Komentarz do Rodzaju 49:33

ויאסף רגליו means HE BROUGHT HIS FEET into the bed. (Rashi tells us that ויאסף signifies הכניס, he brought in).

AND HE EXPIRED, AND WAS GATHERED TO HIS PEOPLE. But the word “death” is not mentioned in his case. Our Rabbis therefore said, “Jacob, our father, did not die.” This is the language of Rashi.
Now according to this opinion of our Rabbis, the difficulty arises: Now Jacob applied the term “death” to himself, as it is written, Behold, I die, but G-d shall be with you!²⁵⁶Above, 48:21. Now perhaps he did not know it himself, or it may be that he did not wish to pay honor to himself. Similarly, with respect to the verse, And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead,²⁵⁷50:15. we must say that to them he was dead, or it may be that they did not at all know of this. Now the purport of this Midrash [which states that “Jacob, our father, did not die],” is that the souls of the righteous are bound in the bind of life with the Eternal,²⁵⁸I Samuel 25:29. and his soul covereth him all the day,²⁵⁹Deuteronomy 33:12. “wearing a scarlet garment”²⁶⁰A Cabalistic term indicating “the garment” which the soul dons after the death of the physical body. so that she not be stripped naked, as Jacob’s [soul was privileged to do continually], or which she dons at certain occasions [as do the souls of lesser righteous individuals]. This matter will be understood in the light of what is told in Tractate Shabbath²⁶¹There (152 b) the story is told of certain grave-diggers who were digging in the ground when they heard the voice of Rabbi Acho’ie the son of Yoshiyahu, who had been buried there previously, rebuking them. He was yet alive in the sense which the Rabbis refer to when they say Jacob did not die. and Tractate Kethuboth.²⁶²There (103 b) the story is told of Rabbeinu Hakadosh who, after his demise, would come home every Sabbath eve and pronounce the Kiddush.

ויאסוף רגליו, he drew his legs back into the bed, seeing that all the while he had pronounced the blessings he had been sitting on the edge of the bed as we know from 48,2 וישב על המטה, “he sat up on the bed.” Also while blessing Joseph’s sons he had remained sitting upright, as we know from 48,12 where Joseph is described as pulling back his sons from between Yaakov’s knees. G’d‘s fondness for Yaakov is emphasised by the Torah when it reports that Yaakov possessed this strength until he had completed the last words of his blessings and his instructions.