Parshat Vayechi: Yaakov - and Our Fallen - Live On Through Us

good morning everybody it's good to see all of you this morning in light of the um the unfortunate um death of yet another eight uh this past Shabbat and there may have been more that I just missed since then um I just would like to dedicate it's the least that we could do to dedicate our learning this morning uh to their memory this week's parar sh brings to a close um probably the greatest Saga in the entire Kash uh certainly uh in the entire safer bit and a saga within a saga um and I'm referring to the the greater Saga or the macro Saga the life of Yakov uh as he passes away at the end of our and the the micro story I suppose ofur y the story of Y and his brothers at the end of the parasha we find uh the passage regarding the death of Yakov ainu that I refer to just a moment ago and because of the Obscure way in which it's presented we find a fascinating statement a statement that I would imagine that we are all familiar with in some way or another and that statement is yov ainu low mate that Yakov ainu did not die to be sure there are those that take that statement literally and of course there are those myself included who do not take uh that statement and similar statements to be meant in the literal sense this morning we will explore the source of that particular statement uh in the way that is presented in the gamar but we will also begin with the text itself in the Kash and we'll see what exactly it is from a linguistic perspective or by a word Omission perspective that leads to such a statement in the first place so at the very end of saet in peric we find the following yob is about to die he actually has said to them mate I am going to die now keep in mind that he does use that word however when it comes to his actual death the act of his passing away we do not find that word beginning with yob tells his sons as follows bury me together with my ancestors indeed you cannot be buried of course un unless you are going to be no longer with us in the same Cave the Cave that belonged to e that I purchased and then in he goes on to explain a little bit further I I ABI just misspoke but that my my grandfather that Grandpa Abraham bought from for a possession why do I wish to be buried there because that again is where they are buried that's where they buried Abraham and his wife that's where they buried and his wife and that's where I buried Leah by the way um I was caught off guard this past Thursday when I delivered a sh in the yes where I teach t a boy's American Gap year program in mod and one of my students caught me off guard when he came to the words Shak um parenthesis he didn't ask this question about Le but it applies to her too he asked it about RKA he asked me straight out he said where do we find elsewhere in the Kash that RKA actually died and he caught me off guard he asked me do we indeed find that and I said without thinking for a moment I said of of course we do so I looked back to which could be the only place where her death is actually mentioned and indeed it's not there and as I was searching and beginning to wonder if I still have all of my faculties I um as I sometimes do as I would imagine we all do um I I began to remember some sort of discussion about this so I double checked with another faculty member and sure enough and some of you may be aware of this rika's death is never mentioned anywhere the only recording we have of it is here when yov informs his children that is where I or is where Rifka was my mother was buried and the same thing is true with Shak that's where I buried my wife the mother of half of you children um in where I buried Leah um her death also is not mentioned earlier in fact I believe it's only four women whose uh passing is mentioned in the kumash itself directly and uh they are Sarah um DOR who uh who was um rivka's May her nursaid as it were for lack of a better word at least on my part um and then we find later on the okay the other two are escaping me off hand and I sincerely apologize for that uh but there are two others that are mentioned in any event the field the cave that is in it that I bought from Ben and then at the very end of or this piece yo finishes to speak to his children he gathered his legs to his bed obviously that's a metaphor and so is the following can mean uh it also has different interpretations but it can mean that he in today's Parliament there are those who do not uh who prefer not to use this term regarding somebody's passing he expired or his soul expired and I know that there are those that are opposed to it from a politically uh correct perspective because we talk about a a a parking permit or a parking leader expiring and we shouldn't refer to people in the same breath in the same vein excuse me okay but be that as it may that's what seems to mean he was gathered to his people and again that's obviously a metaphor for Yakov dying but it does not say straight out anywhere in the the word or anything else with that ches regarding what took place that yov himself actually died we do find that by Abraham and we do find that by it is this Omission that leaves room for the statement that yov further further on excuse me excuse me in the next per or immediately following this in the aftermath we find that yobu was ound you can't ound M somebody you cannot mummify somebody if they're not dead and furthermore at the very end of this passage we find that jakob's children carried him too and they buried him and again you're not going to bury somebody if they're still alive in other words it's very obvious from the text and it's also very obvious by the way of all human flesh by of All Flesh that every single person that lives dies the one exception may be aahi based on the Obscure way in which it is described that he ascended to Shay but beyond that every single person that has ever lived has apparently died if that's the case it's clear that and especially given all of the other activities are actually that take place surrounding the death of yov that he indeed died despite the fact that the word v is not mentioned okay Rashi picking up on this quotes the that we will see soon and Rashi says the verb death the noun of death is not used by him and there said yobu yob did not die okay the question is what is meant by that we have no way of knowing if Rashi at least I don't think we do if Rashi took the statement to be meant literally because Rashi doesn't say he's simply quoting the statement in the G he also says in fact he's referring to one individual of two uh that got together for lunch one day as we will see or maybe it was dinner let's take a look at the ramban ramban explains what he believes it means no surprises here if we're familiar with ramban's general gisha or approach and ramban after quoting Rashi says according to this view in the before he passed away yov himself mentioned that he was going to die and I aiag I mean quoted this earlier and that is before he passed away he said to his children I am going to die and God should be with you godp speed okay so how can we reconcile the two if yov says I'm going to die we know that he died how can one of the of of kazal of the time period of the gar come along and then make a a a seemingly a wild uh an off theark statement that he didn't die so trying to rationalize this or to understand this what ran States is the very fact that yob said I'm going to die isn't proof that he did die maybe he didn't know that he wasn't going to die a death the way that the way of all human beings maybe he just assumed he was going to die because that's what people do when they leave this world but he was not aware of the fact that God had a secret that he was going to depart from this world in a different way oh ran says perhaps sh Mo he himself knew on some level that he wasn't going to die in the sense that we all understand it but he didn't want to gloat he didn't want to give more Cavo to himself than than to anybody else and therefore he kept the secret to himself but raan himself writes as follows what this mid really means in other words what this this member of kazal will we will soon see that this is R felt is we're all familiar with the phrase that we often say of a person after they pass away or may their nees May their soul be bound up in the bound of life so we're referring according to ran to yakov's nephesh living on to him living on in a spiritual sense but of course not living on in a literal sense because people just don't do that after they pass away that's the view of ran let's go back to the original Source the source is as follows tomorrow by the way I am presenting a longer version of this shiur um for the representing the OU in in modin uh in a program there that is referred to or that is called excuse me Co Boker and I will be the speaker representing the OU God willing tomorrow in the 11:45 time slot why am I mentioning this number one why not but number two um directly related to this afterwards I plan to get get together with a friend for lunch that's exactly what seems to have transpired here the two of them in Hebrew they were sitting down together for a meal they went out to Bagel Cafe am r r said to RAB literally that means if you sir would please say something say a the word davar in Hebrew also means a Mila and he basically means in today's parin if you could please share our Torah with me we're sitting together anyway and we may as well learn some Torah so I'd like to hear some words of Tor from you please share to RAB answered to him I will after we're done eating what he actually said was R has said as follows one should not engage in conversation when they're eating now by the way keep in mind that rabi yak is actually stating this while he's eating but nevertheless once you're not engaged of course in a lengthier conversation when they're eating or not speak if they do not have to why because it could be dangerous in other words don't talk with food in your mouth because of the fact that for several reasons he doesn't mention because it's rude or it's not acceptable maybe in those days and that I don't know maybe it wasn't considered to be rude but in any event that maybe the the windpipe maybe the trachea literally Yak will come kodem will come before or will open up while you're eating instead of the vet instead of the esophagus instead of the food pipe by the way if you're like me and you confuse the two terms trachea esophagus which is the windpipe which is the food pipe I remember it from The Sound uh in the middle of the word esophagus and even though it's spelled with a pH that reminds me of the F sound in the word food and that's how I correlate esophagus with the food pipe but in any event um one could indeed put their lives in danger because the food may go down the wrong pipe and therefore one cannot really engage in conversation unless they need to like for me to remind you r that I cannot share with you now while they're reading okay after they completed their meal then RAB decided okay now I can share t with you and this is what he said and he's quoting RAB now what's interesting is he's quoting the very same raban I believe that he quoted before and so I'm assuming that the reason he's continuing with rabi Yan is because already quoted raban as saying I cannot share with you while I'm eating so the very least I could do now when I am sharing with you now that we've completed our our Feast is now we've completed our meal is to quote Ran So he does this is what saidov mate and therein is the source yobu did not die apparently rman his buddy his lunchmate was taken completely by surprise so Amar he said to him come on I mean you're you're a member of kazal you can do better than that you know that can't possibly be true you mean to tell me that while they indeed eulogized him and they ounded him and they buried him so come on you're actually telling me you you RAB who should know better that he didn't die how is that possible he said to him answered him yeah I know I know the come on I know the by heart just like you do after all I'm hey come on I'm one of so of course I know the K but I am deducing this from another verse not from the Omission that mentioned but from an actual or a proof text not a proof just a proof text of sorts there is a in I believe it's that states as follows obviously it is a different context there or a different um a um excuse me an entirely different topic and you Al do not fear my servant hasem says said God that's simply a repetition do not fear is for for I will save you from a distance again the context there is not for us this morning and your future generations and your Offspring or and your descendants from the land of their captivity okay how does that serve as a a proof text for the idea for the concept of yov not dying who R explained in the name of RAB Yan that the pasuk is equating yov to his descendants in other words I will save you says God and your Zer and your seed and your future Generations from the land of their from the land of their captivity just as y's descendants meaning today's generation when we are sitting today having our coffee and our alive since it mentions jakob's descendants and yov in the same breath and I God am going to save you and I'm going to save your descendants just like his descendants are alive just like you my dear friend ra and I are able to share words of Tor now after having our meal himself is also still alive it sounds wild and obviously r in the name of raban does not mean to imply as I said that this P proves At All by any stretch of the imagination that yobu did not die it's simply another way of viewing things and that's all he could possibly mean that's the end of that particular piece of gar however there is another gar which tells us as follows and this this excerpt May shed light on the intention of rabi the statement rabas Ben said as follows we find another regarding that we're not going to get into now who was we don't have the the uh the time frame unfortunately this morning for for biographies and the like but it doesn't really matter he heard in now again he didn't hear DAV thatav died he heard that thatav lied or lied down with his ancestors with his fathers it doesn't use the word death the continues and that the Army General died so the word mate the word died is used by but it's not used by David and so the asked the question according toas why byav does it say that he simply lied down and couches the idea of his death but but by it actually uses the word death the gar answers David by David that he left behind a son in other words he had children it uses the word of lying down instead of instead of excuse me instead of he died which is another way of saying of course we understand that that he lived on through his children and not in the literal sense that he died yo who did not have a son or a daughter it uses the word death because once he passed on that was the end of his family so his family was no longer alive either and then the gar goes on to ask his follows only problem with that statement is it's a very nice idea but it's just not true and Y didn't have any children we do have another P that actually names y's children so of course he had children so what do you mean the term that mate is used by y because he didn't have any children so the simply restates this or reformulates this as David what we meant is or what I meant is David who left behind a son like him who carried on David's teachings and way of life who did not leave behind a son like him you I've had children who led a different lifestyle and because of that in that sense he didn't have children meaning they did not carry on his particular lifestyle and what he brought to this world and therefore the word ma applies to him okay just to bring home uh what we stated before in the name of ramban the torat makes this a little bit more uh a little bit more personal and a little bit more clear he actually speaks in the name of Rab in the as I tried to do before but Tora puts it much much more succinctly and better than I did and he explains as follows the the answer of RAB Yak to his lunchmate rman that I am deducing this from another obscure verse what meant was as follows what he meant was I of course know that yob di I'm not stupid it is true I admit says the as the mouthpiece for I admit that Yakov did die in the simple sense of the term of course he physically died AF but since his future Generations his seed is alive not just that they are living but rather that means that yov left behind left in his place left to succeed him that were that were fit and were righteous just like him it's considered as if he is still alive the very same message that is imparted to us in that second excerpt that I just read to you from the excuse me regarding DAV contrasted with that is what meant continues when I said did not die and therefore your questions they fall by the wayside your questions of how could they have eulogized him and how how could they have ounded him and buried him Etc because of course they did I know that they did I didn't Heaven forbidden mean to imply Shalom that he didn't actually die okay it is with this in mind with this background that I would like to come to another obscure p and even though the term vot he died is used referring to this individual and the individual in question is mosu at the very end of the Kash at the same time there is some obscurity here which leads to yet another obscure statement by Kaz the tells us as follows at the very end of the died Moshe the servant of God died in the land of moav Al Hashem by the word of God the next tells us as follow he buried him in the valley in the land of Mo it happens to be located if you're looking for a landmark opposite Bor which means nothing to you and me today but it did in those days and no one knew of his burial place of his until this day meaning at least until the time that the Kash was written but perhaps even later than that there is an opinion that whenever the torat uses the term literally meaning until this day it's not only until the day that the words are recorded but it's actually until this very day that you are reading these words that means right now in the year even to this day in the yearin giml if I did that right excuse me or 2023 it is still true that no man knows of moser's burial place and that is indeed the case based on these two uh these two phrases or these two Clauses in that pasuk we're going to come to something fascinating the opening of that PUK if you remember I read to you waso he buried him what's obviously omitted here is who buried him that's further that that's number one number two there's something a little bit off the Mark here regarding the words and I'll explain what I mean in a moment but regarding he buried him without the telling us even indirectly who they he is that buried him therefore Rashi quoting the midash tells us as follows God himself buried Moshe Renu how what does that possibly mean the simple answer and I think the only answer is we don't know we were there okay not only that if indeed it is true that nobody knows where he's buried who else could have buried him if a person buried him then that person would have known where he was buried and maybe he would have told somebody else so the only way for this to have been kept an absolute secret without leaking the news of his K would be if Theo the he buried him is a reference to God himself as the one that buried m is is actually has another take on it is that bore he buried him that he is Moshe rabenu that he buried himself as difficult as that may be for any of us to conceive of a person burying themselves nevertheless that is the opinion of RAB isma because these would be the only two options if indeed Noah knew of his burial okay the other issue though is that while it is true that to this day Moser ru's burial plot his place of burial has not been discovered and I imagine it never will be and by the way um a very fascinating um piece of information in case uh we're not aware very often burial places where we do know where a person is buried are indeed not where they're buried at all I think I mentioned this before in one of these uh one of this in one of these shim this series of and that is that um is most probably not where AEL is buried but it doesn't really matter because as long as we have a place where we can memorialize her even if we are off the Mark at the end of the day so what at the end of the day why is that really important but it most probably is true that Kev Rael is not actually K Rael is not actually where she is buried uh furthermore it is now known with 100% uh certitude that some of the Karim that people go to visit the grave sites that people go to visit inat for example of some of the great cabalists that have passed away well of course they passed away because it was hundreds of years ago where they are buried are not their actual burial sites that they're somewhere in that general area and one day it was decided by an individual a group of individuals let let us associate this particular place and let's mark it with a marker with a either a mat or just a Mark or whatever it may be for this particular one of the greats from the cabalist time period that passed away but some of them really indeed are Off the Mark we do not know when mhu passed away excuse me where mainu is buried that is true but if one pays close attention to the wording that is actually not what the pasuk says you see there's a difference in Hebrew between a k which is a grave and a k which is the act of burial K does not mean his burial place technically K means the act of his burial now I aiag am not saying that the is not implying that we do not know where he is buried I believe the Kash is implying that but I also believe that the given the wording that the Tor states that no man knows no human being knows new knows or ever will know of his burial place of his K but using the word K instead of K instead of kro his Kev his burial place is also alluding to something else and that is that nobody knew of the act of Moshe renu's burial not only did they not know his birthplace but they weren't even aware of his burial itself so commel asked me how could that be so I personally would like to suggest that what the kumash is telling us here is just like Yakov did not die in the literal sense yobu late and just like by the word is used rather than the word as is used in the same excuse me in the same context in the regarding y the same even regarding y the Army general for David lives on to for he left behind in the words of the similarly M did not die either of course yob died of course David died and of course Moshe Renu died the Torah even says as I mentioned before that Moshe the servant of God died but nobody knew of his burial how so because he was able to impart to Ben Israel the way of life that he wished for them to live upon their entry into ER Israel which he was not privileged to enter himself and even though Ben Israel will in very short order Rebel and they will continue to Rebel just like they did and just like we still do today but just like they did in the time of mos raenu while he was alive at the same time at least for a short term they had committed themselves to living the lifestyle that Moshe would have liked for them to live as the as is and in that sense I believe the torat is telling us that not only is which it does not say in the text that no man knew of his burial place of his actual grave but that that nobody knew meaning that people did not even sense his burial in the sense that yak that mosu lived on through their actions through their deeds Yakov ainu late he brought to this world so much and what he brought to this world Liv gone through his children and future generations and he yov ainu has to continue living on through us just as does as the states and there's a direct connection to our time too in addition to our doing everything we can in whatever way we can to see to it that all of those that have passed away so far in this war to see to it that they live on in addition to that this past Friday as we know has been deemed by the raban as Yad a day in which kadish is recited for those that passed away in the Shah whose yard site we unfortunately do not know and so if we do not know their yard site then at least we can act as if the 10th of Tate is the day of their yite to help bring some closure to them to their families and to all of us who are alive today who continue to live a life that would make them proud and in this way to be sure that their memories not only live on but in that sense yov that they too indeed continue to live on unfortunately now we have to add to that list many whose bodies have been discovered shim captives and therefore we do not know their exact date of death either and again the greatest way that we can pay tribute to them in addition to our sharing words of torat today in their memory is for us to live a life in a way that we know would make them proud May their me be for a blessing this concludes today shur I wish all of us a good week I wish all of us a week in which we contribute to see to it that yov ainu and that all of those whom we are thinking of together with yov indeed low mate be well