Thought of the week:
There’s an easy way to tell if your mission in life is over. If you’re breathing, it isn’t.
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“And Yisrael said, “It is a lot that my son Yosef is still alive; I will go and see him before I soon die.”” (Beraishis 45:28)
Having not seen Yosef in twenty-two years, Yaakov had spent this time in sackcloth and mourning for his son. It is not the Jewish way to remain in such extreme pain over the death of a loved one, and in fact there is a prohibition to do things like cutting one’s self over such a loss. However, as the Kli Yakar here points out, Yaakov had been promised by Hashem that if none of his children died in his lifetime, he would not see purgatory, but would instead merit full reward in Olam Haba. Thinking he lost his son was a cause for eternal sorrow.
Now, hearing that Yosef was alive, Yaakov wished to see Yosef for himself, to be sure that Yosef was indeed still “his” son, one who kept the Torah and was loyal to the teachings of Hashem. He would be able to see it on Yosef’s face and know whether it was just an act or not.
The question is, though, why Yaakov mentioned dying, and seemingly soon. He was only 130 years old. As the Midrash (quoted by Rashi, Beraishis 27:2) tells us, a person should worry about dying within a five-year span of his parents’ ages of death. Thus, Yitzchak blessed his sons when he was 123, because his mother had died at 127. However, Yitzchak lived to 180 so what was Yaakov worried about? To be fair, there is a Midrash that states that Rivka died at 133, though other calculations show her age to be closer to 122.
So, while it may be that he was worried about dying because his mother died within five years of the age he was now, it is still curious that later, when Yaakov meets Yosef, he repeats, “Now I can die, for I have seen your face, that you are still alive.” It would seem his comments about death were not based on the calculations of his parents’ ages when they died.
However, since Yaakov had a promise that if all his sons remained alive he would see only goodness in the next world, it actually makes sense that Yaakov was aware of his own mortality. There are numerous reasons a person dies at a given time. He may have been allotted a certain number of years, and he’s used them up. If he’s righteous, he may have been given the extra years of someone who was punished by losing some of their years.
It's also possible that someone’s life comes to an end simply because they have done all they were sent here to do. It makes sense, then, that Yaakov felt his time was coming. He knew he had a job to produce the children who would form the basis of Klal Yisrael. His twelve children would be the building blocks of the twelve Tribes, and now that Yosef was alive, Yaakov knew he’d completed his mission. He therefore assumed he would soon die.
But it was not the case. Yaakov spent the next seventeen years in Egypt learning with his grandson Ephraim, and being an elder statesman for his family in this foreign land. He was beacon of light for a nation which would soon be engulfed in darkness. His “second act” had just as much purpose as raising the twelve shvatim, and his mission was not yet over.
The Chofetz Chaim wanted to live out his final days in Eretz Yisroel, but R’ Chaim Ozer Grodzenski told him he was not permitted to leave Europe. R’ Chaim Ozer asked, “What will happen to all the Jews in Europe without you?”
The Chofetz Chaim responded that he was already an old man who could not go around and speak to people and have an impact. “I can no longer do any good for anybody in Europe.” R’ Chaim Ozer answered with a parable from R’ Yisroel Salanter who said, “when the grandfather sits at the head of the table, everyone at the table acts and behaves differently.”
“The grandfather does not need to raise his voice or threaten “I’m going to send you to your room.” The mere presence of the grandfather at the head of the table has an effect on everyone.” R’ Chaim Ozer continued: “We need you in Europe — not to speak, not to write, not to give classes, but we need you to sit at the head of the table.” The Chofetz Chaim stayed put.
©2023 – J. Gewirtz
