Why does the Pasuk connect the sons with Leah, and the daughters with Yaakov?
Rashi: This teaches us that if the woman seeds first, she will give birth to a boy; and if the man seeds first, it will be a girl. 1
Moshav Zekenim and Riva ask that Berachos 60a learns this from "Ishah Ki Sazri'a, v'Yaledah Zachar" (Vayikra 12:2)! Also, Dinah was initially a male! (Gur Aryeh addresses these questions; refer to 46:15:1.1:1; and 46:15:1.3:1.) Also, above (34:1), Dinah is called Bas Leah! Moshav Zekenim - There, she was called so because she went out, like Leah. Riva - Rashi explains like the opinion (in Nidah 31a) that learns from "Bnei Leah." Dinah was initially female; if not for Leah's Tefilah, she would have been changed to a male.
The Pasuk concludes that Leah's family totaled 33, yet if one adds them up, there are only 32!
Rashi and Ramban (citing Sotah 12a): The thirty-third member of Leah's family was Yocheved, whom the Torah records as having been born in Egypt (Bamidbar 26:59), 1 implying that she was not conceived there.
Rashbam: Refer to 46:8:3:1 and the note there.
See Sotah 12a. Ohr ha'Chayim (to 46:8) - This is unlike Bereishis Rabah 94:9, which says that the Shechinah counts as the 70th. And why does it say (46:26) that 66 came to Egypt? It should be 67, with Yocheved! We can say that the Torah hints to her - "Kol ha'Nefesh" and "u'Venosav;" for other than Dinah, the Torah does not mention any other daughter of Yaakov. (How does u'Venosav hint to Yocheved?! Perhaps the text should say '"u'Venos Banav;" the Torah does not mention a granddaughter of Yaakov other than Serach.' - PF) Sotah 12a holds that this verse counts Yocheved, but it agrees that Yaakov completed the count of 70, and not Yocheved. She should not be counted, for until 30 days she is a Safek Nefel. (If so, why is she counted here? - PF). Even though we explain unlike Chazal, a wise Talmid may do so in matters of Peshat, and "Chiko Mamsakim v'Chulo Machamdim" (Shir ha'Shirim 5:16).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "These are the sons of Leah... as well as Dinah, his daughter - [The verse] pins the males on Leah, and the females on Yaakov. This teaches you that if the woman produces seed first, she will give birth to a male; whereas if the man produces seed first, she will give birth to a female." But the Gemara (Nidah 31a) initially derives this from a different Pasuk, "Ishah Ki Sazria, v'Yaledah Zachar" (Vayikra 12:2)!
Gur Aryeh: Our verse merely teaches us that this is the case, but we do not know why this is so! That is why we need the Pasuk in Vayikra, which tells us that "Ishah Ki Sazria" causes the birth of a male. The verse in Vayikra does not tell us what happens in the opposite case (i.e. if the man gives seed first); and so we need our Pasuk as well.
Rashi writes: "... This teaches you that if the woman produces seed first, she will give birth to a male; whereas if the man produces seed first, she will give birth to a female." Conceptually, why is this so?
Gur Aryeh #1: Conceptually, it is the male aspect that brings the female aspect to completion; and vice-versa. 1 The female's seed needs to be complemented by something male.
Gur Aryeh #2: Chazal teach that there are three partners in the creation of a person - the father, the mother, and Hashem Who unites them. 2 Hashem intended that man and woman "become one flesh" (Bereishis 2:24); Rashi (loc. cit.) explains that this happens through the child that is later born to the two of them. 3 Hashem unites them fully, by forming a male from the female's seed, or by forming a female from the male's seed.
Gur Aryeh: When a person sets an action in motion, the resulting process moves towards that person's completion. (In other words, the first party involved is the one to define the direction a process (in this case, conception) will take. - CS).
Gur Aryeh: Hashem placed the Yud of His Name in "Ish," and the Hey of His Name in "Ishah" (Sotah 17a, Rashi loc. cit).
Im other words, the ultimate union of "Ish" and "Ishah" - more so than the fleeting contact at the time of conception - is the child that is born to them as a result. (CS)
Rashi writes: "This teaches you that... if the man produces seed first, she will give birth to a female." But in this particular case, Rashi (to 30:21) wrote that Dinah was originally conceived as male, until Leah prayed that the fetus be changed to a female!
Gur Aryeh: Rashi means that in general, a female is associated more closely with a male (who brings her to completion, refer to 46:15:1.2:1). [Now that as a result of Leah's Tefilah, 1 Dinah was born female,] the Pasuk associates her with Yaakov.
See Targum Yonasan, Da'as Zekenim, Hadar Zekenim, and Chizkuni to 30:21. 2
Leah's intent was that her sister Rachel would have no less than two Shevatim to her name.
According to their approach, the outcome of her Tefilah was that the male Leah was carrying was switched with the female that Rachel was carrying, such that Rachel would give birth to Yosef, and Leah would give birth to Dinah! If so, Dinah was indeed always female, since her conception.
Rashi writes: "[The verse] pins the males on Leah, and the females on Yaakov; this teaches you that...." Nonetheless, we would expect the verse to ascribe the sons' Yichus to their father, as is common?
Gur Aryeh (to 27:29): The Torah already ascribed them to Yaakov (e.g., in 46:8); now it ascribes them to Leah to teach us this concept.
Rashi writes: "'Thirty-three' - [... The one not named] was Yocheved, who was born 'between the walls' as they entered the city." Why was she born at precisely that moment?
Maharal #1 (Gevuros Hashem Ch.13, p. 68): Yocheved would complete the number of 70. Only upon reaching that number could Bnei Yisrael be enslaved; refer to 46:4:1.2:1.
Maharal #2 (Gevuros Hashem, Hilchos Yayin Nesech, p. 333): Had the number of 70 been completed prior to their entry into Mitzrayim, Am Yisrael would have had their initial start even before their sojourn there. Had Yocheved been born after their entry, 1 that would mean that Bnei Yisrael became subjugated before the proper time.
However, according to Rashbam and Rabeinu Gershom (to Bava Basra 120a), that this indeed is what is meant by "born between the walls;" i.e., she was born after having entered the city.
Rashi writes: "... The one not named] was Yocheved, who was born... as they entered the city." If so, she was conceived in the midst of the famine! Did Levi not observe the Gemara (Ta'anis 11a), that prohibits marital relations during such a time?
Gur Aryeh (to 41:50): Refer to 41:50:151:1, as well as the other answers to that question.
Rashi writes: "Yocheved was born 'between the walls' as they entered the city." Why does the Torah not mention the tremendous miracle that took place, in that Yocheved was 130 when she gave birth to Moshe; much older than Sarah, who gave birth to Yitzchak when she was 90, a miracle which the Pasuk touts?
