יְה֘וָ֤ה אֱלֹהִ֣ים צְ֭בָאוֹת שִׁמְעָ֣ה תְפִלָּתִ֑י הַאֲזִ֨ינָה אֱלֹהֵ֖י יַעֲקֹ֣ב סֶֽלָה׃
Éternel, Dieu-Cebaot, écoute donc ma prière, prête l’oreille, Dieu de Jacob. Sélah!
Rabbeinu Bahya
I believe that this is also what is alluded to in the Midrash Eycha Rabbati 2,9 where the verse in Lamentations 2,3: ”He has ravaged Yaakov like flaming fire, consuming on all sides,” is dealt with. The author says that when disaster struck the Jewish people only Yaakov “felt” it. Similarly, when the redemption comes only Yaakov will “feel” it. This is why the psalmist (Psalms 14,7) says: ”Yaakov will exult, Israel will rejoice.” You are aware that he expression מרגיש, “feeling something, experiencing a sensation,” cannot be used in connection with bodies which have been embalmed and buried. This term could only be applied to this diaphanous “second” body of which we spoke earlier. This is also the way we have to understand the passage in Ketuvot dealing with Rabbi Yehudah’s return to earth every Sabbath eve. The same applies to the passage in Shabbat 152 where Rabbi Acha remonstrated with grave diggers who had disturbed his peace (he had long been dead and buried). If such people’s “second body” survived, how much more so is this plausible in the case of our patriarch Yaakov?
This may be the mystical dimension of Proverbs 10,2 וצדקה תציל ממות, “that charity saves one from death.” Clearly, the meaning is not that people who give charity will enjoy eternal physical life in the normal sense here on earth. Rather, they may retain this “second” body as did Yaakov and Rabbi Yehudah. This may also be the meaning of what we recite daily in our prayers that G’d זוכר יצורים ברחמים, “remembers the creatures (human beings) in mercy.” Our sages who composed this line meant that an ongoing existence is due to G’d exercising His attribute of Mercy. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 68,12 explain that even at the early stage of Yaakov’s life when he had the dream (vision) of the ladder (Genesis 28,12), the message of the angels “ascending and descending the ladder” is that they wanted to compare Yaakov’s features with the features of the face engraved under the throne of G’d.
This may be the mystical dimension of Proverbs 10,2 וצדקה תציל ממות, “that charity saves one from death.” Clearly, the meaning is not that people who give charity will enjoy eternal physical life in the normal sense here on earth. Rather, they may retain this “second” body as did Yaakov and Rabbi Yehudah. This may also be the meaning of what we recite daily in our prayers that G’d זוכר יצורים ברחמים, “remembers the creatures (human beings) in mercy.” Our sages who composed this line meant that an ongoing existence is due to G’d exercising His attribute of Mercy. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 68,12 explain that even at the early stage of Yaakov’s life when he had the dream (vision) of the ladder (Genesis 28,12), the message of the angels “ascending and descending the ladder” is that they wanted to compare Yaakov’s features with the features of the face engraved under the throne of G’d.