Rachel and Rabbi Akiva: Beyond Life
Question
Why does it seem that Rachel, the wife of Rabbi Akiba, is not given the same or even more honor than her husband? It is because of her what Rabbi Akiva
became. She suffered and sacrificed so much.
Also, where is she buried? Most people go to pray with requests at the
gravesite of Rabbi Akiva, not hers. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Answers
Rachel was in fact shown great honor, at least equal to the honor of Rabbi Akiva, so I would respectively say that your assumption is not correct.
As you allude to in your question, one of the most famous statements made by Rabbi Akiva was that he announced to his twenty-four thousand students that everything that he was able to teach them was in her merit. She encouraged him in pursuit of the greatest Torah heights, and was willing to sacrifice along with him in order to attain this goal.
As Rabbi Akiva stated to his students: “Yours (reward for Torah) and mine (reward for Torah) is (due to) hers. Rabbi Akiva proclaimed with these words that the honor and reward due to Rachel was greater than his. Everything that he and his students had was a merit to her and testimony to her elevated spiritual status.
Rachel, Rabbi Akiva’s wife, is buried in Tiberius not too far from her husband. Her burial place is actually visited very regularly by people who come to pray at her grave.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team