## Da'at Zekenim on Genesis Chapter 47

###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:2:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:2:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:2:1)

**ומקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים**פירש"י מן הפחותים שבהם. וכן ה' אנשים בגימטריא חלשי"ם שבה"ן חס"ר אח"ד:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ומקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים, “and from his weaker brothers he singled out five men, etc;” the word מקצה is interpreted by Rashi here as the “weaker ones.” Rashi presumably took his cue from the spelling of the word חמשה here without the customary letter י after the letter מ.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:8:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:8:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:8:1)

**כמה ימי שני חייך.**פשט לפי שראהו זקן מאד ושערות ראשו וזקנו לבנות מרוב הזקנה שאל כן והוא ענהו ימי מגורי שלשים ומאת שנה מעט ורעים כלומר מעטים הם שנותי אלא מתוך רעות שהיה לי קפצה עלי זקנה. מדרש בשעה שאמר יעקב מעט ורעים היו אמר לו הקב"ה אני מלטתיך מעשו ומלבן והחזרתי לך דינה גם יוסף ואתה מתרעם על חייך שהם מעט ורעים חייך שמנין התיבות שיש מן ויאמר עד בימי מגורי כך יחסרו משנותיך שלא תחיה כחיי יצחק אביך והם ל"ג תיבות ובמנין זה נחסרו מחייו שהרי יצחק חי ק"פ שנה ויעקב לא חי אלא קמ"ז:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
כמה ימי שני חייך, “for how many years have you lived thus far?” Pharaoh was probably prompted to ask this unusual question of his guest as he looked as if he was exceedingly old. Yaakov, when replying, did not refer to his having “lived” at all, but described his sojourn on earth as something of a very temporary nature, ימי מגורי, “the days of my being a stranger,” as opposed to ימי שני חיי, “the days of the years the life,” the way the Torah had described the life of his grandmother Sarah at her death, reported in Genesis 23,1. He indicated that as opposed to his forefathers, he had had a very troubled life thus far. This resulted in his features reflecting this. An explanation by the Midrash of this strange sounding conversation between the ruler of the civilised world at the time and Joseph’s father: As soon as Yaakov had uttered the words that his life compared unfavourably with that of his father and grandfather, G–d told him “I have saved you from Esau and Lavan, I restored your daughter Dinah to you, as well as your son Joseph, and you have the nerve to describe your life on earth in negative terms when speaking to Pharaoh? I am now forced to make sure that you did not tell a lie, by shortening your lifespan when compared to that of your father and grandfather. He therefore deducted a year for each of the words in this reply by Yaakov, i.e. 33 words, so that he died at 147 years, 33 years younger than the lifespan of his father who had lived for 180 years. [This includes the opening blessing and the concluding blessing Yaakov gave to Pharaoh. Ed.]


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:28:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:28:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:28:1)

**ויחי יעקב.**פרש"י למה פרשה זו סתומה וכו' ותימה שהרי יוסף מלך אחר פטירתו של יעקב וי"ל שמיד שנפטר יעקב התחילו לשעבד בהם מעט. ועוד פרש"י שבקש לגלות הקץ ונסתם ממנו. וא"ת מהיכן ידע הקץ י"ל ממעלות הסולם שחלם שראה שרו של עשו עולה במעלות כדפרש"י בפרשת ויצא:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ויחי יעקב, “Yaakov “lived;” Rashi explains why there is not even the space of a single letter between the last letter of the previous portion and the first letter of this portion. It is the only time this occurs in the Torah. He writes that as soon as the eyes of Yaakov closed for the last time, so did the spiritual eyes of the Jewish nation and their hearts, on account of the hardships experienced when they became enslaved. [He adds that an alternate explanation is that seeing he was about to reveal parts of the future to his children, G–d immediately deprived him of his prophetic insights, preventing him form carrying out his wish. Ed.] The difficulty with Rashi’s first explanation is that Joseph’s rule in Egypt continued for another 54 years, during which period the Jews enjoyed preferred social status. Also, how do we know that Yaakov had at all been privy to what would happen to his descendants after his death, and when? We would have to answer that in his dream of the ladder he watched the ascension of that ladder by the guardian angel of brother Esau, as Rashi had explained in his commentary of B’reshit Rabbah, 68,12, and as we know from Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer chapter 35.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:28:2
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:28:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:28:2)

**ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים.**למה הזכיר הכתוב סך חייו בארץ מצרים לפי שמצינו שיוסף הי' עם אביו קודם מכירתו י"ז שנה וכשם שפרנס יעקב ליוסף י"ז שנה כך יוסף פרנסו וכלכלו י"ז שנה כנגדן הה"ד אלה תולדות יעקב יוסף בן שבע עשרה שנה:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
'ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים וגו, “Why did the Torah mention the number of years that Yaakov lived in Egypt? We could have figured this out from the data the Torah already provided us with about how old Joseph was when he left the house of father, (Genesis 37,2) how old he was when he was appointed as viceroy by Pharaoh, and from the age of Yaakov (130) at the time of his death which is listed in the same verse. The point the Torah wished us to appreciate is that just as for the first seventeen years of his life Yaakov, his father, had provided for him, during the last seventeen years of his life, his son Joseph provided for his father.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:29:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:29:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:29:1)

**ויקרבו ימי ישראל למות.**כל מקום שנאמר קריבה לא הגיע לימי אבותיו וכן ויקרבו ימי דוד לא הגיע לימי בעז ועובד וישי שחיו יותר מד' מאות שנה ודוד לא חיה כי אם ע' שנה:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ויקרבו ימי ישראל למות, “Israel’s days of living approached their end;” wherever the expression קריבה, “approach,” is used in the Torah in connection with death, it signals that the person concerned died prematurely, i.e. before the time originally allocated to him at birth, or younger than the lifespan of his father. We find the same type of wording in Kings I 1,2 ויקרבו ימי דוד למות, where the approach of death of King David is discussed, the reason being that he did not live as long as his paternal forefathers Boaz, Oved, and Yishai Their combined lifetimes were over 400 years, whereas David died at the age of 70. (Compare B’reshit Rabbah 96,4)


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:29:2
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:29:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:29:2)

**ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת.**כלו' אמרת שאתה חייב לקברני בארץ כנען לכך אני מפייס אותך שתעשה עמי חסד ואמת ותטרח לקברני לשם:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת, “and perform for me an act of true kindness;” the reason why Yaakov used both the adjectives “kind, and true,” was that Joseph, as his son, was obligated to bury his father, whereas he was not obligated to transport his remains to the cave of Machpelah in the land of Canaan. Yaakov is aware that what he is asking is more than he has a right to ask of a person of such a high rank.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:29:3
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:29:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:29:3)

**אל נא תקברני במצרים.**מה שפרש"י לפי שעתיד להיות עפר ארץ מצרים כנים לא נהירא לי דמזה לא היה לו לירא דהשתא בנימין בנו לא שלטה בו רמה כל שכן אביו אם לא נאמר שזה לא היה יעקב יודע. ואומר ר"ת שהיה ירא שלא ינצלו מצרים מעשר מכות בעבורו אם יקבר במצרים שהרי נקרא ישראל שה פזורה ומצרים נקראים חמורים שנאמר אשר בשר חמורים בשרם וכתיב פטר חמור תפדה בשה:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
אל נא תקברני במצרים “please do not bury me in Egypt.” When Rashi explains Yaakov’s motivation as being that he foresaw that Egypt would be smitten with the plague of lice, etc., this does not sound plausible. He had no reason to fear that his remains would be affected by that plague, seeing that we have a tradition that even his son Binyamin was not affected by that plague; his father Yaakov surely would be even less affected by it. (Talmud tractate Baba Batra folio 17) In order for Rashi to be correct, we would have to assume that Yaakov was unaware that his son Binyamin and his descendants would not be afflicted by these lice, something that seems unlikely. One of Rashi’s grandsons, Rash’bam, claims that Yaakov wanted to prevent the Egyptians of being spared the ten plagues seeing that he had been buried in that soil. This would be due to his having been named Yisrael, which conferred a much higher spiritual status on him. (Compare Jeremiah 50,17 where he has been referred to as שה פזורה, “a scattered sheep,” as opposed to the Egyptians who are referred to by several of our prophets as donkeys, i.e. their flesh being described as similar to the flesh of donkeys. (Ezekiel 23,20) The Torah writes that the firstborn male donkey has to be redeemed by a שה, i.e. a sheep or lamb (Exodus 13,13) the implication being that only descendants of Yaakov can possibly serve as redemption for Egyptians. If that animal is not redeemed, it must be killed by its owner. (B’reshit Rabbah 96,5)


###### Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:30:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Genesis 47:30:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Genesis/r/47:30:1)

**אנכי אעשה כדבריך.**מדרש כשם שאתה מצוני כך אני מצוה לאחי בשעת מיתתי להעלותי מכאן וכן מצינו שאמר לאחיו פקד יפקד אלהים אתכם וכו'. ונ"ל דלהא ניחא הא דפרש"י בואלה שמות שסימן זה מסור בידם מיעקב ומיוסף שבלשון זה דפקוד יפקוד יהיו נגאלים שהרי מצינו שיוסף אמר בפי' פקוד יפקוד אלהים אתכם ואמר הכא שיוסף אמר שיעשה כדברי יעקב ואם כן גם יעקב אמר בצוואה פקוד יפקוד אלהים אתכם:

**Daat Zekenim translated by Rb. Eliyahu Munk:**
אנכי אעשה כדבריך, “I am going to do in accordance with your instructions.” According to the Midrash, Yaakov’s request to be buried in the land of Canaan inspired Joseph to make the same request of his brothers when the time came for him to die. We find that Joseph indeed made his brothers swear that his remains would be taken with the Israelites at the time of the redemption, and Moses personally, was involved in locating his coffin which was carried with the Israelites for 40 years until eventually being interred near Sh’chem in the tribal territory of Ephraim, one of his sons. He used the same formula when making his request as had his father at the time. (Compare Genesis 50,24-26) The choice of the Torah describing Joseph’s response as “the words of” instead of simply “his request,” or something similar, is why Rashi (in Exodus 3,18) says that before Moses came to Egypt and introduced himself as the redeemer, G–d told him that the elders would listen to him as he introduced himself with the words: פקוד יפקוד, that Joseph had used at the time when he stood at his father’s deathbed and they spoke about the eventual redemption, long before even the enslavement had commenced. This was also the reason why Yaakov had used this formula for describing the redemption.