In this week's Parsha, Parshat Vayigash we find the famous story of Yaakov meeting Paroh, when paroh met Yaakov he asks him וַיֹּאמֶר פַּרְעֹה אֶל־יַעֲקֹב כַּמָּה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֶּיךָ׃ And Paroh said to Yaakov, How old are you? (47:8) and Yaakov responds וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב אֶל־פַּרְעֹה יְמֵי שְׁנֵי מְגוּרַי שְׁלֹשִׁים וּמְאַת שָׁנָה מְעַט וְרָעִים הָיוּ יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיַּי וְלֹא הִשִּׂיגוּ אֶת־יְמֵי שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי אֲבֹתַי בִּימֵי מְגוּרֵיהֶם׃ And Yaakov said to paroh, The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings. (47:9). On this pasuk the Gemara in Megillah daf יז explains that if you do the calculation it would come out that Yaakov was actually a hundred and forty four years old! So why did Yaakov say a hundred and thirty years? Because it is not counting the fourteen years that he was learning in the yeshiva of Shem and Ever. This is a beautiful explanation but it still leaves us with a big question, why didn't he count the fourteen years that he was learning in yeshiva, Paroh asked how old he was, shouldn't these years also be counted? To answer this question we need to know why Paroh asked this question. The Rashbam explains that the reason Paroh asked how old he was is because he looked like a very old man and when Yaakov responded he was essentially saying that the reason I look so old is because my life was very hard and bitter therefore from the stress I look old. With this in mind we can answer our question, why didn't Yaakov add the fourteen years? Yaakov is teaching us a fundamental lesson, when a person is involved in Torah, when he is deep in the Torah working hard at it , he does not grow old, rather the Torah keeps him vigorous and sharp. Therefore these forteen years did not have an effect on Yaakov looking old, it was only the other hundred and thirty years that contributed to this and this is why he didn't include it.
-Rafael Avner Tirat-Gefen
