Bilhah

Bilhah Abigail Levy Franks (c. 1696–1756) was an English–born Jewish woman who lived most of her life in the Province of New York, British America. She is known for the letters she wrote to her eldest son, Naphtali, after he moved to England. Spanning the years 1733 to 1748, these letters describe the political and social milieu of 18th-century New York, together with the assimilation and interfaith marriage that affected Jewish families.

Bilhah (בִּלְהָה‎ "unworried", Standard Hebrew Bilha, Tiberian Hebrew Bilhâ) is a woman mentioned in the Book of Genesis. Genesis 29:29 describes her as Laban's handmaid, who was given to Rachel to be her handmaid on Rachel's marriage to Jacob. When Rachel failed to have children, Rachel gave Bilhah to Jacob as a concubine to bear him children. Bilhah gave birth to two sons, whom Rachel claimed as her own and named Dan and Naphtali. Genesis 35:22 expressly calls Bilhah Jacob's concubine, a pilegesh.