When Yaakov first meets his zivug (soul-mate) Rachel, he is overjoyed and terribly upset. His joy manifests in his kissing Rachel, and his turmoil in his intense weeping. Crazy, they just met! How could Yaakov have experienced such starkly contrasting emotions in this first sight of Rachel? We understand why he's happy, but why does he weep? Rashi says that Yaakov saw that he wouldn't be buried with Rachel, and so he wept. Is Yaakov amidst emotional confusion, or are the conflicting emotions deeply rooted within each other.
The Torah describes Rachel as beautiful and Leah as having soft eyes. Does this mean that one is better than the other? Does Yaakov favor Rachel because of her beauty and isn't as gun-ho about soft eyes? What exactly is the contrast between the beauty of Rachel and the eyes of Leah? The Zohar says Rachel represents the revealed world and Leah the hidden.
We say in Kabbalas Shabbos every week, "Last in deed, first in thought," referring to Shabbos. One might think that if it is the last thing created, it is the least important. However, a person who builds a building must first have a vision of the final product. No one would see a vacated space of land and say, "Hey, let's dig a hole!" To which his friend might respond, "Let's build something on it!" It all starts from a broad vision of the final actualization. The idea in Hashem's creation of the world was not for man to be shlepping around for six days and that's it. The initial vision was man experiencing completeness and the awesome kedusha and light of Shabbos through a process called week. And this is true of any vision. When a person has a desire to become more than he is, when he sees something or someone who bespeaks greatness, he envisions attaining and becoming that. That desire is "first in thought", and it has within itself the eventual actualization; but the process of fulfillment is a long road. The tremendous exhiliration and humbling inspiration have within themselves the "first thought" and "last deed" - lacking only the long hidden path, the path of Leah.
The beauty of Rachel is inspiring because it is revealed. Thus, she is "first in thought" in the thoughts of Yaakov. The beauty of Rachel enthused Yaakov with dreams being in completion as soul-mates. However, this completion can only be attained through first being with Leah. In striving and yearning for awesome heights in Avodas Hashem and Torah, it is that initial beauty and majestic vision of who we can become and what we can achieve that catalyzes and surges us forward. The essence of inspiration is desire to be beyond where one is and what one is used to. This can only be attained through being with Leah; and yet, on a deeper level, the hidden path of Leah is more than a struggle simply to be gotten through.
The Ishbitzer says that the "zivug (soul-mate) who comes to you", as Leah is brought to Yaakov without his seeking her, is the hidden path of Leah; and in this path, what first appears as dark is later understood to be good and full of light. The path is "hidden" in the sense that it is above one's understanding and awareness. The good of being with Leah is expressed in the children of Leah. Similarly, light comes from the union of Yehuda and Tamar, who was disguised as a prostitute, but whose offspring was King David. What was hidden and above anyone's understanding of how this incident could be good resulted in a final grandeur of King David. The Ishbitzer says that when a person wants to go in the path of Godliness, Hashem sends him situations that seem to him dark and hidden; but afterwards, Hashem reveals to him that it wasn't bad, it was just beyond his understanding, it "came to him" from the hidden world of Leah. Hashem sends it to him even though he doesn't want it; and only afterwards will be made clear to him Hashem's deep intentions and His awesome chesed, in the burial of Rachel.
Until the Mashiach comes, the complete zivug to Rachel remains incomplete, for that ultimate beauty is unattainable in this exile; and so Yaakov was not buried with Rachel. Yaakov's initial exhilaration and elation was in pure response to the beauty of Rachel, that vision of Shabbos, of radiant holiness and glory. But Yaakov immediately wept, for being with Rachel in the true wholeness of "last in deed" is far and away down a path we are still treading today. Yaakov's cry was the cry of Leah, the deep cry of being in a hidden world, of a world where what Hashem sends us is not understood or appreciated.
May this Shabbos arouse us in its beauty to strive and yearn for awesome heights in Avodas Hashem and reveal to us the deep intentions and awe-inspiring chesed of God amidst the hidden world of Leah.
(Based on Shiurim from R' Lopiansky.)