Yoseph (Joel) Mantinband Eulogy
This week's parsha reads, ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים שבע עשרה שנה. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. We find another passage where seventeen years are mentioned, that we read a few weeks ago. יוסף בן שבע עשרה שנה Joseph was seventeen years old when he left his father. There were two periods when Jacob and Joseph were together - the first seventeen years of Joseph's life, and the last seventeen years of Jacob's life. That's a total of thirty-four years. For me, those passages are especially meaningful personally. My Hebrew name is Yoseph, and I was seventeen when I left my father/parents (in my case, to go to the Land of Israel.) Since then, thirty-four years have passed.
At this time, there is one thing for which I'm grateful, and another which I regret. But even in that thing I regret, there's room to be thankful.
- I'm thankful the funeral is now (finally) being held. It's been almost three days.
- The thing which I regret is that since the stroke, I didn't get a chance to come visit Dad before the passing. But even in that, there's room to be thankful, because now I remember Dad only in his finest.
To conclude, the Talmud teaches us, ברא מזכה אבא. A child brings merit to his parent. How is that? The answer is, whatever good things a person does is credited to his account in Heaven. But not only the good things that he himself did, but also those good things that he caused to happen. Thus, since parents brought their children into this world, they caused all the things that the children do. Hence, all the Torah that the children learn, all the good deeds that they do, are credited also to their parents' Heavenly account. Now that Dad has passed on, the things he has done have come to an end. It's now up to us to continue his good work, and that will be credited to him. That is our holy obligation; that is our holy challenge.
This next section was added in the version Yoseph delivered at the Shloshim 30 days later:
The Gemara teaches us in the tractate Ta'anith (22a) that Rabbi Broka Hoza'ah was in the marketplace of Bei Lephet (near where he lived), and being on a high spiritual level, Elijah the prophet was with him. He asked Elijah if anyone in that market was worthy of the Next World. "No, nobody," he replied. Then he pointed out one person who, yes, was worthy. Rabbi Broka ran after him and asked what he did. "Return tomorrow," he replied, and the next day he told Rabbi Broka what good things he had done. We'll skip that to mention what happens next. Afterwards Elijah found for Rabbi Broka another two individuals who were also worthy of the Next World. Rabbi Broka likewise asked them what their merit was, and they replied, "אינשי בדוחי אנן, we are humorists; when we see dejected people we cheer them up." Many people remember and have mentioned the humor that our father used, with his free tickets and million dollar bills, but he wasn't just a funny person; he really believed in the idea. והלך לפניך צדקך This humor is his great merit that leads him to the afterlife. יהי זכרו ברוך לחיי העולם הבא. May his memory be blessed to the Next World.