[Avodah] "Ha'od Avi Chai?"

[Zev Sero]

On 22/12/20 10:43 pm, Micha Berger wrote:
> The Seforno is short enough to read in transliteration:
>      ha'od avi chai: i efshar shelo meis mida'agaso alai

The Shelah says that Yaacov *did* in fact die of his grief over Yosef's 
death.  That is why the name Yaacov is never used during the 22 years he 
was gone.  But Yisrael, who was not Yosef's father and didn't feel the 
grief quite as strongly, lived on, and so the body they both animated 
continued to function.

When the news came that Yosef was alive, Vatechi Ruach Yaacov Avihem; 
Yaacov experienced Techiyas Hameisim, and from then that name is once 
again used.

And that is why Yaacov Lo Meis -- he had already died and been 
resurrected, so he had no need to die again.  Yisrael died, but Yaacov 
merely stopped animating their shared body and continued to exist in 
this world.

I don't know how he explains David.

-- 
Zev Sero            Wishing everyone a *healthy* and happy 5781
zev at sero.name       "May this year and its curses end
                      May a new year and its blessings begin"