This shiur is dedicated in loving memory of Adira Chana Bolthouser a"h bas Shais, nifterah Rosh Chodesh Kislev 5770.
She is the mother for the babies ripped from their mother's arms; the mother for children who passed too young; 
She is the mother of us all, at any age, when we feel bereft and need encouragement.
the mother for the bride whose spirit perpetually wears her wedding dress in the presence of the aura of this mother, never under the chupah itself; the mother for the young mother who will never see her child grow to adulthood; and she is the mother of us all, at any age, when we feel bereft and need encouragement. She is our Universal Jewish Mother, Rachel. How did Rachel Imenu get to fill this role, and how has her resting place come to be the magnet for Jewish souls, living and dead, who crave the comforting embrace of Mother?
From the moment she died in childbirth right outside Eretz Yisrael, and Yaakov buried her there rather than in Mearat Hamachpelah, the cave of Machpelah, Rachel's role was set for eternity. She is at a crossroads, and she is in position. But the journey began much earlier, culminating in the birth of the child she called Ben-Oni, the "son of my affliction", and whom Yaakov called Benyamin, the "son of my (right) strength". Yaakov, who had just received his additional name of Yisroel, sees in this son the manifestation of this Yisroel aspect of his persona, of victory and joy, while Rachel sees the Yaakov, depressed phase of life as she mourns her own imminent death, and the deprivation in not seeing this son grow to maturity.
The question nevertheless remains, why was Rachel buried where she was? They were at most only a day's journey from Canaan; would it have been so difficult to bring her there to be buried in Mearat Hamachpelah alongside her beloved husband Yaakov?
This is the question that lies at the crux of our discussion. Our commentators offer several approaches to this difficulty. Yaakov, when he himself is approaching death, asks Yosef to take his remains from Egypt to Canaan and bury him in Mearat Hamachpelah. This is certainly a longer distance than Yaakov would have had to take Rachel's remains when she died. Yaakov tries to appease Yosef about this, and Rashi explains:
"Yosef," Yaakov says, "Understand that it was not my choice to bury Rachel there, but rather the choice of Hakodosh Boruch Hu Himself. There will come a time when my children will be driven into exile. At that time, they will stop by your mother's grave, their mother's grave, and pray for her to intercede on their behalf, and she and they will be comforted. Therefore, it was necessary that I bury her there." But does this reason reverse the cause with the effect?
However, we have the alternate explanation of Ramban, who posits that Yaakov could not bury Rachel in Mearat Hamachpelah because the Torah would later forbid a man from marrying two sisters while they both lived. Although this was not yet the law, Yaakov felt it would be shameful to bring both sisters to the eternal rest with him in the presence of his father and grandfather who had kept all the Torah, certainly including this law, during their lifetimes.
And yet Yaakov, who was the consummate tzaddik, did marry both sisters. In fact, it was necessary that he marry both sisters, for each was the essence of one characteristic of the nation that together would comprise Knesset Yisroel, the totality of our national soul throughout time.
Leah, during her life, was the one who stood at the crossroads, waiting to hear information about her intended, Esau. She spent her life crying bitter tears over this presumed fate. Yet, she ended up as the first wife of Yaakov, the joyous mother of six of the tribes, and she is the one buried for all eternity alongside her husband. She represents the strong, victorious side of our patriarch Yisroel, the side that, though hidden, will never be destroyed, will always emerge victorious. She symbolizes that pintele Yid that will never be extinguished in every Jewish soul. This core is not based on merit, but simply on having a Jewish soul. Leah is to be buried in the hidden catacombs of Hebron just as that pintele Yid is often buried deep within the Jewish soul.
Rachel, on the other hand, had no need to go out. She knew her destiny was with Yaakov. It had been revealed to 
Her aspect of Judaism is merit based.
her. Yet, she became the second wife of Yaakov, broken and banished from their final resting place. She ended up at a crossroads, open and defenseless, symbolizing Yaakov and their children as they are forced into exile at the destruction of our Holy Temple. Her aspect of Judaism is merit based.
According to Rabbi Wolfson in Wellsprings of Faith, for Yaakov's marriage on earth to be reflective of the relationship of Hakodosh Boruch Hu with Knesset Yisroel, Yaakov had to marry both women. Some Jews barely know they're Jewish, yet, in times of stress that pintele Yid emerges and they proclaim their hidden desire to die as a Jew or perhaps, finally, to live as a Jew. For others, Jewish pride is at the forefront always, and they strive to merit ever greater heights in their relationship with HaShem.
Yaakov understood this connection and planned on marrying both Rachel and Leah, each in her proper time, but Lavan foiled his plan.
Yaakov knew through Divine inspiration that Rachel was destined to die young. His plan was to marry Rachel first and at her death, marry Leah. He would then not have been in violation of any Torah law and both wives could have been buried with him in Mearat Hamachpelah. And if that had happened, then the relationship between Hakodosh Boruch Hu and the Nation of Israel would never have been severed and Bnei Yisroel would never have been exiled. But this was not to be.
We read in the Passover Haggadah, "An Aramean tried to destroy my Father. Then he descended to Egypt...." This Aramean was Lavan, and because of his actions we suffered our first and all subsequent exiles. Lavan's deceit upended Yaakov's plan. By placing Leah under the marriage canopy so that Yaakov married her first, Yaakov could no longer marry both women without being in violation of Torah law, albeit Torah law was not yet in effect. Yaakov was now forced to marry both sisters while both were alive, possibly creating discord in the household and preventing both from lying with him unto eternity.
While one might say that Yaakov made the choice to bury Leah with him, and Rachel outside based on either his Divine insight or on the fact that Leah was his first wife, the Vayovinu BaMikra offers a profound view that will concretize for us Rachel's role in our history and in our individual lives. According to his thesis, it was Rachel herself who made this decision.
There is an enigmatic dialogue between Rachel and Leah when Rachel asks for some of the dudaim, mandrake flowers, that Reuben brought his mother. Leah's response reveals the essence of the current relationship between the sisters: "Isn't it enough that you already have my [husband's love] that you also want these fertility flowers?"
"Therefore," responds Rachel, "he will sleep with you tonight." This apparently insignificant slight to Yaakov's honor, say many commentators, resulted in Rachel's punishment in not sharing a final resting place with him.
Leah knows that Rachel is indeed her husband's first love. She feels that what ties Yaakov to herself is the children she has born him. Indeed, the names she gives the children attests to this. If Rachel now will have children as a result of a fertility tea of mandrake leaves, she is afraid she herself will be left with nothing. But here Vayovinu BaMikra supplies tremendous insight by adding between-the-lines dialogue.
Leah yearned for the complete love of Yaakov while Rachel yearned for children. When Leah responds with the hurt of possibly losing Yaakov's love should Rachel have children, Rachel reassures her. Rachel acknowledges Leah's yearning to be the primary love of Yaakov's life. Rachel accepts this. Her response reveals that her own primary need is having children, greater than her need for Yaakov's love. She concedes that love in exchange for her ability to have children: "Therefore will he sleep with you tonight." This dedication toward bearing and rearing children was the hallmark of Rachel's life. She was already crying for her children, tears that never cease flowing from the moment Yosef runs off to cry at her grave as the merchants carry him down to Egypt up until this very day.
But Rachel is not the only one who cries for Bnei Yisroel. When Yaakov first meets Rachel at the well, he raises his voice and cries. Rashi gives two explanations for Yaakov's crying. First, he says that Yaakov saw through prophecy that she would not be buried with him. The second explanation, by contrast, is extremely trivial - that he came empty handed, not like Eliezer who came laden with gifts.
Vayovenu BaMikra continues to give us the profound implications of this meeting and Yaakov's tears. Yaakov saw Rachel coming with the sheep. Symbolically, he saw her as the shepherdess of our nation, guarding His sheep with dedication. He foresaw that in this role she would not be buried with him, for she would need to protect those sheep, her children, throughout the ages. But Yaakov also knew that he himself was destined to be buried in
Yaakov raised his voice now so that these sobs and tears would mingle with Rachel's.Mearat Hamachpelah. He would not have the opportunity to cry for the children during those troubled times.
The Lemachar Aatir notes that Yaakov raised his voice now so that these sobs and tears would mingle with Rachel's as their children were sent into exile. As their children came to cry at Mother Rachel's grave, Father Yaakov's tears would rise up with hers. This would be too much to reveal when first meeting his future bride; to her, at this moment, he could say he cried because he could not bring her appropriate gifts.
And yet, one other cries alongside Rachel and Yaakov. The Ribbono shel olam cries with them, joins us in our pain. He knows, in the hidden secrets that Hevron represents and that will only be revealed in the future, that all is good. But in order to comfort us, He has confined Himself to that which can be perceived in the world we live in, represented by the revelations and destruction symbolized by Jerusalem and Rachel's crossroads tomb. Here is destruction and pain. While HaShem knows that in the end all is for the good, He purposely limits His knowledge to the present, so that He too can cry with us.
HaShem Himself has given us permission to acknowledge the pain when things seem bitter to us. He tells us that we must not deny the bad. We may cry. But then we must try to take that difficulty and calamity and transform it into something sweet and good, as Moshe was able, with HaShem's help, to sweeten the bitter waters of Marah. Although we cannot see the hidden good in the bitter medicine in our lives and in our history, we have faith that eventually it will be revealed to us; and the tearful world from the depths of Rachel's resting place will be transformed to tears of joy, that Hakodosh Boruch Hu - the Master of both the hidden, downcast world of Yaakov and Rachel, and of the jubilant, victorious world of Yisroel and Leah - will be recognized by all, and knowledge of Him will envelop the world as water covers the seas.