Rachel's Duplicity

 Rachel gave the simanim to Leah. Was Rachel right to do that? Did Rachel have the right to do that?

The fact that Yaakov gave Rachel the simanim showed that he expected, or at least knew it was possible that Lavan would try to give him Leah instead of Rachel. That means that he decided that no matter the cost to Leah, he did not want to be cheated. He trusted Rachel with this most important secret to protect himself. Rachel then abused Yaakov's trust and gave the simanim to her sister. It seems to me that she had absolutely no right to do that. 

It seems like a childish question. Who am I to question the behavior of the Avos and the Imahos? If she did it, it must have been right. But the fact remains that Yaakov did not want her to do it, and he trusted her to protect him, and she did the opposite.

My brother Akiva said that this falls under malbin pnei chaveiro equals shfichas damim. Although we pasken that אסור להציל עצמו בממון חבירו, or at least you have to pay him back, what about about cases where it can not be paid back? Perhaps it is muttar להציל ראובן בממון שמעון because of לא תעמוד על דם ריעך and that is what Rachel did. I did not like that explanation because A, המלבין פני חברו ברבים כאילו שופך דמים  is just ke'ilu, and B, Yaakov had decided that pikuach nefesh it might be, but he did not want to be irreparably harmed?  And bichlal I don't like reducing the issue to "they were klerring Dovid HaMelech's iboya." Or that Rachel held like Rashi that it's just an issur, so it's nidcheh, or like Tosfos that it just means you have to pay back- and where you can't, of course אין לך דבר. Yaakov was the bechir ha'avos; he knew what he was doing. He gave her the simanim because he trusted her to not ruin his life, and she took that trust and turned it against him.

Mibeinayhu of my wife and myself, I propose this explanation. Yaakov wanted to marry Rachel. He wanted to marry Rachel because of who Rachel was. A Rachel who would allow Leah to suffer this extreme public humiliation was not Rachel. Davka in order to make it possible for Yaakov to marry Rachel, Rachel had to trick Yaakov into marrying Leah. This is an eizer k'negdo concept. 

My brother said there is the same "But Yaakov knew this and still wanted Rachel to prevent him from being fooled so that he could marry her." I don't know if that is a kashe. Only Rachel knew what being Rachel entailed. 

This really belongs in the discussion that every one of the daled Imahos made their husbands do something against their will- Sarah with Yishmael, Rivkah with Yaakov and Eisav, and Rachel and Leah as above. That does not make the question any easier. By Sarah and by Rivkah they saw something Avraham Avinu and Yitzchak did not see. Here, it is simply a matter of doing an avla to someone who trusted you and who paskened he was right to protect himself.