‘Sheol’ to Life: Refusing Comfort, Defying Despair |
What happens when reality tells you something you cannot bear to accept? The Torah gives us two striking examples — Jacob and Korach — both refusing to accept reality, but for very different reasons and with very different outcomes.
If you read the Torah carefully, you’ll notice something fascinating about these two encounters – they feature a dark dark word “Sheol,” often translated as “the grave,” that is only used in these two contexts in the entire Torah – three times with Jacob and twice with Korach.
The first is in the story of Jacob’s grief over Joseph. Jacob invokes Sheol three times to emphasise the pain he is in at the loss of his son and the situation with Benjamin: “Ki ered el beni avel Sheolah” – “I will go down to my son mourning, to Sheol” (Genesis 37:35). Again in Genesis 42:38, fearing the loss of Benjamin: “V’horadtem et seivati b’ra’ah Sheolah” – “You will bring down my gray head in evil to Sheol.” And the third time, in this week’s parsha Vayigash, when Judah pleads for Benjamin’s life: “V’haya ki yir’eh ki ein hana’ar… v’horad et seivat avdecha b’ra’ah Sheolah” (Genesis 44:31).
What does Sheol........