Parshat Vayetze: The Unique Gratitude of Leah

(33) She conceived again and bore a son, and declared, “This is because Hashem heard that I was unloved and has given me this one also”; so she named him Shimon. (34) Again she conceived and bore a son and declared, “This time my husband will become attached to me, for I have borne him three sons.” Therefore he was named Levi. (35) She conceived again and bore a son, and declared, “This time I will praise God.” Therefore she named him Judah. Then she paused from childbirth.

THIS TIME WILL I PRAISE : Ha-pa’am should be explained as if written ha-pa’am ha-zot (this time). Its meaning is, now that I have four sons I will give thanks to the Lord for I will not desire any more children. One can paraphrase This time will I praise the Lord by: I will praise the Lord because he has given me all this and has satisfied me.

הפעם אודה THIS TIME I WILL PRAISE — because I have assumed more than my share, from now on I should praise God (Genesis Rabbah 71:4).

Rabbi Berechya in the name of Rabbi Levi said: [this may be analogized to] a priest who went down into a threshing-floor: one man gave him a kor of maaser, yet he showed no gratitude to him, while another gave him
a handful of non-sacred corn and he showed himself grateful. Said the former to
him, "Sir priest, I gave you a kor yet you evinced no gratitude, while this man gave
you merely a handful, and you showed yourself grateful to him." "You gave me of
my own portion," he replied, "whereas this man gave me of his own." Similarly,
since the matriarchs thought that each was to produce three, when Leah bore a
fourth son she exclaimed, "This time I will praise the Lord."

And Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: From the day the Holy One, Blessed be He, created the world, no one thanked the Holy One, Blessed be He, until Leah came and thanked Him, as it is stated: “And she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and she said, ‘This time I will give thanks to God,’ and thus he was called Judah” (Genesis 29:35).

This time I will thank G-d -Because she had Ruach Hakodesh(a holy vision) that Yaakov was going to have twelve tribes(through 12 sons), and he has four mates, so when she had her fourth son, she gave thanks because she got a greater portion than the original calculation she expected(on average each wife had three sons, and she had four).

Until Leah came, etc. As Rashi explains, and similarly as is explained in Bereishit Rabbah at length, see there. Since the verse doesn't give an explanation for her being thankful for the fourth child, the midrash expounds thusly. And it must be that she was not literally prophesying, for we see that Leah is not considered as a prophetess in the first chapter of Mas. Megillah 14a. Rather, without her knowledge, God put words in her mouth to predict the future....

The Sages taught in a baraita: Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied on behalf of the Jewish people, and they neither subtracted from nor added onto what is written in the Torah, introducing no changes or additions to the mitzvot except for the reading of the Megilla, which they added as an obligation for all future generations....

The Gemara asks with regard to the prophetesses recorded in the baraita: Who were the seven prophetesses? The Gemara answers: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther.

Rashi explains, following the midrash, that Leah saw through a divine vision that [she was supposed to have 3 children with Jacob], and the Maharsha writes that this was not literal prophesy, but rather that God put words in her mouth without her knowledge, and the mental gymnastics of this answer are seen and felt.

For rather the answer is simple, that the author of the midrash holds that all the matriarcs were prophets...and this view simply disagrees with the midrashic idea expressed in Megillah. And furthermore, there are other aggadot in the gemara which ascribe to this same view... and therefore one shouldn't use one aggada to negative a secondary one [given that there are a wide range of aggadot with differing views].

And know - that the overall idea of this midrash, that Leah was the first person to thank God, is very difficult to understand. For the gemara in Bava Batra 14b claims that Adam HaRishon authored Tehillim 139, and the verse states: "I praise You, for I am awesomely, wondrously made"...?

It is therefore possible to suggest here that the type of gratitude of Leah is that of someone who received greater than the share they expected/anticipated. And in this respect she was the first - for the gratitude of Adam was more universal regarding the wonders and good of God.

(13) It was You who created my conscience;
You fashioned me in my mother’s womb. (14) I praise You,
for I am awesomely, wondrously made;
Your work is wonderful;
I know it very well.