Our forefather Jacob lived the shortest of all the Patriarchs. Abraham lived 175 years. Yitzchak lived 180 years. Yaakov lived 147 years.
Why?
Our sages explain that Yaakov should have lived 180 years. However, G-d deducted 33 years of his life. The reason is as follows:
When Yaakov came to Egypt and Pharaoh asked him his age, he replied, “The days of the years of my life are a hundred and thirty years; few and bad have been the days of my life and they have not attained the days of the years of the life of my fathers” (Gen. 47:9).
The verse in which Yaakov complains about his bad lot and misfortune in life contains 33 Hebrew words. As a result, G-d shortened his life by 33 years.
(Jacob’s reasons for what he said were not a lack of gratitude to G-d, he had his own reasons like maybe he did not want to appear great in Pharoah’s eyes so that Pharoah would not ‘follow up’ with him or befriend him on FB.)
The lesson to us: life always has its vicissitudes and yet if we are asked how our life is, our answer must always be: thank G-d, wonderful!! Because life is worth living, life is full of so many blessings every day despite our justified reasons to kvetch 🙂
Mendel Bluming