כִּ֣י בִ֠רְאֹתוֹ יְלָדָ֞יו מַעֲשֵׂ֥ה יָדַ֛י בְּקִרְבּ֖וֹ יַקְדִּ֣ישֽׁוּ שְׁמִ֑י וְהִקְדִּ֙ישׁוּ֙ אֶת־קְד֣וֹשׁ יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב וְאֶת־אֱלֹהֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל יַעֲרִֽיצוּ׃
Когда он видит своих детей, работу Моих рук среди него, чтобы они освятили имя Мое; да, они освятят Святого Иакова и будут в восторге от Бога Израилева.
Rabbeinu Bahya
We must therefore understand the statement of our sages who said “he did not die,” to mean that Yaakov’s soul remained hovering over his body due to the degree of holiness he had attained. Whereas other righteous people who did not attain the level of holiness that Yaakov attained are forced to return their souls to celestial regions, and once they have returned there they do not return to earth, Yaakov’s soul was in a constant state of commuting between heaven and earth. Only extremely rarely did great men attain this degree of holiness in their lives, Rabbi Yehudah (the editor of the Mishnah) being one of those select few. it is said of this Rabbi Yehudah in Ketuvot 103 that his soul returned to his former residence on earth every Sabbath eve. It happened on one such Sabbath eve that a neighbour of his widow came to visit her calling to her from the doorway. Her maid said to the neighbour: “Be quiet, the Rabbi is sitting here!” As soon as Rabbi Yehudah (his soul) heard this he decided to stop visiting his former home on earth. He did this so that people should not say that previous scholars whose soul had not been observed as returning to earth had been inferior to him in piety. If this was true of Rabbi Yehudah, how much more so must it have been true of Yaakov who had acquired (almost genetically) three levels of holiness. 1) Yaakov had been equipped with the holiness of Avraham, i.e. he was sired by someone whose body had already been circumcised. 2) He had had the residue of the holiness of his father who had submitted his life to G’d at the Akeydah. 3) He had acquired holiness in his own right becoming the third pillar of the מרכבה, the “chariot” supporting G’d’s Presence on earth when G’d had told him that He would even descend to Egypt with him. The practical demonstration of Yaakov’s personal holiness was the fact that all his children followed in his footsteps and embraced his outlook on life. For all these reasons we find that G’d Himself is referred to as קדוש יעקב, (Isaiah 29,23) “the Holy One of Yaakov”, and we do not find such an expression "Holy One of Abraham" or Holy One of Yitzchak".