them slaves.

Rashi adds that Yosef himself was later punished for this report: because he said his brothers called the maidservants' sons slaves, he was sold as a slave. But the Torah's own words had already settled the matter. It does not call Bilhah and Zilpah maids here. It calls them his father's wives. Gad and Asher were not lesser brothers; they were tribes of Israel.

Source: Bereishis 32:23, 33:1–7 and 37:2; Rashi on Bereishis 37:2 (from Bereishis Rabbah 84:7). English: Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary, trans. M. Rosenbaum and A. M. Silbermann (London 1929–1934).

Practical lessonUse the full title

Rashi says the sons of Leah called the maidservants' sons, Zilpah's among them, slaves; the Torah called her a wife of Yaakov. The names we use for people shape how others see them. This week, listen for the small labels in your home or workplace: just the cleaner, the second wife, the weak student. When you speak of that person, use their name and their real place, and if someone else belittles them, gently correct it in a word. Then make a point of greeting that person warmly, the way Yosef kept company with the sons of Bilhah.

Teachings

Why Leah Gave Zilpah

Leah already had four sons, so why did she give her maid Zilpah to Yaakov? The Noam Elimelech answers that the Imahos knew the twelve tribes would hold every kind of Jew. Leah's first four sons stood for four levels of tzaddikim. Opposite them would come four other kinds: two of lowly people, whom Rachel wished to come through Bilhah, and two of simple folk. Leah feared that these last two would come from her, so she gave Zilpah to Yaakov. She called the first son Gad, good fortune, for the Jew who is blessed with wealth. She called the second Asher, for the Jew who is not learned in Torah but behaves uprightly, and is praised by simple people. Then she named Yissachar and Zevulun for the tzaddikim through whom such Jews are sustained and brought into the service of Hashem.

Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Vayeishev (on Bereishis 30:9–13 and 37:2)

Practical lessonHonor the upright plain Jew

Rebbe Elimelech saw a whole tribe in the Jew who is not learned in Torah but lives honestly. Think of someone like that in your community: the man who never misses minyan, the woman who quietly runs the gemach, the storekeeper who gives true weight. This week tell them, plainly, that what they do matters. And if you are blessed with means, like Gad, connect it to Torah: support a learner or a shiur, so the blessing flows both ways.

Two Maidservants Brought Across

When Yaakov crossed the Yabbok, the Torah says he took his two wives and his two maidservants. Rebbe Elimelech does not speak of Zilpah by name here; he reads the words his two maidservants, the verse in which she and Bilhah cross the river, as the inner life of every Jew. A person has two wives: the wife Hashem commanded him to marry, and his holy neshamah, which longs only to rise to its root. He also has two maidservants, the animal soul and the yetzer hara, which hold him back from serving Hashem. But when a person purifies himself and breaks his physical desires, even these help him. The yetzer hara becomes good, and he serves Hashem with both inclinations. The animal soul helps too, for he sanctifies himself in what is permitted, in his eating, drinking and every movement. So Yaakov took across not only his wives but his maidservants as well, and raised everything up.

Noam Elimelech, Bereishis, Vayishlach (on Bereishis 32:23)

Practical lessonBring the body along

Yaakov did not leave the maidservants behind on the far side of the river. Choose one physical need this week that usually feels like a distraction from serving Hashem: your morning coffee, a walk, a rest after work. Before you begin, say quietly that you are doing it to have strength and a clear head for your tefillah, your family or your learning. Say the brachah slowly. The same act, taken across with you, becomes part of your avodah.

The Six Mothers

When the Mishkan was set up, the princes of the tribes brought their offering before Hashem: six covered wagons and twelve oxen. The Midrash gives several meanings for the number six, and one of them is that the six wagons stood for the six mothers of Israel: Sarah and Rivkah, Rachel and Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah. The same teaching appears in other places in the Midrash Rabbah. Zilpah came into Yaakov's house as a maid and was given to him as a wife by her mistress, but this Midrash places her among the Imahos. We may learn from it that every tribe had a mother, and that every one of those mothers is remembered when the whole people of Israel stands together before Hashem.

Bamidbar Rabbah 12:17 (on Bamidbar 7:3); also Esther Rabbah 1:12 and Shir HaShirim Rabbah 6:4

Practical lessonCount everyone at the table

The Midrash made sure Zilpah was counted when Israel brought its gifts to the Mishkan. At your next family simchah or Shabbos meal, think about who usually goes unmentioned: a step-parent, a caregiver, an in-law, a teacher who helped raise your children. Name them in your words of thanks, or ask one of them to say a few words. It takes a moment, and it lets everyone at the table know that they are part of the family's story.

Family & talmidim

Children: Gad, Asher

Historical sources