dvar torah for shishi bagolan this coming week

I stayed up late last night finishing this, and cutting it down to 600 words. I just found out I have half of that, in fact. So... I'm putting what I sent in last night here, and then I'll shave off some more for the public in the golan.


“Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept”

Jacob, while collecting general information from local shepherds, finds out that Laban’s daughter Rachel is on her way towards them. What happens next is one of the most striking and romantic passages from the Bible (Genesis 29:10-11),
After seeing Rachel, identified repeatedly as the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother, Jacob performs an adrenaline-powered act of strength, kisses Rachel, and then Jacob raises his voice and weeps. What is behind this shocking first encounter of Jacob and Rachel? What is beneath this kiss? What makes Jacob wail here?
The Midrash Rabbah brings down three different kinds of kisses that have real substance and meaning: A kiss of greatness as when Samuel kissed Saul upon anointing him; a kiss of reunion as when Moses reunites with Aaron; and a kiss of distance as with Naomi’s farewell to Orpa. Rabbi Tanhuma adds a kiss of closeness: when Jacob kissed Rachel.
Although they had never met, Jacob knows Rachel already- as his cousin. He sees his mother in Rachel’s face. The mother who only days ago, dressed him in his brother’s clothes to trick his father into giving him his brother’s blessing. He sees his mother who favored him throughout his life. His mother, who just sent him away from home. Jacob is flooded with associations from home when he encounters Rachel.
It occurs to me that Jacob’s kiss here can be classified in each of the first three categories, as well as the kiss of closeness that Rabbi Tanhuma adds.
The kiss of greatness- acknowledging Rachel’s stature as a future mother of Israel, on a midrashic level. Psychologically speaking, we can imagine that Jacob kissed Rachel the way he would kiss his own mother out of respect.
The kiss of reunion, as Jacob imagines his mother, who provided him with food to eat and clothes to wear, even as he was tricking his father. (He also included in his oath to God that He must now provide him with food to eat and clothes to wear on his journey, for who will take care of him, without Rebecca?)
 A kiss of distance, we can understand on a midrashic level- because in explaining Jacob’s crying out, Rabbi Eliezer comments, that Jacob is mourning that he and Rachel will not be buried together. We can also understand the distance that Jacob feels from home, from his mother and from his father.
On the kiss of closeness: In addition to her beauty and her likeness to his mother, Jacob’s first encounter with Rachel reflects a parallelism between the two second-borns- and their struggles for worthiness. Jacob intuits their connection here, when he kisses Rachel. They both need to overcome the obstacles that their natural birth order have given them to achieve their goals, and nature presents further obstacles to Rachel with infertility.
Many English speakers in the Golan are far away from home and family, just as Jacob was. It is a comfort to know that our patriarchs also experienced challenging times, and to learn about how they managed missing home. May we find strength through our studying, and find courage to confront our challenges. May God help us to overcome any obstacles we encounter. Shabbat Shalom!