Yaakov’s Unguarded Moment?

 

R. Yaakov Bieler

Parshat VaYigash, 5766

 

In Parshat VaYigash, we encounter four verses describing a curious interchange between Pharoah and Yaakov.

 

Beraishit 47:7-10

And Yaakov brought Yosef his father and stood him before Pharoah. And Yaakov blessed Pharoah.

And Pharoah said to Yaakov: How many are the days of the years of your life?[1]

And Yaakov said to Pharoah: The days of the years of my sojournings are 130 years. Few and bad were the days of the years of my life, and I have not lived as long as my forefathers during the days of the years of their lives during the days of their sojournings.

And Yaakov blessed Pharoah. And Yaakov walked out from before Pharoah.

 

Yosef and his brothers had just concluded negotiations with Pharoah enabling Yaakov’s family to take up residence in Goshen (47:1-6).[2]  At first glance, when Yosef brings his father to meet Pharoah at this point in the overall story, it seems little more than a ceremonial conclusion[3] to his being reunited with the family from whom he had been estranged for 22 years. Pharoah had heard about Yosef’s father and brothers, and now he finally is given the opportunity to get to know them in person.[4] Although ordinarily, the first thing that you ask someone whom you have just met is probably not the individual’s age, Pharoah’s question to the father of his second-in-command in 47:8 could be understood as innocent enough in the sense that this was an attempt to make “small-talk” until the meeting was concluded. Furthermore, according to NeTzIV, Pharoah’s question reflected his admiration for Yaakov, since he imagined that just as he must be extremely proud of his son’s Yosef’s accomplishments, his entire life of however many years must have been blessed by extraordinary achievement. However, Yaakov’s exceedingly personal and frank response recorded in 47:9, regarding not only the quantity of his life, but also the quality of his many experiences probably took Pharoah aback, and even left him speechless—Pharoah never responds—and Yaakov immediately ends the meeting by blessing the monarch and leaving. Had Yaakov had these frustrations and resentments bottled up within him for many years, and only now explosively unburdens himself when Pharoah affords him the unexpected chance to reflect upon his life, regardless of what Pharoah originally intended by his remark?

 

RaMBaN thinks that Pharoah’s question was brought on by not only Yaakov’s unique wizened appearance, but also because most people by this time in Biblical history were living no more than the 70-80 years that Moshe[5] states in Tehillim 90:10.[6] While in Parshat Noach, after the flood, we see people’s life expectancies beginning to diminish, RaMBaN maintains that “Tzaddikim” (righteous people), the likes of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, continued to live relatively longer lives.[7] Consequently, Pharoah was genuinely surprised—and probably impressed, assuming that he knew that old age was associated with extraordinary righteousness—to see someone so old, since he ordinarily did not come into contact with such individuals. Assuming that Yaakov understood the conclusion that Pharoah had reached about him, his protestation that he may appear inordinately elderly, but this was due in no small amount to the hardships that he had endured throughout his life, would be an exercise in humility, in effect a denial that there was anything special about him.

 

Yet even if we assume that Yaakov was trying to fend off any impressions that he was exceptional in some way for having lived longer than normal, he nevertheless appears to also be publicly complaining about the quality of his life. Robert Alter, in his recent translation of the Bible,[8]  explains why Yaakov might be rather than happy about what he has experienced:

 

Jacob’s somber summary of his own life echoes with a kind of complex solemnity against all that we have seen him undergo. He has, after all, achieved everything he aspired to achieve: the birthright, the blessing, marriage with his beloved Rachel, progeny and wealth. But one measure of the profound moral realism of the story is that although he gets everything he wanted, it is not in the way that he would have wanted, and the consequence is far more pain than contentment. From his “clashing” (25:22) with his twin in the womb, everything has been a struggle. He displaces Esau, but only at the price of fear and lingering guilt and long exile. He gets Rachel, but only by heaving Leah imposed on him, with all the domestic strife that entails, and he loses Rachel early in childbirth. He is given a new name by his divine adversary, but comes away with a permanent wound. He gets the full solar-year number of twelve sons, but there is enmity among them (for which he bears some responsibility), and he spends twenty-two years continually grieving over his favorite son, who he believes is dead. This is, in sum, a story with a happy ending that withholds any simple feeling of happiness at the end.

 

But even if Yaakov’s emotional and physical pain is understandable, nevertheless, our expectations for someone considered a central founder of the Jewish people would preclude an attitude implying a lack faith in God and acceptance of the lot that has been Divinely Chosen for him. Should we conclude that Yaakov at this point was suffering from “burn out”[9]? While Yaakov may originally have been ready to endure the inevitable “ups and downs”[10] that a turbulent life full of spiritual growth and struggle might entail, a Rabbinic tradition in Beraishit Rabba 84:6, cited by RaShI, implies that once he had finally returned to Canaan, Yaakov believed that he had once-and-for-all “paid his dues” and he was hoping to deservedly finish his life in tranquility. HaShem, however, apparently Had other plans for the Patriarch.

 

RaShI on 37:1

Yaakov sought to live in peace and quiet; the aggravation of (losing) Yosef sprang upon him. Righteous individuals seek to live in peace and quiet, but the Holy One, Blessed Be He, says: It is not enough for the righteous what has prepared for them in the World to Come, that they (also) seek peace and quiet in This World?

 

Consequently, when Yaakov’s “retirement plans” go terribly awry in order that HaShem’s Master Plan first outlined to Avraham in 15:13, calling for the Jewish people to be exiled and enslaved in a foreign land, we can understand why this Forefather may have experienced  bitterness and resentment.

 

Apparently, according to one Midrash, the trials that Yaakov endured faithfully and unquestioningly earlier in his life do not make up for this negative comment to Pharoah in 47:9,[11]^,[12] and he therefore is taken to task by HaShem for his remarks, and even punished according to the principle of “Mida KeNeged Mida” (the measure of punishment mirrors the transgression; in this instance, Yaakov complains about how short his life has been to this point, and consequently his life is made that much briefer)!

 

Midrash on 47:10[13]

At the moment that Yaakov said, “Few and bad”, the Holy One, Blessed Be He, Said to him: I Saved you from Eisav and Lavan, and I Returned to you both Dina and Yoseph, and you complain about your life? Concerning your life, in accordance with the number of the words from “VaYomer Pharaoh” (in 47:8) until “the days of their sojournings” (in 47:9),[14] so will your years be diminished, and they will not equal the years of Yitzchak your father. They are 33 words, and according to this number were years taken away from his life, for Yitzchak lived 180 years, and Yaakov only lived for 147.

 

However, some commentators can’t seem to accept the simple meaning of Yaakov’s plaint, and they attempt to interpret his words as expressing great faith and spirituality, and even a veiled critique of Pharoah and the Egyptian lifestyle, rather than personal frustration and negativity.

 

MaLBIM on 47:9

…And in the homiletical interpretations in “Artzot HaShalom” (lit. the lands of peace; the title of a collection of the commentator’s writings), I explained that the term “Shenot Chayim” (the years of life) refer only to the moments when an individual is able to focus upon the worship of HaShem, for only such times are the true life of a person, in contrast to those times when a person lives a sensual, emotional existence which more resembles the life of an animal. These latter times cannot be referred to as “Shenot Chayim”, because in them, only the animalistic portion of the person is active and alive, while the intellectual and spiritual aspect of the person is not functioning. Such years can be referred to as “Shenai Migurai” (the years of my sojourning), since during this period one (does little more than) sojourns on the earth. And when you, Pharoah, in accordance with your understanding, refer to a person’s entire life on this earth by the term “Shenot Chayim”, I must insist that your terminology is imprecise.  If you are asking how long I have lived, i.e., “Yemai Shenai Megurai”, then 130 is the proper response. But if you wish to know the number of “Shenot Chayim” that I have experienced, then the correct answer is that they have been few and difficult[15]…

 

From MaLBIM’s perspective, the special type of “peace and quiet” that Yaakov so much desired but which had proven elusive throughout his life, as opposed to a reference to simple leisure suggested in RaShI’s commentary, appears to parallel RaMBaM’s description of what the righteous look forward to during the Messianic Period.

 

RaMBaM, Mishna Tora, Hilchot Melachim 12:4

The wise and the prophets did not long for the Messianic Period in order to rule the world, to conquer the idolaters, to be honored by the other nations, or to eat, drink and rejoice, but rather to be able to engage in Tora and its wisdom undisturbed. During this period there would be no oppressor, no one to distract them from their spiritual activities,[16] in order that they will merit deserving the World to Come.

 

An alternate approach to that of MaLBIM, which frames Pharoah’s question and Yaakov’s answer in a different light, appears in Da’at Mikra. In a poignant reminiscence during the course of his commentary, Yehuda Kihl steps out of the role of impersonal, objective commentator, and recalls an interpretation that he was taught long ago:

 

Da’at Mikra on 47:8

…And from the Rabbi who taught me Chumash with RaShI’s commentary in the Cheder that was established by my father, ZaTzaL, in Antinople, Latvia, I heard that Pharoah would sit on an elevated throne opposite the doorway in his palace. And the lintel of this doorway was abnormally low, so that everyone who would enter would be left no choice but to bow before him. However, when Avraham entered to meet Pharoah (in 12:18), the lintel miraculously raised itself. And this event was considered a miracle, and the royal scribes recorded it in the records of the Kingdom of Egypt. Therefore when Yaakov came, and the lintel rose up once again, Pharoah thought that the person coming to him was Avraham! If is for this reason that he asked what he asked. And I (Yehuda Kihl) am certain that the basis for the words of my teacher and master is in a Midrash, whose source I have not been able to find to this day.[17]

 

It is very likely that Sephorno possessed a similar tradition to the one taught by the Cheder Rabbi, when the medieval commentator notes that nowhere is there mention of Yaakov bowing to Pharoah:

 

Sephorno on 47:7

“And Yaakov blessed”—but he did not bow down, neither when he entered, nor when he left.

 

According to the assumptions associated with this Midrashic approach, Pharoah was wondering aloud about the identity of the man now standing before him. Was he only the biological and spiritual descendent of Avraham, or was he an actual incarnation of the first of the Avot whose miracles had become part of the local lore? Yaakov responds that Pharoah should not be carried away by metaphysics; his appearance is not the result of him having outlived generations of his contemporaries, but rather due to his own personal hardships over the course of a turbulent life.

 

The four Biblical verses describing the meeting between Yaakov and Pharoah evoke many more questions than answers. We should all merit having the “Menuchat HaNefesh” (lit. the peace of the soul; the “peace and quiet”) to be able to sit and contemplate such passages in our Written and Oral Tora Traditions, not only, IY’H, in Olam HaBa, but also in Olam HaZeh, both on Shabbat as well as during the week!