THE FAVORITE SON

Jacob was not exempt from the lot that falls to the share
of all the pious. Whenever they expect to enjoy life in
tranquillity, Satan hinders them. He appears before God,
and says: "Is it not enough that the future world is set
apart for the pious? What right have they to enjoy this
world, besides?" After the many hardships and conflicts
that had beset the path of Jacob, he thought he would be at
rest at last, and then came the loss of Joseph and inflicted the
keenest suffering. Verily, few and evil had been the days
of the years of Jacob's pilgrimage, for the time spent outside
of the Holy Land had seemed joyless to him. Only the
portion of his life passed in the land of his fathers, during
which he was occupied with making proselytes, in accordance