“Jacob is aware that he will die outside the Land of Israel. Burial in his ancestral grave, in accordance with his wishes, will involve a major effort and elaborate arrangements, all of which must be carefully described.” Therefore, ” The account of Jacob’s death begins with “Jacob lived” (Va-y’chi), from which the parashah derives its name. The achievements of Jacob’s life are emphasized, not the fact of his death.” (Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, Jewish Publication Society)
” All actions that we perform during our lifetime make a deep impression on the soul. The soul is influenced not only by our ultimate goals, but also by the intermediate actions we take to achieve those goals.”
” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are called the Avot (forefathers), since the main objective of their lives was to father a nation.” …Jacob was complete. All of his children were included within the people of Israel. …The eternal quality of the Jewish people is particularly related to Jacob, the forefather who “did not die.”
‘ The Torah does not use the word “death,” since there was no need to purge his soul of its ties to its wordly occupations. This explains why we do not find in the Torah that Jacob’s sons eulogized their father. Only the Egyptians did so….Jacob had assisted the Egyptians by bringing the years of famine to an early end. From the standpoint of the Egyptians, Jacob had ided, and the connections of his soul to these matters was severed. Therefore, the Egyptians had reason to mourn. But Jacob’s sons, who knew that Jacob was still alive with them, had no need to eulogize their father.”
(Gold: From the Land of Israel, A new light on the weekly Torah portion from the writings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac HaKohen Kook by Rabbi Chanan Morrison, Urim Publications
“Yaakov’s Testament and Death(49): In this ancient piece of poetry, Yaakov addresses his sons, not as they are, but as they will be. There is little resemblance, for instance, between the Binyamin as the beloved and protected youngest son of the Yosef story and the preying wolf of v.27 but the Benjaminites were later to be known for their military skills. Scholars have therefore seen the entire poem as a retrojection of Israel as it came to be on the days of the Patriarchs. (The Five Books of Moses. The Schocken Bible:Volume I, commentary and notes by Everett Fox.)
The quote from the Torah/bible refers to the illustration appearing on Israelseen courtesy of international artist Phillip Ratner ratnermuseum.com
Now when Yosef saw that his father had put his right hand on
Efrayim’s head,
it sat ill in his eyes,
and he laid hold of his father’s hand, to turn it from Efrayim’s
head to Menashe’s head.
Yosef said to his father:
Not so, father, indeed, this one is the first born, place your hand
on his head!
But his father refused and said:
I know my son, I know-
he too will be a people, he too will be great,
yet his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will
become a full-measure of nations!
So he blessed them on that day,
saying:
By you shall Israel give blessings, saying:
God make you life Efrayim and Menashe!
Thus he made Efrayim go before Menashe. (Gen: 48: 17-20)
(The Five Books of Moses. The Schocken Bible:Volume I, commentary and notes by Everett Fox.)
