A Yeshivah in Egypt
The Torah portion of Vayechi begins: “And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years ...” The phrase “And Jacob lived” in Hebrew is “Vayechi Yaakov,” which is where the title of this parshah is derived. Rabbi Jacob Ben Asher, the late 13th- and early 14th-century biblical commentator known as the Ba’al Haturim, taught that the numeric value of the word Vayechi is 34, which signifies two 17-year periods in Jacob’s life.
The first period encapsulates the years Joseph lived with his father Jacob, from birth until his brothers sold him into slavery. The second 17 years represent the time Jacob spent with Joseph in Egypt—“the best years of his life.” During this period, Jacob could finally relax, engage in Torah study with his grandchildren, and enjoy some much-deserved nachat from his family.
Best Years ... in Egypt?
When the Third Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, was taught the first verse of our parshah as a child in cheder, his teacher translated it according to the commentary of the Ba’al Haturim, that Jacob lived his 17 best years in Egypt.
Upon returning home from cheder, young Menachem Mendel posed a question to his esteemed grandfather, the Alter Rebbe, founder of Chabad. “How is it possible that the best years in the life of Jacob, the most eminent of the Patriarchs, were the years he lived in Egypt, a land of immorality and corruption?”
The Alter Rebbe explained: “It is written that Jacob ‘sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show him the way to Goshen.’ The Midrash relates that ‘Judah’s task was to prepare a House of Study for him, so that the Torah would be studied there, and his sons would meditate upon its teachings.’ ”
We are taught that even before the giving of the Torah, the Patriarchs and the tribes—especially the tribe of Levi—devoted themselves to Torah study. Thus, the phrase “to show him the way to Goshen,” meant establishing the infrastructure for Torah study, which enables us to become closer to G d and to truly live. This concept is embodied in the phrase Vayechi Yaakov—“And Jacob lived.”
