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Why did Yaakov cry when he first met Rochel? Rashi (רש"י) says he foresaw they wouldn't be buried together—but why cry now about something far in the future? The shiur develops the concept that marriage creates an eternal oneness, not mere partnership, evidenced by the Gemara (גמרא)'s derivation of kiddushin from Avrohom's burial acquisition. Yaakov's tears reflected his realization that without shared burial, the relationship would lack the essential quality of becoming one body.
The shiur opens with Rashi (רש"י)'s first explanation of why Yaakov cried when he met Rochel at the well: he saw through ruach hakodesh that they would not be buried together. Rabbi Zweig raises the obvious difficulty—why would Yaakov cry at their first meeting about something that would happen many years in the future? This seems psychologically and chronologically disconnected. To answer this question, Rabbi Zweig brings the Gemara (גמרא) in Kiddushin that derives the laws of kiddushin (betrothal) from the word "kicha" (taking) used in connection with Avrohom's purchase of the Cave of Machpelah as a burial plot for Sarah. The Gemara learns that just as "taking" regarding money was used there, so too marriage requires giving something of monetary value to the woman. Rabbi Zweig notes the striking peculiarity that the Torah (תורה)'s paradigm for marriage is cross-referenced to buying a burial plot—seemingly an odd, even morbid connection.
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Vayeitzei - Bereishis 29:11 (Yaakov crying when meeting Rochel); Gemara Kiddushin (kicha derivation)
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