From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 2:36 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Vayigash, 5765




                                                
                                              As Time Goes By

               
                     By Rabbi Joshua (agelessly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman


After Ya'akov and his family come to Egypt, Yosef presents Ya'akov to Pharaoh. Upon seeing Ya'akov for the first time, Pharaoh asks him, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" Ya'akov answers, "The days of the years of my sojourn have been a hundred and thirty years ; few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of my forefathers in the days of their sojourn" (Bereishis 47:8-9). This conversation between Pharaoh and Ya'akov appears to be very strange. What prompted Pharaoh to ask Ya'akov how old he was, and why did Ya'akov answer by saying that he his life had been bad and short in comparison to his forefathers? Rabbi Elie Munk, in his The Call of the Torah, notes that there seem to be two basic approaches in the midrashim and among the commentators, regarding the nature of this conversation, and whether Ya'akov answered properly or not. These two approaches, however, may be reconciled, as I will try to demonstrate.


One approach to this conversation, followed by Chizkuni and others, is that Pharaoh, seeing Ya'akov with white hair and beard, thought that he was very old, and had therefore lived a long, fulfilling life. Rabbi Shlomo Goren, in his Toras HaMikra, suggests that Pharaoh wanted to know the secret of attaining a long life. Following this approach, Ya'akov's answer is explained in various ways. Some commentators, as noted by Rabbi Munk, say that Ya'akov was following the general pattern set by Yosef when his family came to Egypt, to lessen themselves in the eyes of Pharaoh so that they would be left alone, able to live in their own far- off province. Rabbi Avraham, son of the Rambam, writes that Ya'akov was telling Pharaoh that the world to come is of primary importance, and one's life in this world is only secondary. Therefore, he referred to his life here as a mere 'sojourn,' and said that it was short and difficult. According to Rabbi Goren, Ya'akov was telling Pharaoh that one cannot lengthen the years of his life through mere natural means, because ultimately it is God Who decides how long and how well a person lives. In this way Ya'akov was trying to continue in the way of his forefathers, influencing not only his family, but other peoples as well. The bast way to do this, Ya'akov felt, was through the avenue of the king, who would in turn influence his entire nation. The common factor among all of these explanations is that Pharaoh's question to Ya'akov was prompted by something positive he saw in him, and that Ya'akov's response was a proper one.

There is, however, another explanation of the conversation between Pharaoh and Ya'akov that indicts Ya'akov, not only for the answer that he gave to Phararaoh, but for Pharaoh's question, as well. The Da'as Zekeinim MiBa'alei Tosafos cites a midrash which says that God declared to Ya'akov, " You lament your unhappy life even after I have saved you from the hands of Eisav and brought back to you your daughter Dinah and your son Yosef." As a punishment for speaking in this way, God shortened Ya'akov's life, so that he died thirty-three years before his time, dying at the age of one hundred forty-seven instead of one hundred eighty, as he was originally scheduled for. God thus deducted thirty-three years from his life, continues the midrash, one year for each word in the two verses that comprise the conversation between Pharaoh and Ya'akov. Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz, in his Sichos Mussar, notes that Ya'akov was punished even for the words that Pharaoh had uttered, because it was the aged, troubled visage that Ya'akov projected which prompted Pharaoh's original question about his age. Ya'akov's aged appearance reflected an inner sense of suffering and discontent with the trials that he had gone through in the course of his life. When he articulated this sense of suffering, then, he was punished not only for what he said, but also for the way in which he bore the trials of his life, as reflected in his visage.

Rabbi Mordechai Gifter, in his Pirkei Torah, does not mention Rabbi Shmuelevitz's explanation, but offers one of his own along somewhat similar lines, although with a different message. While, according to Rav Shmuelevitz, Ya'akovs' shortcoming was his lack of appreciation for the gift of life no matter what the circumstances under which it is lived, according to Rav Gifter, it was his failure to appreciate the function of the troubles that he had gone through in his life.  Referring to the comments of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto in his classic work, Mesillas Yesharim, Rabbi Gifter says that God tests people so that they will grow, and, therefore, whatever suffering Ya'akov had endured was really for his own benefit. Because he did not appreciate this fact, God deprived him of his full measure of years, because he would not use them properly, in any case, and, therefore, prolonging his life would really serve no function.


Rabbi Munk notes that according to the Ba'al Haturim on the beginning of parshas Vayechi (Bereishis 47:28) there was a different reason for Ya'akov's life being shortened by thirty-three years. In parshas Vayeitzei, when Lavan told Ya'akov that someone had stolen his teraphim, or gods, Ya'akov responded that if the teraphim would be found with anyone in his family, then ' lo yichyeh' - that person shall not live. As it turned out, Rochel had stolen the teraphim, and, because of the curse that Ya'akov had inadvertently pronounced on her, she died before her designated time. Since Ya'akov brought about Rochel's early death, he was punished through having his own life shortened by thirty - three years, corresponding to the numerical equivalent of the meaning of the words ' lo yichyeh.' Rabbi Munk writes that this reason for the shortening of Ya'akov's life is not, fundamentally, in conflict with the reason given in the midrash cited in the Da'as Zekeinim, because they are both based on the premise, found in the Talmud (Ta'anis 11a), that God is more exacting with righteous people than he is with ordinary ones, and punishes them severely for even small offenses.


Following Rabbi Munk's approach in reconciling the two different reasons given for Ya'akov's premature death, perhaps we can reconcile the two different approaches to his conversation with Pharaoh, as well. As we have seen, according to Rav Avraham, son of the Rambam, as well as Rabbi Goren, Pharaoh's question was prompted by his admiration of Ya'akov's stately appearance as a dignified elder. Ya'akov wished to exploit this admiration in a positive way and thereby influence Pharaoh - and through him the Egyptian people - to lead a moral life informed by belief in the one God, just as Avrohom and Yitzchok before him had constantly tried to influence people to improve their ways. However, despite his good intentions, Ya'akov described his life experience in a way that could be misconstrued, and interpreted as lacking somewhat in appreciation to God. Although, for most people, this nuance in presentation would not have been considered as reprehensible, for Ya'akov it was.

Alternatively, we can suggest a different way of reconciling the Ba'al HaTurim's reason for Ya'akov's early death and the Da'as Zekeinim's reason. There was, it seems, a question of inconsistency involved on Ya'akov's part. Rabbi Eliyohu Dovid Rabinowitz Teomim, known as the Aderes, in his notes to the Ba'al HaTurim, points out that Rochel stole Lavan's teraphim because she wanted to cure him of his addiction to idolatry, and, therefore, Ya'akov's declaration that whoever had them with him would die was misplaced. Perhaps, then, we can explain that Ya'akov was being inconsistent when he spoke of the days of his life as being short and bad in an attempt to influence Pharaoh to lead a moral life. After all, he had not tried to influence Lavan to abandon his idol worship when the opportunity arose, as Avrohom, for example, had done when he smashed his own father's idols as an attempt to prove that he was mistaken in his beliefs. If Ya'akov was truly following in the ways of Avrohom, he should have tried to influence Lavan, as well. Because he did not, his description of his life to Pharaoh as short and bad was not justified as being a means of influencing Pharaoh to guide his life through a belief in God, and, therefore, his life was shortened by thirty-three years.

On a different note, perhaps we can add that the way in which Ya'akov presented his reply to Pharaoh, saying that the days of his life had been short and bad, seemed to ignore the message that Yosef later gave to his brothers, that what they had considered as bad was really good. As we explained last week, the entire process of the sale of Yosef was part of the divine plan for the exile and redemption of the Jewish nation, which would culminate in its entrance as a nation into Eretz Yisroel. The entire process was thus guided by divine providence, just as life in Eretz Yisroel is entirely guided by divine providence (see Netvort to  parshas Mikeitz, 5765, available at Torahheights.com). This accounted for Yosef's allusion to the spies when he spoke to his brothers. By thinking that Yosef's dreams of ruling over them and providing them with grain reflected something bad, they failed to realize that this scenario was part of the process of exile and redemption, and was thus really for their benefit. Ya'akov's statement that his life had been bad projected this kind of approach to the process, as well. Perhaps, then, Ya'akov's punishment for the wording of his reply was somewhat akin to the punishment received by the nation for listening to the spies in the time of Moshe. For each of the forty days of the mission of the spies to scout the land, the nation was punished by having to wander in the wilderness for a year. Ya'akov's punishment of losing one year of life for each word in the conversation he had with Pharaoh, thus, somewhat paralleled the punishment that came as a result of the evil report of the spies, because they both reflected a similar error in approach to the process that was necessary for the ultimate possession of Eretz Yisroel by the nation.



Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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