by Rabbi Avi Billet
Over the last few years, our shul has joined the National Association of Chevra Kadisha’s TEAM Shabbos (TEAM stands for Traditional End-of-Life Awareness Movement). As the parsha focuses on the deaths and burial plans of both Yaakov and Yosef, NASCK (National Association of Chevra Kadishas) has a particular push to encourage in-ground burial, per our tradition, in a time when nearly 50% of Jews either opt for an above-ground resting place, or even more common, cremation. In addition to talking of burial plans, once the door is opened, NASCK raises awareness on other related topics, including having a halakhic will, an ethical will, signing an EMES (Emergency Medical Education Sign-Up) card. This latter card helps navigate the thorny road of MOLSTs, POLSTs, Health Care Proxies, Advance Directives, and Post-Mortem Agents.
The NASCK website – nasck.org – is a great resource for your perusal. Hopefully it will come in handy for purposes meaningful to those who search through it.
We all know we will not live forever. The more we plan while we are alive, the easier it will be for those who will be concerning themselves with our final journeys. It may not be a comfortable thought process, but knowing there are people available to help guide us, hold our hands (so to speak), and navigate the conversations should at least give us the confidence to open the door to discussing these most important topics and decisions with those who should be in those conversations.
Yaakov Avinu clearly thought about these things long before he was on his deathbed. While he may have waited to have the conversations we witness in our parsha, he does state that before he even left Canaan he prepared his burial plot. Considering he’s been living in Egypt for 17 years, that means he did this at least 17 years earlier, if not at Yitzchak’s funeral or Leah’s funeral (though we don’t know when Leah died).
The parsha begins telling us that “Yaakov lived in Egypt for 17 years…” and continues in the second verse saying “And the days of Yisrael came closer to death…”
Some, such as Ramban and the Midrash Sechel Tov, and even the first opinion recorded by Rabbenu Bachaye, suggest that the Torah simply goes back and forth between these two names, and there is no particular significance if we see the third Patriarch referred to as either Yaakov or Yisrael. Midrash Sechel Tov refers to the verse in 46:2 “And God said to Yisrael in a nocturnal vision, and He said ‘Yaakov, Yaakov…’” to prove that God equated the two names.
Rabbenu Bachaye divides his interpretation of Yisrael’s impending death into different approaches. The simple understanding was noted in the previous paragraph. He continues describing the “Derech HaSechel” (the manner of intellect), that “Yaakov” refers to the Middos HaGuf (qualities of the physical body), and “Yisrael” refers to the Middos HaNefesh (qualities of the soul). While we can’t ignore or stop paying attention to the needs of the Middos HaGuf, the main focus should be on Middos HaNefesh. Basing his teaching in a Talmudic statement from Brachos 13, “It is not that Yaakov’s name should be uprooted, but that Yisrael should be the main name (and qualities), and the Yaakov name should be secondary to it.
וכל מי שעושה מדות הגוף עיקר ומדות הנפש טפל שהיא עבודת ה' יתברך, הנה הוא ממית את נפשו
“And anyone who makes the concerns of the physical body the priority, and the qualities of the soul secondary, which is the service of Hashem-the-Blessed-One, that person makes his soul perish.”
It should give us pause to consider that any effort curtailing making soul-pursuits a top priority is not grounded in Judaism or a Torah-way.
The name “Yaakov” appears in the context of the material items, and “Yisrael” comes in the context of simple, meritorious and spiritual items.
The days of “Yaakov” are physical days, but when “Yisrael” is coming close to death it is because that will be the beginning of what is a complete Chayei Nefesh (spiritual existence) in the World to Come. When one reads through the verses in the beginning of the parsha, every time he is referenced in the context of his sickbed or deathbed, he is “Yisrael.” “Yaakov” instructs his family in physical matters – his not being called Yisrael is because in that moment “The divine presence had left him” – but Yisrael goes through all the motions of dying.
Along similar lines, Alshikh argues that he was “Yaakov” when he fathered his children (he was called Yisrael only after all but Binyamin had been born), and that component of whatever made him Yaakov at that point in his life never left him, even after he became Yisrael. This is one explanation of the Talmudic sentiment that claims “Yaakov” never died. (Alshikh notes that Yaakov experienced גויעה, while Yisrael experienced מיתה – but that’s a different topic!) He continues, suggesting that whatever “extra” came upon him along with the name Yisrael is what left him when he died – to go to the World of Truth. Everything that “Yaakov” brought to him remained with him – it is still a part of him.
Every person is born to parents, given a name, and is hopefully raised in a warm, loving environment. Each of us is a product of our environment in some manner, and as we grow into ourselves and develop the identity handed to us, we become our own equivalent of what Yaakov was.
But life isn’t meant to be a ride that ends with coasting and becoming stagnant. We are meant to evolve, to grow, especially spiritually and in our relationship with Hashem. For Yaakov, that is what his “Yisrael” identity represented – the side which was aimed at getting closer and closer to Hashem throughout his life.
When we put some thought to end-of-life plans, we also ought to think about how we LIVE OUT the latter parts of our lives. Yaakov LIVED in Egypt – he made the MOST of his time there. He enhanced his relationships with his children and grandchildren, and made plenty of room to bring God into the equation.
While his job was to focus on his own spiritual growth, there is no doubt that he kvelled in seeing the spiritual growths achieved and attained by Yosef, Efraim, Menashe, and everyone else he was privileged to observe and relate to in his years in Egypt.
May that be our blessing – to build up our original identity (our “Yaakov”), but even moreso to enhance the identity we create for ourselves through maturation and life experience, especially and most notably with regard to our spiritual pursuits (our “Yisrael”). We know we can’t take anything physical with us when our physical time on earth ends. But we will have to answer for how we used our time to enhance our ruchnius, and build up the name we created for ourselves, for which we are most proud.
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