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Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years (47:28)
These seventeen years were the best years of his life—years of prosperity, goodness and peace; his other 130 years were filled with toil and pain.
(Midrash; Baal HaTurim)
When Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789–1866) was a child attending cheder, his teacher taught the verse "Jacob lived for seventeen years in the land of Egypt" according to the commentary of the Baal HaTurim—that Jacob lived the best years of his life in Egypt.
When the child came home, he asked his grandfather Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi: How can it be that our father Jacob, the greatest of the Patriarchs, lived the best years of his life in pagan Egypt?
Replied Rabbi Schneur Zalman: It is written that Jacob "sent Judah ahead of him . . . to show the way to Goshen" (Genesis 46:28). The Midrash explains that this was to establish a house of learning, where the sons of Jacob would study Torah. When one studies Torah, one is brought close to G‑d, so that even in Egypt one can live a true "life."
(HaYom Yom)
https://w2.chabad.org/media/pdf/8923.pdf