TT #57 · Parashas Vayechi · Passuk 49:33
When Jacob finished his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and, breathing his last, he was gathered to his kin.
Torah Temimah cites Taanis 5b.
English: “And he expired and was gathered.” Rabbi Yochanan said: Jacob our father did not die. Rav Nachman asked Rav Yitzchak: Was it for nothing that the mourners mourned him and the embalmers embalmed him? He answered: I derive it from Scripture: “Do not fear, My servant Jacob ... and your seed from the land of their captivity.” He compares Jacob with his descendants: just as his descendants are alive, so he is alive.
Agadic derash on the continuing life of Yaakov through his descendants.
The sages read Yaakov’s continuing “life” through the survival and continuity of his descendants, while acknowledging the apparent physical death described in the narrative.