Our sages tell us ( Nedarim 64b) that a poor person is considered as one who is dead. Similarly, those who are afflicted with tzaraat, the wicked, and blind people are also considered as departed. Pity the poor blind evil leper. (I think I once sat next to such a person on the subway)
Perhaps it has to do with our definition of life. Our sages tell us that if one can save only one life of many, priority is given to the life that has the most mitzvah-doing potential (Mishna Horayot 3:7). Mitzvah performance is life. This should come as no surprise. In fact we define life as involvement in Torah every evening in the “ahavat olam” blessing before the shema.
Consequently, the truly impoverished are exempt from many positive mitzvoth (Shulchan Aruch OC 656:1). Similarly the blind are exempt from mitzvoth (see Kiddushin 31a). The wicked don’t do mitzvoth and the isolation of the metzora makes many mitzvoth impossible to observe.
Rabbi Yitzchak stated ( Taanit 5b) that Yaakov Avinu did not die. In fact the word death is not used. When confronted by Rabbi Nachman with the protest -“but we buried him” Rabbi Yitzchak responded by stating the seemingly evasive “ I learned this from a verse.”
If however the very definition of life is the positive impact we have on the world then Rabbi Yitzchak’s statement “I learned this from a verse” was really quite to the point. That a descendent of Yaakov was still learning Torah, was itself the testament of Yaakov’s everlasting vitality.
May we all merit everlasting lives in good health.
Shabbat Shalom!