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.
Breysheet / Genesis 47:28
Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, like many commentators on this week’s Torah portion, notes the seemingly superfluous words used in the opening verse describing the length of Jacob’s life. Hirsch suggests that “by emphasizing the days of Jacob’s life the text is asserting that there was an underlying unity to the entire arc of Jacob’s life; that he walked along a single, focused, and straight path.”
I find Hirsch’s assertion regarding Jacob both surprising and perplexing as Jacob, perhaps more so than any of the other patriarchs, seems to evolve and change before our eyes as he experiences life. The Jacob we encounter in the biblical narrative is a myriad of Jacobs, bold and timid; confident and fearful. At times he is selfish, at others deeply caring.
Routinely, we see how Jacob’s emotional equilibrium is impacted by his interactions with his family, parents, brother, wives, and children. Each of these interactions evoke diverse responses and propel him in various directions but they also require Jacob to grow and evolve as a person. I would like to suggest, with deference to Rabbi Hirsch, that the Torah’s emphasis on the “days” of Jacob’s life is to have us realize that the constant is that Jacob was somehow different each day; developing over time a greater appreciation of the divine pathway that he was on and the vital role he played in the unfolding of that vision.
Shabbat Shalom –
Rabbi David M. Eligberg
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