” And Pharaoh said to Yaacov, how many are the years of your life? And Yaacov said to Pharaoh, I have lived one hundred and thirty years. The years of my life were few and bad and they have not reached the years of my fathers.” (Bereshit 47:8-9)
At the end of Parasha Vayigash, Yaacov comes down to Egypt and settles down in Goshem,the best real state of the land with his entire family.
There is a Midrash that cites that Yaacov was punished for saying that the days of his life were few and bad. Because of this lack of appreciation for life he lived thirty three years less than his father Yitzchak. These years correspond to the 33 words in verse 8 and 9.
Rabbi Chayim Shmuelevitz would frequently cite this Midrash and say that even if life is hard and we experience many difficulties we should nevertheless never loose the joy to live.
Not only Yaacov looked extremely old for his age. When we loose the loving feeling of life we can age prematurely. The amount of stress we experience in any situation is dependent on our attitude. The greater ones joy in life the less one will experience stress while going through life’s journey.
One way in which it is helpful to always feel appreciative of life is to see our existence as a privilege. H”S doesn’t owe us anything, it is us who owe him our lives.
The sages say that when Meshiach comes and the world will return to its intended state of peace and well being we will yearn the days of exile when we could accomplish so much good in this world. When we focus our lives in the good deeds we can do at every instant we will never feel our life is bad and we will never complain about our challenges, instead we will be squeezing every moment we have to live it to its fullest.
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