After יעקב אבינו concluded giving ברכות to his children the פסוק says:
ויגווע ויאסף אל עמיו
Rashi, quoting חז”ל, notes that there is no mention of מיתה here, since:
יעקב אבינו לא מת
What do חז”ל mean by saying יעקב never died? After all, we read later that he was embalmed and buried?
Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky was once approached by a young child with a question. ” I have a hard time listening to my יצר טוב,” said the boy. “Whether it’s telling me to get up on time for Yeshiva or to pay attention in class, it’s always a struggle for me. What can I do to make it easier for me to listen to the יצר טוב?”
Rav Yaakov responded by pointing out the boy’s error. ” When it’s time to wake up in the morning or listen in class, there’s an inner battle happening inside your mind. What are these two voices? There’s the voice of the נשמה, also called the יצר טוב, telling you to do the right thing. Then, there’s the voice of the יצר הרע, telling you to not. Which voice is the real YOU? The real You, is your נשמה, telling you to do the right thing. Whereas the other voice is an external force, trying to stop the real you from doing what you really want.” Concluded Rav Yaakov, ” When you understand that the voice of the יצר טוב is really your own inner voice calling out to do what it really wants, it’s much easier to listen to it. After all, that is what YOU really want.”
We find in allusion to this later in the פרשה. When noting the ברכה that יששכר received, the פסוק says:
וירא מנוחה כי טוב ואת הארץ כי נעמה
He sees that rest is good and that the land is pleasant
ויט שכמו לסבול ויהי למס עובד
So he bent his shoulder to bear and became a servant of labor .
If rest is good and pleasant, why then does he seek out hard labor? We know that יששכר is the שבט that is dedicated to עמל התורה. As such, he is constantly confronted with the יצר הרע, telling him to relax and enjoy this world with all its pleasures. Confronted with that force, יששכר responds by doubling down on his commitment to Torah learning. Yes, there is a pull to enjoy fun and relaxation. But יששכר knows that his נשמה, the real him, is yearning for something much higher and far more satisfying. So he lends himself to becoming a servant of labor, the labor of עמל התורה.
We can now understand why יעקב אבינו לא מת. Yaakov perfected himself such that he lived with the reality that his inner self, his נשמה is who he really is. His desires and his נשמה were perfectly aligned. So although his body died and was buried, the real יעקב never died and continues to live on forever and ever.
We’ll conclude with a touching story that highlights this point. About 10 years ago, Rabbi Jacob Shachter of NYC, paid a visit to the coast of Normandy, France, the site of the great D- Day invasion. At Normandy, there is a massive cemetery for the nearly ten thousand US forces who died during the invasion. Walking among the many graves, Rabbi Schachter noticed that only a small handful are marked with a מגן דוד, signaling a Jewish soldier. Upon further research, he learned that, due to the chaos of war, many Jewish soldiers were mistakenly buried as Christians, under a cross. Rabbi Schachter set out to correct this. Researching the cemetery records, he came across a Jewish name buried under a cross: Private Benjamin Geroditsky, a young man who died from a German bomb on the coast of Normandy. After extensive research, he was able to locate, and receive the permission of Geroditsky’s surviving relatives. In a moving ceremony at Normandy, the cross on the soldier’s grave was replaced with a מגן דוד, followed by קדיש. Speaking at the event, Rabbi Schachter said: ” On behalf of the American people, thank you Benjamin for your service. And on behalf of the Jewish people, welcome home.”
The real person, the נשמה, will live on forever and ever.
Weekly Parsha Shiur 