B’Terem: The urgency of living with chiyus

The word terem or b’terem (just before) appears in the Torah close to 20 times, sometimes serving as a dramatic preposition enhancing a narrative tale, setting the stage for the unfolding drama that is most riveting.

Terem Lot’s guests  were to retire for the night, the people of Sedom gathered at Lot’s house (19:4). Terem Avraham’s servant finished speaking his condition/prayer, Rivkah emerged (24:15,45).

Yitzchak instructed Eisav to prepare food for him, so the son could earn a blessing b’terem his father dies (27:4). Yitzchak finished eating Yaakov’s food and completed his encounter with Yaakov b’terem Eisav returned with his prepared meal (27:33).

The brothers saw Yosef from a distance, and b’terem his arrival, they plotted to murder him (37:18).

Yosef’s two sons were born b’terem the famine years arrived (41:50). Perhaps the drama here comes in the added drive given to Yosef to succeed in his food storage endeavors — the survival of his children.

Finally, in our parsha, when Yaakov learns that Yosef is alive, he declares, “I will go and see him b’terem I die” (48:28).

Judging from Yitzchak’s estimation of his own death, we can see that while the premonition of death runs in the family, the estimation of time until departure is typically way off. Yitzchak lived another 57 years, and it will turn out that Yaakov will live another 17 years.

So why did these men think they were going to die? Rashi says (27:2) that when one gets to within 5 years of the age of death of a parent, one needs to begin setting one’s house in order. It is a good litmus test for one’s survival. Since Sarah lived to 127, Yitzchak’s mortality radar started blinking at 123.

The Midrash also tells us in a number of places (see Tosafot Yevamot 61b) that Rivkah lived as long as Kehat. Since he lived to 133 (Shmot 6:18), clearly Yaakov’s mortality radar screen was similarly blinking when he was 130.

But is that really what’s on his mind? He seems a lot more pessimistic than merely thinking about his mother’s age of demise when confronted with his age-question by the curious Pharaoh (47:8).