"How Many are the Days of the Years of Your Life?"
"How Many are the Days of the Years of Your Life?"

Aging is a process that scares the average individual. It portends the finality of one’s life, the reality of mortality conflicting with the fantasy of the immortal. Concurrent with this notion is the need to reflect on one’s life, assessing one’s accomplishments and failures. Within the theology of Judaism, one must be careful when engaged in the above thoughts, as it is easy to be drawn into conclusions that run counter to those who serve God.

In this week’s Torah portion, a short-lived dialogue between Jacob and Pharaoh, and subsequent commentary on it, reveal how critical it is to have the correct approach to life.

Yosef brings Jacob to meet Pharaoh, and the above referenced conversation ensues (Bereishit 47:7-10)

So Joseph brought his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob greeted Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?" And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojournings are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and miserable, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my forefathers in the days of their sojournings." So Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left Pharaoh's presence.”

Common etiquette would indicate that Pharaoh’s question to Jacob was nothing short of rude; after all, it is really appropriate that the first question one asks upon greeting a dignitary is their age?

There are other problems with this exchange. Jacob offers a very detailed answer, one seemingly above and beyond Pharaoh’s question. Why? Furthermore, it appears that Jacob is complaining quite adamantly about the quality, or lack thereof, of his life. Nobody could question that Jacob faced many challenges in his life. However, to openly complain in such a manner would appear not to be the normative behavior of the righteous.

The commentaries sense these issues, and respond accordingly. Most commentaries explain that someone as elderly as Jacob was an anomaly. He did not “age gracefully”, and therefore appeared very old. Pharaoh was responding to this unique phenomenon, attempting to understand this aberration in nature. At this point in the narrative, we have a reasonable explanation as to the motive of Pharaoh’s question (whether this was diplomatically prudent is a separate issue).

When digging deeper, we come across two conflicting Midrashim that explain Jacob’s bizarre answer. The first appears to be laudatory in nature. The focus is on Jacob’s use of “sojournings”, or “megurai”. The Midrash explains that for the righteous, life in this world is viewed as a sojourn. Just like the sojourner looks forward to exiting his temporary place of dwelling, so too the righteous looks forward to the day of his death. In this version, the complaint aspect of Jacob’s retort is ignored.

The second Midrash is much harsher, where Jacob’s statement is viewed as a complaint. The Midrash asks:

Why did Jacob live thirty three fewer years than his father? God says to Jacob, I saved you from Lavan and Esav and Shechem, and I returned to you Dinah and Yosef.  And you say: ‘short and bad are [the years] of my life’, I will take from your life [years corresponding to] the amount of words you spoke (comes out to thirty three)”

If taken literally, this Midrash is astonishing. Jacob’s punishment was quite severe, his life being shortened substantially. Furthermore, are we to believe Jacob really ignored the incredible good done to him by God?

In order to gain some insight into these Midrashim, we need to first turn back to the original issue of Pharaoh’s question, and Jacob’s motivation in answering him in a seemingly bizarre manner. Was Pharaoh merely expressing an intrigued scientific mind? It would seem from Jacob’s answer that Pharaoh was seeking something else. Pharaoh’s interest may have been attached to his personal view of life. Seeing someone like Jacob, a person who was able to live such a long life, would directly appeal to the fantasy of immortality. What was his secret? How did he do it?

Pharaoh was interested because he saw life here as being the ultimate objective, the end rather than a means. To Pharaoh, any chance of extending his life would pique his interest. It could be that Jacob sensed this in Pharaoh, and therefore developed a response to counter his false assumption.

At this point, we can introduce the Midrashim into the overall interpretation. The issue the Midrashim were taking up was the presentation Jacob gave to Pharaoh. Jacob was trying to explain to Pharaoh that while it was true he had lived for many years, the value of his life here was negligible compared to the eternal existence awaiting him. An attempt was being made to steer Pharaoh’s overestimation of the benefit of existence in this world towards a recognition that life here is nothing compared to what is there for man to acquire in the world to come. Thus, he presents his life as a “sojourn”, a temporary state, fleeting in nature. This concept is extremely challenging for a person to grasp, as we tend to look at life here as the end, rather than the means. Jacob was trying to transmit the exact opposite message.

We are left then with the opposing critical Midrash. This Midrash seems to be focusing on the possible distortion that may have emerged as a result of Jacob’s attempt. Jacob, in emphasizing the hardships he experienced, was trying to demonstrate to Pharaoh to be wary of desiring a long life. In doing so, Jacob was describing life in a one dimensional way. Nobody questions that Jacob went through a tremendous amount of hardship. And without a doubt, Jacob was aware of the good that was done to him by God. Yet the image being presented to Pharaoh was one of life being defined as “bad”.

The conclusion that might have been reached by Pharaoh would be that man has the right to give an essential characterization of his life. This is a common outlook, where events do not follow an expected outcome, and an oversimplification emerges. When one thing goes wrong, one’s inclination is to assume that all is wrong. For example, if a person oversleeps, trips over his shoes, and burns his tongue drinking coffee, a familiar conclusion is reached: I am having a bad day. The message sent is that the day itself is conspiring against him, as if a day could be defined intrinsically as good or bad.

In reality, every moment of our lives reflects the good of God, as we are dependent upon Him for our very existence. This does not mean that a person should view a tragedy as definitively a pleasurable experience. A person has to evaluate each event in his life in a discrete manner, rather than trying to create a continuum linked to a specific description. To even give off the impression that life could be defined in such a stark manner is what provoked the response by God.

What we see from this momentary conversation between Jacob and Pharaoh is quite fascinating. A person must work to overcome his fantasy of immortality and recognize the benefits of the world to come outweigh whatever can be achieved here.

As well, a person must be very careful when assessing his life, avoiding the natural inclination to characterize it as “good” or “bad”. Doing so leads someone to a distorted view of God’s relationship to man.