Lamentations Rabbah 24 — Rachel outprays Abraham and Moses

In the rabbinic commentary on Lamentations, after the destruction of the Temple Abraham and Moses come to God weeping and pleading for Israel, and God does not answer. Only when 'the matriarch Rachel' intercedes does he relent: 'Forthwith the mercy of the Holy One, blessed be He, was stirred, and He said, For your sake, Rachel, I will restore Israel to their place' — and the midrash quotes Jeremiah 31:15–16 as its proof. Pitre notes that the belief in Rachel's supremely effective intercession 'is directly based on the prophecy of Jeremiah,' and quotes Jacob Neusner: her intercession 'succeeds when all other intervention fails,' because 'she speaks not of sacrifice but of love.'

• Jeremiah 31:15 — the text the midrash builds on.
• Jeremiah 31:16 — 'thy work shall be rewarded.'

This is the strongest Jewish precedent in the book for Marian intercession: a mother of Israel, dead for centuries, whose prayer for her children God cannot refuse. Neusner's own question follows — 'if Rachel, then why not Mary?'

• Midrash Rabbah — Lamentations Rabbah 24 (pp 146–147) · read
• Modern scholars Pitre cites — Jacob Neusner (p 147)