Parshat Vayechi
December 21, 2002

During Yaakov’s final years, his family is united harmoniously in Egypt. VAYIGASH ended with a description of how the family took up residence in the foreign land of Eygpt. The process was initiated by Yosef:

And Yosef settled (VAYOSHEV) his father and his brothers, and he gave them a possession (ACHUZAH) in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ramses, as Pharaoh had commanded (Bereishit 47:11).
Not surprisingly, Yosef’s project is successful:

And Yisrael settled (VAYESHEV) in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen; and they gained possession (VAYEI’ACHAZU) in it, and they were fruitful and multiplied very much (verse 27).

Yosef settles them (indicated by the causative verb form VAYOSHEV) and they become settled (VAYESHEV). He provides them with land of their own and they put down roots and thrive there.

As VAYECHI opens, the focus shifts immediately and without the usual space (parashah) in the text to the Patriarch Yaakov:

And Yaakov lived (VAYECHI) seventeen years in the land of Egypt; and the days of Yaakov, the years of his life, were seven years and forty years and a hundred years (verse 28).

These descriptions prepare us, both for the final days of Yaakov as well as for the beginning of the fulfillment of Hashem’s prophecy to Avraham:

You shall surely know that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will oppress them for four hundred years (15:13).

What do these verses depict about this transitional chapter in the history of the Jewish people?

Ohr HaChaim (R. Chaim ben Moshe ibn-Attar, 1696-1743) charts the different names of the Patriarch, which indicate two different emotional and spiritual states:

• "Yisrael" connotes a higher sanctity, engendered by tranquility, serenity and wholeness, as well as dominion.
• "Yaakov" is fraught with worries and insecurity.

Yaakov’s life fluctuated between these two poles. After Yosef’s disappearance, the name "Yaakov" is used, except for when necessity requires him to act as a leader (43:6, 8, 11). Once Yosef is discovered alive, "Yisrael" reappears, until he receives the Divine decree of exile, when his name reverts to "Yaakov." In Egypt, where the family is reunited, he is called "Yisrael", until he prepares to die and then he is "Yaakov." As death approaches, his prophetic powers increase, so he is once again called "Yisrael."

In fact, Yaakov always lived an uneasy life: he was born simultaneously with his adversary Eisav, and he suffered because of Lavan, Dinah and Yosef. His only years of tranquillity  the only years he "lived" fully  were when Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years.

These years retroactively transform and validate his entire life:

and the days of Yaakov, the years of his life, were seven years and forty years and a hundred years.

As our Sages said: “Anyone whose last days are spent in goodness is considered as if all his years were spent in goodness” (Tanna d’vei Eliyahu Rabbah 5).

The ages of other Tzaddikim’s lives are stated in the usual order:

Sarah: one hundred years and twenty years and seven years (23:1).
Avraham: one hundred years and seventy years and five years (25:7).
Yitzchak: one hundred years and eighty years (35:28).

But Yaakov’s age is stated differently: seven years and forty years and a hundred years, because only his last years were peaceful.

Kli Yakar (R. Ephraim Shlomo of Luntshitz 1550-1619) refers to three reasons in Bereishit Rabbah (96:1) for this passage being "closed" and uninterrupted:

1. As soon as Yaakov passed away the oppression began.
2. He wished to reveal the end of the oppression, but it was closed off from him.
3. All the troubles of the world were closed off from him.

Even though an entire week separates these readings, the lack of space in the Torah scroll serves to connect the last verse in Vayigash and the first verse in Vayechi, as though they were one:

And Yisrael settled in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen; and they gained possession in it, and they were fruitful and multiplied very much. And Yaakov lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt . . .

Three results may be seen in the three ideas expressed in the Midrash:

1. While Yaakov was still alive, his merit enabled his family to succeed: they were calm and at ease, and they became rooted in Egypt. Once he dies, however, everything changes: from security to insecurity, from being land owners to being slaves; even their reproducing was undermined.
2. On the other hand, the onset of the subjugation was the cause of Yaakov’s death, for Hashem shortened his years so he would not witness the suffering. Furthermore, Yaakov’s children knew that the final redemption would not come during their lifetimes, so they did not pray for its coming. Hashem withheld full disclosure of the end to minimize this spiritual damage to future generations.
3. Yaakov’s final years caused him to forget all his troubles, and he lived a pleasant life.

There is an implied criticism of the family’s attitude toward their exile:
And Yisrael settled in the land of Egypt . . . and they gained possession in it, and they were fruitful and multiplied very much.

The time of the redemption was withheld from Yaakov’s family because they should not have become so comfortable in Egypt. They sought to live with permanence in the place where they were meant to be strangers in a land that is not theirs.

Kli Yakar concludes with an indictment of his own generation:
Nevertheless, many are the people who settle in foreign lands and build themselves roofed and expensive stone permanent houses, and for this reason they never plead before Hashem wholeheartedly to bring them to their land, and thus, the Holy One blessed be He leaves them there.

Redemption will come when we desire it more than we enjoy the comforts of life.

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