Rachel - Oceanside, CA
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 33° 13.954 W 117° 19.084
11S E 470365 N 3677114
This sculpture is on the grounds of Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, CA.
Waymark Code: WMJWZ6
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 01/08/2014
Views: 5
Although depicting a Biblical character, this sculpture depicts a young woman in a modern dress, kneeling andcrying while holding several flowers on her right arm.
A plaque below the work reads:
"RACHEL
Weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted
for them because they are gone.
You are gone but not forgotten.
Donated by
Knights of Columbus
Council 3162
and Parishioners
2001"
The artist is not listed.
Wikiepdia (
visit link) informs us:
"In Jeremiah 31:15, the prophet speaks of 'Rachel weeping for her children' (KJV). This is interpreted in Judaism as Rachel crying for an end to her descendants' sufferings and exiles following the destruction by the Babylonians of the First Temple in ancient Jerusalem. According to the Midrash, Rachel spoke before God: "If I, a mere mortal, was prepared not to humiliate my sister and was willing to take a rival into my home, how could You, the eternal, compassionate God, be jealous of idols, which have no true existence, that were brought into Your home (the Temple in Jerusalem)? Will You cause my children to be exiled on this account?" God accepted her plea and promised that, eventually, the exile would end and the Jews would return to their land."