Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years. And when the time approached for Israel to die… Jacob called his sons and said, “Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come. (Breysheet / Genesis 47:28-29, 49:1)
When David’s life was drawing to a close, he instructed his son Solomon as follows… (I Kings 2:1)
Our Torah portion and the prophetic selection chosen for the Haftarah focus on the imminent deaths of seminal individuals in the life of the Jewish people, Jacob/Israel and David. Cha”zal, our sages of blessed memory, have drawn a variety of lessons from these passages including the idea that their physical demise was merely a portal to their entering an eternity in the soul of the nation to the point where some articulating it as “Jacob our patriarch did not die” and in the very familiar song, “David, king of Israel, lives and endures”.1
The lives of Jacob/Israel and David, along with those of the other patriarchs, matriarchs, and leaders of the Jewish people are seen as having a long-term and beneficial impact on future generations and remain alive within the psyche of the nation who draw upon them for inspiration.
Interestingly, both Jacob and David seek to share a final piece of wisdom and instruction with their descendants prior to their deaths, the record of their lives feeling to them somehow insufficient. David’s message to his son Solomon is dark and filled with the political intrigues that haunted much of his kingship. Jacob’s final words run the gamut from extravagant blessing to dire consequence, encompassing prophetic messages for the future as well as simple descriptors of the nature of tribal life once settled in the promised land.
That sense of continuity is equally true on a family scale, with unique traditions being passed from one generation to the next, stories about beloved family members no longer with us being retold, and heirlooms being used at simchas and holiday gatherings.
Shabbat Shalom –
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
1 Though this is clearly tied to the idea of the Davidic dynasty and has messianic overtones regarding the messiah being a descendant of King David.
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