“VaYishak Yaakov LeRachel VaYissa Et Kolo VaYeivk,” “And Ya’akov kissed Rachel, and he raised his voice and wept” (BeReishit 29:11). Why did Yaakov Avinu kiss Rachel Imeinu if they were not married yet? And why did he start crying after kissing her?
Many Mefarshim ask these same questions, but regarding the first question, Rabbeinu Bachaye states that Rachel was still a Ketanah, a minor and Ya’akov could not consummate marriage vows with her (ibid. S.v. VaYishak Yaavok LeRachel).
Ibn Ezra offers the same answer. He adds, however, that Ya’akov did not kiss Rachel on the lips but on the head or the shoulder, suggesting that there was no romantic element to the kiss.
As to our second question as to why Ya’akov started crying after he kissed Rachel, Rashi (BeReishit 9:11 s.v. VaYeivk) offers two answers. The first is that Ya’akov received a Nevuah when he kissed Rachel and saw that they would not be buried together in the cave of Machpeilah. The second is that he cried because unlike Eliezer, Avraham Avinu’s servant, Ya’akov did not have any presents to give to Rachel. Rashi says that Esav’s son Eliphaz tracked down Ya’akov and was going to kill him. Eliphaz was raised by Yitzchak Avinu, though, who taught him not to kill. Thus, when Eliphaz caught up to Ya’akov he refused to kill him; Eliphaz asked Ya’akov what to do, since his father ordered him to kill Ya’akov and he would be disappointed if he did not do it. Ya’akov Avinuresponded, “Take all I have and you can say that I am dead, for a poor man may be considered as dead" (Nedarim 64b).
Radak (BeReishit 9:11 s.v. VaYeivk) gives a different explanation of why Yaakov started crying after he kissed Rachel. He says that Ya’akov wept for joy. When close relatives meet after not having seen each other for a while, their emotions are hard to control and they are overpowered by them and cry for joy.
Seforno (BeReishit 9:11 s.v. VaYissa Et Kolo VaYeivk) says that Yaakov wept because he wished that they could have met when he was younger. Had they met when he was young, they could have already been married and had children.
After surveying the variety of answers offered by the mefarshim, we may conclude that Yaakov Avinu was crying because the moment swayed his emotions in different ways.