As MDR ssays. lots of interesting things about Mama Rachel, and the things you cited, BodhiSeed, are valid ones. Also, of the two sisters, Rachel was the one more comfortable with the outside world, while Leah stayed inside. That's supposed to be one of the reasons Rachel was buried "on the way" in Efrata, and not in the Machpela Cave with the other Patriarchs and Matriarchs. She has a kind of singularity somehow above the others.
"A voice is heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children"; Rachel wept from her tomb seeing the Children of Israel going into exile. Rachel died giving birth to her second son, motherhood was not something she was given easily, and her bond with her Children is deep.
A rabbi I know gave some women rides to Rachel's Tomb when he was on his way to Jerusalem. He asked them "Why bother going to Rachel's Tomb when you can go to the Western Wall? isn't that more of a "direct line"?
Rachel, they told him, was a Jewish mother, and some things only a mother can understand.
Theologically, this is problematic, but intuitively, it's another means of identifying with the feminine aspects of G-d, even in a tradition that is strict about the idea of monotheism. Yes, a lot of authorities would have problems with this. But what can you do? There are some things only a mother can understand.