To philosopher
I’m impressed. You actually got Shmei to make a definitive statement. He officially stated that Yaakov is alive and well at 3k plus years. Of course you should write that down in pencil because he may deny having said that tomorrow.. However Shmei doesn’t believe that Yaakov is god. So he accepts Rashi literally but rejects the literal meaning of the Gemara. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. His Kofer Rebbe also chose which Gemaras to believe and which to reject..I think he flipped coins to make those decisions