Rachel, the wife of Rabbi Akiva, will always be remembered as one of the great Jewish women in history. Even though her husband, who began his career as a simple shepherd, was not wealthy or a great Torah scholar, she chose to marry him over learned suitors and faced rejection from her father, Kalba Sabua, who was very wealthy.
As described in yesterday’s blog, Rabbi Akiva realized at the age of 40 that he wanted to learn Torah. With Rachel’s blessing, he set off to learn with the great Torah sage of that time, Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Akiva was gone for twelve long years, and during this time, his wife, Rachel, lived alone and managed to support herself, but in dire poverty. Once, a neighbor visited her and taunted her for having agreed to allow her husband to go away and learn for twelve years. In response to this criticism, Rachel responded, “Not only am I not bitter about my situation, I would not mind if he were to learn another twelve years!” Little did Rachel know that Rabbi Akiva, preparing to return, was standing by the shack and heard the entire conversation. He turned around and made his way back to Rabbi Eliezer to learn for another twelve years.
Rabbi Akiva returned to his hometown after 12 more years as a widely respected scholar and with 24,000 students in his entourage. His father-in-law who had rejected the young couple, came to see this great scholar. Suddenly, a woman in rags ran toward the Torah sage. The students thought she was mad and kept her away from Rabbi Akiva, who immediately said, “All that I and you know is thanks to this woman.” In joy, Rabbi Akiva was reunited with his wife, Rachel, and her father-in-law, repenting for his past behavior, gave the young couple the riches they so deserved.