Q:
It states in Parshas Vayeitzei that “Yaakov kissed Rochel” when he saw her the first time. But Rabbi Miller has stated that there is no such thing as love at first sight. Don’t we see from here that romance is true?
A:
Vayishak Yaakov l’Rochel – And Yankev kissed Rochel. So this gentleman wants to ask, so you see romance?
But as was explained, when Yankev gave Rochel a kiss, he wept. וישק יעקב לרחל וישא את קולו ויבך – And Yaakov kissed Rochel and he raised his voice and cried. Now nobody weeps because of romance. The weeping is a sign that the kiss was a neshikah not of tiflus, not of romance. It was a neshikah of kurvah, of relationship, of kinship. And I explained it last week and that’s enough for that subject. He wept because he hadn’t seen his kin for a long time and now he saw somebody from his family, so he gave her a kiss.
Yankev was already a very old man, in the 80’s, and she was a little girl. And he gave her a kiss. It was a relative of his. Of course today even that we don’t do, but in those great days it was permissible. And he wept. And the sages tell us, the weeping was a sign that it wasn’t a kiss of romance.
TAPE # 70
Q:
Is there such thing as “love at first sight”?
A:
Love at first sight is nothing more than two dogs meeting in the street. It’s an instinct, that’s all. It’s nothing more than the same instinct that you see when the male dog is barking on the street.
TAPE # 787
