Vayechi - yaakov avinu lo mes

Chazal write in maseches taanis (5b) that yaakov avinu lo mes - he never died:

א"ר יוחנן יעקב אבינו לא מת א"ל וכי בכדי ספדו ספדנייא וחנטו חנטייא וקברו קברייא א"ל מקרא אני דורש שנאמר ואתה אל תירא עבדי יעקב נאם ה' ואל תחת ישראל כי הנני מושיעך מרחוק ואת זרעך מארץ שבים מקיש הוא לזרעו מה זרעו בחיים אף הוא בחיים

Chazal tell us in brachos 18a that, really, all tzaddikim never die: אלו צדיקים שבמיתתן נקראו חיים שנאמר ובניהו בן יהוידע בן איש חי - was yaakov avinu any different than all of the tzaddikim who don't die?

First, what does it mean that tzaddikim are called "alive" even after they're dead?  The rambam, quoting a well known yerushalmi, writes:  ומציינין את כל בית הקברות ובונין נפש על הקבר. והצדיקים אין בונים להם נפש על קברותיהם שדבריהם הם זכרונם. ולא יפנה אדם לבקר הקברות:

The simple read of the rambam (see radbaz who is meyashev our minhag; the pashtus is that our minhag is just against the rambam) is that we dont build a matzevah for tzaddikim - because they need no matzevah to be memorialized - their good deeds live on as their memorial.  The natural follow up is to not visit kevarim - thats not the way to remember the dead.  If the person is worthy of being remembered, then there is no need to take away from the meaningful remembrance of their actions by going to the cemetery to remember the 'meaningless' dead body.

If this connects to the previous maamar chazal (which I believe it does), it means that tzaddikim are called living even when they have died  because of the legacy of their words of torah and the mitzvos they performed.

One way to explain that yaakov's "lo meis" is different than that applied by chazal to other tzaddikim is literally: Other tzaddikim experienced physical death, even if their legacy lives on - not so with yaakov avinu.

Despite the immense difficulty with interpreting the pesukim this way, this seems to be the approach of rashi in taanis and the last ramban in parshas vayechi.

Based on the maharsha, I think one can suggest another approach.  Note that there is another figure whom chazal seem to claim never died, despite the fact that he most definitely seems to die in tanach: dovid hamelech.  as the song goes, dovid melech yisrael chai vikayam (the phrase is used in rosh hashanah 25a, credit to wikipedia).

So what is different about yaaov and dovid as opposed to all the other tzaddikim?

The gemara's source that yaakov avinu lo meis was a hekesh between yaakov and his descendants.  Unlike avraham and yitzchak, yaakov's descendants all remained within the fold -mitaso sheleimah.

Zaro shel dovid also has a unique significance to it - that line will never be broken, and the melech hamashioch will one day come out of it.

Thus, Yaakov and Dovid live on through their children in a way that in a sense is perhaps more real than the way most tzaddikim live on through their actions.  Bra kara di-avuha - If one's children truly fulfill one's destiny and purpose than we don't just say that that person is called alive when he is dead - such a person is truly alive.

In Hamalach hagoel, yaakov blesses ehpraim and menashe by saying "viyikarei bahem shemi" - my name should be called upon them - Yaakov is alive because of this brachah - his children, that is, us, are called by his name because we fulfill the mission and purpose that he began.

This is important on two levels: First, the yartzheits of my mother's parents both fall out right around now, and to know that they live on because I live on is to carry a burden - it obligates one to live with purpose, lest one throw not only one's own life, but theirs too by the wayside.

Second, we all want to be able to (one day) give our descendants the bracha given to them by yaakov avinu - viyikarei bahem shemi.  But thats only a bracha if shemi - our names - are something worthy to be carried on by future generations.

Shavua tov!