premonition of death

In my Monday night Talmud class, we are studying the 4th chapter of ברכות. On 28b, we are told a story about the death of R. Yochanan ben Zaqai. He was on his death bed and his students came to visit. The gemara tells us that when they entered, R. Yochanan ben Zaqai began to cry. When the students engaged his crying, R. Yochanan ben Zaqai explained that he was crying out fear of having to face G-d, the eternal, who, if angered with R. Yochanan, would hold the anger forever and if G-d wanted to punish him, the punishment would be eternal. R. Yochanan then blesses his students that they should fear G-d as much as they fear a human, indicating the idea that we have more concern for what people, who are finite, will say than for what G-d, the everlasting, will say.

The Gemara then says:
At the moment of his passing, he said to his students, 'remove the vessels because of Tum'ah, and prepare a seat for King Hezekiah who has come [to escort me].'

One of people in the class asked if R. Yochanan knew he was going to die and was experiencing a person from the past because of his righteousness. While one could very much argue that R. Yochanan might have a leg up because of his righteousness, I would tend to suggest the story might be seen in more general terms. As a chaplain, I often come across people who have a sense that their lives are coming to an end. For some, it is apparent when they begin talking about dying, for often the talk of death is a precursor to a person passing away. For others, dying is shown to be closer when the dying person begins seeing his/her dead relatives, which some might interpret as hallucinations or drug induced. In the story from the gemara, both of these scenarios play out, which I think we can read as a model for the dying.

Parashat Vayigash - reactions to loss

One of the things in last week's parasha that always struck me as odd was Jacob's response when he encounters Yosef for the first time in 22 years. We would expect Jacob to hug his son and cry with him. Instead we are told "And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said unto Joseph: 'Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou art yet alive' (Genesis 46:29-30)." At first, only Joseph responds with any outward display of emotion. On the other hand, Jacob is silent for a long while before finally coming to grips with the powerful situation at hand. As we know, there is the one midrash that indicates that Jacob first recites Shema upon seeing his son. The midrash at first is also a bit difficult because it leaves the following question: why do the rabbis explain that Jacob looks toward G-d in this manner, declaring the divine unity, when meeting again with his son. A more normal response would have been Jacob expressing gratitude to G-d for allowing this meeting to take place.

To answer this inquiry, I was thinking about the concept of loss and attachment. In a work called Necessary Losses, by Judith Viorst, which I was reading this past week, she states that when it comes to loss, we have a strange counter-intuitive response. Her example is the screaming kid looking for her mom. She screams out of loss. When her mom finally finds her, we would assume the child would be overjoyed to see her mom. Instead, a typical reaction is for the child to express a coldness toward the mom, as if saying, "I know you are here but I don't believe you will stay." The child is presenting a barrier for further loss by not being as affectionate and happy as we would expect.

The same is true for the encounter of Jacob and Joseph. Jacob sees his son and is slow to react. This is the moment he had wished for for the past 22 years. While it would have been a miracle in Jacob's view of the world to ever see his son again, this is the parental hope. When he finally sees Joseph, he stops short of opening up the wounds. Instead he is silent. Perhaps he is angry for not being contacted before 22 years had passed. Perhaps he was overwhelmed with the thought of what he says next, 'I can die in peace knowing you are alive.' Jacob doesnt know how to react. Hazal find the same in their thinking, namely Jacob didn't know what to do, so they said he recited Shema. He looked toward G-d and said, 'You are my G-d, You are the only." For Hazal, the words of Shema were the comfort they expressed as what Jacob would have needed to be able to absorb the emotional high the meeting with Yosef would have elicited in him.