Devar/5769/Mikets
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עברית
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And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days (Gen 37:34)
Yaakov our patriarch took the bad news about his son very harshly. Later he says, Nay, but I will go down to the grave to my son mourning. That is to say, that at least at that moment, he did not think he would ever leave his state of mourning. And his father wept for him. But we know, that his son was still alive -- and not only alive, but extremely successful. The entire time Yosef rose higher and higher in importance and influence in Egypt, Yaakov fell from his exalted position of prophecy, and did not know his son was alive and well.
Our Sages commanded, stating: A person should not grieve excessively over his dead -- as the verse states, "Weep ye not for the dead, neither bemoan him" (Jer 22:10), that is to say, too much. Because that is the way of the world; and one who afflicts himself regarding the way of the world, is a fool. Rather what should one do? Three days for crying, seven for eulogy and thirty days for refraining from haircuts and the rest of the five things a mourner must refrain from (Laws of Mourning 13:12). This is the proper behavior for mourning.
And because he afflicted himself excessively, his prophecy was removed from him: prophecy does not rest upon one, neither from a state of sadness, nor from a state of indolence, but rather from a state of happiness (Laws of the Fundamentals of Torah 7:8), and he was not informed his son still lived.
We see how important the middle path amongst the various traits is. Even a prophet among the Jews who strays from the middle path, suffers the consequences of his deviation. Therefore it is important to keep this in mind, and to strive always to improve ourselves and to go in God's path, the middle path.
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