It's a Wonderful Life

by Devora Gila Berkowitz

Parshat Vayigash

How many days are the years of your life?

This is the question that Pharoah, a wise king, asks Yaakov. (Bereshit 47:8)

What he meant was this: How productive and meaningful has your life been? (Rav Hirsch)

Yaakov's answer: Few and bad have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the life spans of my forefathers in the days of their sojourns. (v. 9)

Ugh.

I don't know about you, but when the day comes that someone asks me that question, I'd like to have a better answer.

What would it be like to answer I've had a wonderful life?

It's never too late to start.