Vayigash 47:9 · unit 1

Parashas Vayigash · Passuk 47:9

The Complete Passuk

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֔ה יְמֵי֙ שְׁנֵ֣י מְגוּרַ֔י שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים וּמְאַ֖ת שָׁנָ֑ה מְעַ֣ט וְרָעִ֗ים הָיוּ֙ יְמֵי֙ שְׁנֵ֣י חַיַּ֔י וְלֹ֣א הִשִּׂ֗יגוּ אֶת־יְמֵי֙ שְׁנֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י אֲבֹתַ֔י בִּימֵ֖י מְגוּרֵיהֶֽם׃

Yaakov said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojournings are one hundred thirty years. Few and hard have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

Chabad / Judaica Press

Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to classical sources on Yaakov’s age calculation and the “few and hard” years.

TT lemma: ימי שני מגורי.

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text
יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי שְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה — מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי. הַמִּדְרָשׁ מְחַשֵּׁב אֶת שְׁנוֹת יַעֲקֹב כְּנֶגֶד הַכְּרוֹנוֹלוֹגְיָה הַמְּלֵאָה, וּמְצַיֵּן שָׁנִים שֶׁל לִמּוּד בְּבֵית עֵבֶר שֶׁאֵינָן נִמְנוֹת בְּכָל חֶשְׁבּוֹן.

English: “The days of the years of my sojournings are one hundred thirty years — few and hard have been the days of the years of my life.” The midrash reconciles the 130 years stated to Pharaoh with the fuller chronology of Yaakov’s life, noting years of study in the house of Ever that are treated specially in the reckoning.

On the daf / in context: Chronological and moral reading of Yaakov’s self-description before Pharaoh.

Type of Learning

Derash on the verse (midrashic chronology) — not a formal named middah of the 13.

What Is Learned

Yaakov described his 130 years as few and hard relative to the longer, more peaceful sojourns of the earlier Avot.