In this week's parsha after all the tumultuous episodes in the life of Yaakov, Yaakov knows his time is coming to an end. And just as his father Yitzchak had done, and his father Avraham before them, he attempts to sort out his affairs and bless his children. He requests of Yosef not to bury him in Egypt, rather his will is to be buried with his forefathers and wife Leah in Eretz Yisrael in the Ma’arat Hamachpela. Later he blesses Ephraim and Menashe and all the rest of the Shevatim. Ultimately Yaakov’s mission in this world draws to a close as the Torah says: “When Yaakov finished instructing his sons, he drew in his feet onto the bed; he expired and was brought in to his people” (49:33). Thus concludes the difficult life of Yaakov.
The Gemara in Ta’anit (5b) makes a perplexing statement:
א''ר יוחנן יעקב אבינו לא מת
Rav Yochana said: Yaakov, our forefather, did not die
There are a multitude of explanations of this passage, some interpret it literally, others allegorically. However, Rav Tzadok, in his Sefer Resisei Layla (אות נו׳) explains that Yaakov perfected himself so, and lived on such a high spiritual level. Consequently, while normally the physical body is at odds with the spiritual, for Yaakov, the body was not a contradiction to his soul. The process of death, as is known in Kabbalah, is a wrenching and painful process of the soul being removed from the body, known as חיבוט בקבר. As the soul moves to the next world, it is confronted with the decay of the body. Since the soul has been housed in the body for so many years, this process serves to “re-train” the soul to dissociate itself from the body, and it is a painful process indeed. Yaakov, however, due to his greatness, had so divested himself of this עלמא דשיקרא that the process of “death” meant as little to him as one who removes a coat. The transition of the soul leaving the body was merely the shedding of an ancillary skin. In this way, death did not exist for Yaakov, thus, “Yaakov, our forefather, did not die”.
Still, I have wondered, what was so significant in particular about Yaakov Avinu that he reached this exalted status? Did not Avraham and Yitzchak Avinu also live on such “angelic” levels that they too should be considered as having “not died”?
Rashi in Vayeishev (37:1) quotes the Midrash Rabbah (פד-ג):
וישב: ביקש יעקב לישב בשלוה, קפץ עליו רוגזו של יוסף…
Yaakov desired to dwell in tranquility, [but] the pain of [the] [episode of] Yosef seized upon him.
The Midrash elaborates that HaShem exclaims: “is it not enough that the righteous will receive their share in the World To Come, but they also want tranquility in this world?” Meaning, Hashem in a sense deliberately gives challenges and withholds “rest” from the righteous, in this world. But why? What does this accomplish for them? And what is wrong with desiring tranquility? Is it not conducive to accomplishing our goals? Wouldn't a life of serenity allow Yaakov the “head space” to grow further in his service of Hashem?
In discussing this Midrash, the Alter of Novharadok (מדרגת האדם - נקודת האמת) makes an important distinction. There are two specific, but very different, states that a man can reach: שלוה and מנוחה. Shalva, explains the Alter, is when all of a man's needs are met. Of course, in this state, man can find a sense of calm and achieve great things. However it has one caveat: the minute one is lacking any particular “need,” he can be thrown into a tizzy of confusion or even madness, thus uprooting all his gains. Menucha, on the other hand is a much loftier level with greater stability. It is a state where man has peace of mind, but not because his needs have been met, but rather despite his lack of those needs. He has risen above; he has in fact uprooted his desires completely and is unchained, able to grow as he wishes.
The Alter explains that this was the “mistake” that Yaakov made, for Yaakov was asking not for this elevated state of Menucha, but rather he wished for Shalva. He wished to live out his final days in tranquility serving Hashem as his father had done. In response, Hashem sent Yaakov the episodes of Yosef. According to the explanation of the Alter, Hashem did this in order to convey to Yaakov the following message: the only way to truly grow is through challenges. When faced with difficulties, if a person rises to the challenge he can discover strengths within himself that he did not know existed. Rather than avoid dealing with the challenge and being left “as is”, he gains tools to handle anything that comes his way. These gains are concrete, they cannot be shaken when he is faced with lack of needs. Now, he has no needs. He has only strength.
However, the response to pain and trauma can go two directions: he can either bow to the pain, and let it overtake him building a protective shell that separates himself from humanity. Or he can embrace the challenges and allow it to be the harbinger of metamorphosis from a mere man to a totally different being, an elevated being that “doesn’t die”. Not because he is entirely above this world, but because he has risen beyond, through the realities of this world. For trials and tribulations have the power to cleanse a person from the alluring facades of this world, to give a person a laser-sharp focus on what is truly important: G-d, Torah, our families, and giving to others.
Yaakov, who suffered immeasurably in this world, whether it was Eisav, Dinah, Lavan and his trickery, the death of Rachel, or Yosef's absence, Yaakov had indeed risen to a higher level through his “few and bad...years of his life” (47:9). Yaakov’s comment was not a complaint to Pharoah but a statement of fact that his life did not compare to the quality of life that of his fathers, yet he had risen to new elevated status, seemingly even above them. Yaakov achieved a state where he was not attached to this world, and this lack of attachment to his body meant that he did not die.
May we all be able to recognize the strengths in ourselves through our challenges and use them to grow in our connection to Hashem and our true values in life.
Shabbat Shalom
