The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand on the parsha this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
This week's parsha contains the story of Yaakov's marriage to Rachel and Leah which resulted from Lavan's attempts to interfere with Yaakov's choice of marrying Rachel. One of the more famous questions on this story is how can Yaakov marry sisters if this was later banned by the Torah?
R' Frand quoted the Ksav Sofer who had an interesting answer to the story and a link to the story later in the Parsha. In Bereishis 30:14-15, Rachel approaches Leah and asks for the dudai'm - the special flowers with a segulah for fertility. When Rachel asks Leah for the flowers, Leah says to Rachel, you have taken my husband and now you want the flowers too? Rachel should have responded to her- this was my husband! I gave you the signs so that you would not be embarrassed, but it should have been me first. However, Rachel does not give this response.
R' Frand next quoted the Ramban who explains that the issur to marry sisters is not an arayos problem but one of tzror or rivalry. If one sister was jealous of the other it would create tremendous friction in the house. This can be seen by the fact that after one sister dies, the husband can now marry another sister.
However, Rachel tells Yaakov, I am OK with the marriage and therefore Yaakov goes forward with marrying both Leah and Rachel.
The Ksav Sofer explains that Yaakov was aware that Rachel truly was OK with the marriage because he learned that Rachel had given Leah the signs so that she would not be embarrassed. However, he was concerned that maybe down the road, Rachel would come to regret her actions and then he could retroactive have a tzror problem. If so, it could render the marriage a sham and the children chas v'shalom would become mamzerim.
This could perhaps be the reason why Rachel has no children up until this point. Once Yaakov sees that she is quiet when challenged by Leah, he knows that she really was mochel. A few short pesukim later, Rachel finally has children, because we see that she truly was mochel.
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