To my students,
We need to renew our work every day, that is to say we need to forget the past. If we have not succeeded in the past, we need to begin over again. Like the merchant who opens a shop that failed--he closes that one and immediately starts another, and he is full of hope that though the old business failed, the new one is sure to succeed. This is similar to ourselves;even though in the past we did not succeed, in the future we will surely succeed-but never stand idle-for without any efforts, it's certain that any success is impossible.
We need to believe the He will surely favor us and we will merit to the Light of His Torah, this is The Torah of Truth and the Truth shields us and draws to us the Light of His Torah so that we will merit union with His Blessed Name forever. As the sages taught (Taanit 5, side 2): "R. Yohanan said: Jacob, our father, did not die, but then he answered himself with 'but wasn't he embalmed and buried'--but what I mean to say refers to the verse: 'And you Jacob, my servant, do not be afraid for the Lord is pleased; and be not terrified Israel for I am here, drawing you from afar, and your progeny from the land of your captivity". Just as his progeny are alive, so too, is he (Jacob) alive.
Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak (Rashi) explains that only when speaking about 'life' it is at all relevant to speak about 'captivity', whereas, regarding 'death' it is irrelevant to speak about 'captivity' and the commentators questioned: #1) nevertheless, it is a dilemma; the great sage Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer (Marshah) says it means that the body dies but not the soul. If so, then why specificy that Jacob did not die? And they reply, because of Abraham and Isaac, who died in the Land of Israel, which was not the case with Jacob, who died outside of Israel; it is necessary to teach that also Jacob did not die… and I answer this according to our way (Kabbalah) and in this the dilemma will be resolved.
As is well known, on the verse: "And they proclaimed to Joseph saying 'Our father commanded us before his death "Tell Joseph: please overlook your brothers' crime… etc. "and this is a second dilemma #2) How is it that Jacob, our father, could command such a thing, and similar to it, the Midrash questions on the verse "And he called to his son, to Joseph and commanded him about the funeral". #3) Why did he not command Reuben, the first born son or Yehuda, a king? And the commentators further question: #4) Jacob said to Joseph "and do kindness and truth with me," i.e., kindness that one does with the dead, for the dead cannot repay the favor, and did he not say afterwards to Joseph "And I will give you a portion more than your brothers" and Rashi comments: because on account of trouble and effort about my funeral; if so, this honor (that Joseph did towards Jacob) is not the same as kindness and truth (because kindness and truth to the dead receives to reward for itself). And, again, it is difficult to understand #5) why Joseph said to him (Jacob) "I, myself, will do as you say." "Myself" is redundant. He should have said "I will do as you say."
And in order to understand clearly the above questions, it's is necessary to understand the attribute of 'The Truth,' which is the attribute of Jacob as in the verse: "And I shall give Truth to Jacob." And my father, Harav Ashlag, explained the idea of 'The Truth' as is brought in Hasulam, in the Introduction (par. 185) that there are two cadres of angels -- the one sort finds fault with the Creation (of Man) and a second sort that defends the Creation (of Man). The Angels of Truth say that the world is all lies, that is to say that the world is identified with the desire to receive and the Truth is the desire to bestow in order to give Him spiritual pleasure, and this is actually the essence of Union with Him, and how is it possible (for Man) to obtain this? And the Angels of Kindness say that He does Kindnesses for by means of the Kindnesses they obtain Union, etc. And see there (in HaSulam) where it says "…every lazy person... and you throw Truth to the ground…" and this means to say, that from the not for it's own sake (selfish desire to receive) one can merit to for it's own sake (selfless desire to bestow),and become imbued with the attribute of Truth. And Jacob, our father, whose attribute was "The Truth" commanded before his death, i.e., gave his last will and testimony to Joseph that he do 'Kindness of Truth', i.e., that on account of this he will come to merit Truth; that is to say, that it would be all a bestowal, and this was to each of his sons, and he commanded Joseph, specifically, that is that after his death that he, Joseph, not seek to pay off old accounts about his brothers' betrayal in selling him and even though Joseph saw that his brothers blemished themselves in selling him, nonetheless, his only requirement is to work to obtain the attribute of The Truth, i.e., to bestow. And as for the blemish, it's repair is only (acheived) by The Creator alone, and this repair was acheived afterwards by the martyrdom of the Ten Sages executed by the Romans. And that Joseph replied I, myself, will do as you say, i.e., selfhood of mine will be as you say, for I will go only in the way of bestowal and with this explains why he said Joseph, (see above, #3) and why he replied with 'myself' (see above, #5). And this resolves the dilemma #2, i.e., how is it that we find that Jacob commanded before his death to Joseph, as mentioned above, that before his death he spoke specifically to Joseph telling him to go on the path to Truth, which is all bestowal, and consequently it is inappropriate to demand a reckoning about being sold and thus, after Joseph accepted this and said "I, myself, will do as you say" i.e., to bestow, that he (Jacob) replied to him "And I will give you a portion above your brothers"; it does not ruin the matter of 'kindness of Truth' by having received a gift, because this receiving is called 'to receive on condition to bestow' for there is no self-interest in it, rather all his deeds are on condition to bestow and this answers dilemma #4--having accepted to do the Truth how could he give him reward, and, nonetheless, it is considered as being an act of complete bestowal (i.e., accepting the gift is not receiving reward to himself alone but is actually as if he already bestowed it on others).
And this is what Rabi Yohanan said that Jacob our father did not die, by this we mean to say that Jacob's attribute did not die because he transmitted his attribute to his children after him; therefore, R. Yohanan said specifically 'Jacob' for the main thing is 'Truth'; if Truth remain in tact if assures that the aspects of 'Abraham' and 'Isaac', the aspects of 'Greatness' and 'Power' are in tact.
What we conclude from all the above is that Jacob, our father, did not die but rather his Torah, that is the Torah of Truth shines for us and we merit to go in his ways and to strengthen ourselves always with a greater strength and therefore it is ours to hear and to enlighten those laymen that come to us with sighs of despair; rather say as the sages taught, that Ben David does not comes but unexpectedly; that is the Redemption, which is called 'Ben David,' comes specifically because the laymen are led to distraction.
With regards to the commentary of Rashi that 'living' is only relevant to 'captivity', i.e., only when a person is alive can he feel that he is in captivity, and Jacob's attribute shines on us to go out from captivity and in the verse: "And your progeny from the land of captivity," which is to say that all inclinations to the work (to serve The Creator) are found in captivity; this is "do not be afraid Jacob, my servant...for, behold, I wil rescue you from afar...; even though you will be as far as can be from The Blessed Name, just because of this The Creator promises us that He will rescue us." As the sages taught, if it were not for The Holy One to help him, he would have no recourse. If so, it's necessary to understand how our Helper is a Gibur (possessing great strength), as in the verse: "The Creator is a man of war, and as for the help of a Gibur, what does it matter if he needs to extend much or little help, rather, as mentioned above, for I will rescue you from afar, even if we are as remote as can be, He rescues us."