Rabbi Rael Blumenthal

Making our way through Sefer Bereishis, it is notable that the Torah spends more time discussing the live of Yaakov Avinu than any other character in the book. Yet, despite the overwhelming detail given to his life, it is mostly filled with pain.

Yaakov Avinu himself, when speaking to Paroah relates:

יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי שְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי וְלֹא הִשִּׂיגוּ אֶת־יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אֲבֹתַי בִּימֵי מְגוּרֵיהֶם׃

And Yaakov said to Pharaoh: 'The days of the years of my life are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their life.'

Indeed, Yaakov faces challenges even before he is born as he and Esav wrestle in the womb. These conflicts accelerate as Yaakov buys his brother’s birthright, steals the Bracha, and flees to avoid being murdered by his twin.

In his years away, he is cheated by his father in law Lavan, who switches his beloved Rachel for Leah, as well as his wages over and over again.

Upon retuning to Israel, his children begin to fight, and Yosef is sold into slavery. Yaakov falls into a deep depression – which is only heightened by the famine which drives his children down to Egypt to face the ruthless despot that is only later revealed to be Yosef.

But despite all the challenges of his life, arguably, the greatest pain is the sudden death of his beloved wife Rachel (Bereishis 35:17-20).

Strikingly, Yaakov speaks nothing of this event. There is no recorded mourning. No eulogy, no grief. It appears that life moves on unceremoniously. Rachel's death is never mentioned again... until Yaakov's last day; in our Parsha.

Remembering Rachel

For seventeen years, Yaakov has lived in Mitzrayim. There he sees his family expand, the vision of Avraham and Yiztchak of a nation committed to the ideals and ideas of Godliness is finally coming to fruition. But the ancient eyes of Yaakov Avinu see into the darkness that Egypt will bring to his children. In his last moments, he wants to give his children the tools to continue through the terrible times ahead.

Aas his end comes near, he calls for Yosef; his long lost son, leader of Egypt and savior of the family. But before blessing him, Yaakov summarizes his life’s journey: (Bereishis 48:3-7):

וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל יוֹסֵף אֵל שַׁדַּי נִרְאָה אֵלַי בְּלוּז בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתִי. וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי הִנְנִי מַפְרְךָ וְהִרְבִּיתִךָ וּנְתַתִּיךָ לִקְהַל עַמִּים וְנָתַתִּי אֶת הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת לְזַרְעֲךָ אַחֲרֶיךָ אֲחֻזַּת עוֹלָם. וְעַתָּה שְׁנֵי בָנֶיךָ הַנּוֹלָדִים לְךָ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם עַד בֹּאִי אֵלֶיךָ מִצְרַיְמָה לִי הֵם אֶפְרַיִם וּמְנַשֶּׁה כִּרְאוּבֵן וְשִׁמְעוֹן יִהְיוּ לִי. וּמוֹלַדְתְּךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹלַדְתָּ אַחֲרֵיהֶם לְךָ יִהְיוּ עַל שֵׁם אֲחֵיהֶם יִקָּרְאוּ בְּנַחֲלָתָם. וַאֲנִי בְּבֹאִי מִפַּדָּן מֵתָה עָלַי רָחֵל בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן בַּדֶּרֶךְ בְּעוֹד כִּבְרַת אֶרֶץ לָבֹא אֶפְרָתָה וָאֶקְבְּרֶהָ שָּׁם בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶפְרָת הִוא בֵּית לָחֶם.

And Yaakov said to Yosef: 'God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, and said to me: I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make you into a nation. I will give this land to your children after you as an everlasting inheritance.

At this point, Yaakov turns to his grandsons:

And now your two sons, who were born in Egypt before I came here, Ephraim and Manasseh. They will be to me like Reuven and Shimon...

And then, finally, for the first time in over four decades, Yaakov breaks his silence about Rachel’s death.

And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died... and I buried her there in the way to Efrat — which is Beit-Lechem.

It is important to note the order of Yaakov's speech. First, he relates how Hashem appeared to him as he reentered Eretz Yisrael and promised that he would make him into a great nation. Then, he relates that now Efraim and Menasheh will be considered tribes in their own right. Lastly, Yaakov looks to the past to relate how Rachel died and that Yaakov buried her on the way to Efrat.

Many of the classical commentaries are perplexed by this memory, and Yaakov’s mention of it at this point. Amost all answer like Rashi, explaining that this is an apology to Yosef.

Since Yaakov has just asked Yosef to bury him in Chevron, he wishes to apologize for not doing the same for Yosef's mother.

ואני בבאי מפדן וגומ׳ – ואף על פי שאני מטריח עליך להוליכני ליקבר בארץ כנען, לא כן עשיתי לאמך, שהרי מתה סמוך לבית לחם.

And although I trouble you to take me for burial into the land of Canaan and I did not do this for your mother (i.e., I did not take the trouble to bury her in a place other than that in which she died, which was by the road-side) which I might easily have done since she died quite close to Bethlehem”.

Losing Faith... And Finding it Again

But the Ibn Ezra (מד:ד) and Rabbi Avraham ben HaRambam, however, quote from Rav Saadya Gaon that what Yaakov is relating here is much deeper and much more personal:

על דעת הגאון: שאמר לי השם הנני מפרך ובן לא נולד לי, רק מתה רחל. ועתה ידעתי, כי בעבור בניך הנולדים לך

The opinion of Rav Saadya Gaon: “Hashem promised I would have more children, and I had no more children, but instead Rachel died... But now I understand that the promise was that I would have more children through you.”

Upon his reentry into the land of Israel, Hashem did indeed appear to Yaakov and promised that he would yet grow into a great nation.

We can imagine Yaakov then turning to Rachel, the love of his life, pregnant with their second child, smiling with the assurance that she too would give birth to many children. In that moment, they were convinced that together they would build the Jewish people, that finally the vision of Avraham, and Yitzchak would come to fruition through them.

The day arrives for Binyanim to be born, but that great simcha is mired with the tragedy of Rachel’s death. Yaakov gains a son, and loses his beloved, badrech, all along the way.

In many ways, for Yaakov, Rachel's death baderech is the end of his Derech. Never again does Yaakov display any initiative, he retreats and becomes a shell of his former self. As Chazal tell us: ביקש יעקב לישב שלוה – All Yaakov wants is to sit in peace.

But then Yosef is taken, then Shimon is imprisoned in Egypt, and Binyamin is forced to go down to Egypt as well. What was once a beautiful and promising future, is now a life of pain and loneliness.

And what of Hashem's Bracha that Yaakov would have more children and become a great nation? Those dreams are steadily stripped from him, as he finally declares to Yehuda, וַאֲנִי כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׁכֹלְתִּי שָׁכָלְתִּי – If I am to be left without my children, so be it.

But apparently Hashem had different plans for him. For on that final day, as Yosef stood before him, with Efraim and Menashe, his two wonderful Jewish grandchildren raised in Egypt, Yaakov understands how Hashem's promise did indeed come true.

He turns to Yosef and says to him: “Your sons, are mine. This is the fulfillment of the promise Hashem made to me and to Rachel. And when she died, baderech, I thought it was all over. Only now, can I see that the Derech was much longer than I could ever imagine.”

The End in Sight

The Beis Yaakov of Izbitz (ויחי נ”ו) explains that this is why Yaakov Avinu begins his Brachos to his sons with:

הֵאָסְפוּ וְאַגִּידָה לָכֶם אֵת אֲשֶׁר־יִקְרָא אֶתְכֶם בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים׃

Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days.

Why does Yaakov need to preface his brachos with a view of the end of time? Because in the end, it'll make sense. In the end we'll understand how nothing is ever lost.

The Izbitzer continues to explain that this is the reason we invoke Techias HaMesim in every Shmoneh Esrei:

בעבור שלעתיד יתברר הכל לטוב, ואז ישפיע לנו הש”י כל מיני טובות, לכן אנו מזכירין זאת עתה, כדי שיתן לנו השי”ת גם עכשיו הארה מזה

Since in the end everything will be clarified as good, and then Hashem will grant us every goodness, for this reason we mention it already, so that Hashem will give us an inkling of this clarity and goodness now.

When we ask Hashem for health and parnassa, for wisdom and teshuva, it’s all a request to give us a little bit of the clarity of Acharis HaYamim now.

As Sefer Bereishis comes to a close, we will end with a cry of Chazak Chazak V’Nischazek – A plea for strength to continue learning and growing. But also, the strength to endure the Galus of Egypt, of our own exile. But perhaps it’s a tefillah for the ability to raise our heads and our eyes just a little higher, to see what we will yet become, what we still achieve. It’s a tefillah to hold on a little longer to see the goodness Hashem has in store for his children.