Some Ideas to Jump-start Your Own Creative Interpretations

Try one of these:

Visual

  • Draw Leah and Rachel (realistic, stick figures, or abstract) - how do you imagine them to be similar and different?
  • Sketch the wedding scene. How do you imagine it looked? Where was Rachel?

Music

  • Write a love song from Rachel to Jacob, Leah to Jacob, or Jacob to either sister
  • Create a “mixtape” of songs that relate to this story. What would be the soundtrack of Rachel and Jacob’s relationship? Leah and Jacob’s? Leah and Rachel’s?

Movement

  • Choreograph a re-enactment of the wedding ceremony. This could be silent, or done with background music. How does Leah move; what does Rachel do; what does Jacob do when he lifts the veil? This could be one person playing multiple parts, or created by a group.
  • In chavruta: have one person play Rachel, and the other Leah, in a wordless conversation between the two sisters. How would each sister express her feelings towards the other through movement? Would the characters respond to each other, or ignore each other? Multiple chavrutas could work on this separately, then come back together to present, noticing similarities and differences among the groups.

Writing

  • Write a letter from Rachel to Jacob explaining why you chose to give the passwords to Leah
  • Write a letter from Leah to Rachel, expressing Leah’s feelings about her sister, at one of the following moments:
    • as a teenager, before Jacob comes to town
    • the day after the Leah and Jacob’s wedding;
    • a few years into the marriage, when Leah has many children and Rachel none;
    • soon after Rachel’s death
    • Summarize Rachel or Leah’s story in six words

    Or use one of these verses as a jumping-off point and write, draw, dance or sing about it:

    Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and broke into tears. (29:11)

    Leah had weak eyes (lit., “soft eyes”); Rachel was shapely and beautiful. (29:17)

    So Jacob served seven years for Rachel and they seemed to him but a few days because of his love for her. (29:20)

    When evening came, [Laban] took his daughter Leah and brought her to [Jacob]; and [Jacob] cohabited with her…When morning came, there was Leah! (29:23 & 25)

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Some Ideas to Jump-start Your Own Creative Interpretations." (Viewed on November 29, 2024) <https://jwa.org/node/23205>.