In the beginning of Parshat Vayechi, we read about Yaakov's blessings to his grandchildren and children. Yaakov lived to the age of 147. The Torah describes in great detail the honor given Yaakov after his passing when he was brought from Egypt to be buried in the family burial plot in Hebron.

The Parsha ends with the passing of all of all of Yaakov's children, including Yosef who passed away at the age of 110. In the Book of Exodus the Torah mentions that Levi lived 137 years.

Rabbi Chayim ben Atar, in his famous commentary Ohr Hachayim asks: Why is it that people lived much longer at the beginning of creation (see Genesis; Adam - 930 years; Mesushelach 969; Noah 950 years etc.) and much less in later years?

He explains the decline in longevity with the following parable: A king who had many diamond mines gave the rough unpolished stones to craftsmen to bring out their great potential beauty. He promised that whoever would fulfill his duty and quota of polished stones would be rewarded generously.

He gave each worker many stones. One he gave 300,000 stones to work on. Another he gave 350,000 stones etc. He allotted one day for each stone. Each craftsman was to bring his stones back when he was completely finished. When the time came and the king checked their work, he was greatly disappointed. Not only didn't they bring the stones to their greatest potential, but they even gave back many of them in worse shape than they were originally. The king was very upset. He punished the workers. He commanded the next generation of workers that they should be careful not to make the same mistake as their parents.

However, the king also realized that he would have to make it easier for the children to accomplish their task and not to overburden them with his expectations. So instead of giving them 300,000 stones, he gave them only one tenth (30,000 or 40,000) etc. The king thought to himself, "Once the children realize that they don't have as much work as their parents and that they will have to give an accounting and show their work sooner, they will be much more aware of the time when they have to return the diamonds and do a better job."

The same says the Ohr Hachayim is with man's life. The soul within each of us is the G-dly diamond which the person must polish. This is accomplished through the observance of mitzvot and good deeds. The soul is comprised of many facets/qualities. Each day of one's life has been allocated to polish one of these facets/qualities.

In the beginning of creation, G-d gave mankind great souls with many many facets/qualities which required a lot of time to do the work, for which G-d allotted many many years. However, mankind didn't fulfill his mission. Instead, because G-d gave him hundreds and hundreds of years in which to accomplish the job man ignored the fact that he would one day have to give an accounting to The Creator. As a result, G-d realized that the work was too great and the time allotted to perform it too long. G-d then made the job smaller and shortened the time span. In this way, he gave man greater encouragement to fulfill his mission and return his soul with all the beauty possible, and so earn the reward that G-d wanted to give from the very beginning. torahfax