qwerty, you are forever challenging people (stooges?) to answer your questions, so here is an opportunity to face my challenge and answer mine without obfuscation:
1. Does the Rif hold that Yaakov Avinu is still alive? (In case you don’t know exactly where to look, in the standard edition of Ein Yaakov, with all the meforshim surrounding the gemoro, it’s in the last three lines of the Rif on page 91 of the volume that contains Taanis. Btw I could have asked the same question about the Artscroll, but as I don’t have access to it I am reticent to rely on the testimony of one of the stooges.)
2. If your answer is, “Yes, he does,” then why is it not ok for someone to quote it as a valid opinion, just as the Artscroll apparently does?
3. If your answer is, “No, he doesn’t,” you are either a brazen liar, or someone who can’t read/translate Hebrew.
4. If your answer is along the lines of, “These ‘fantastic’ statements aren’t to be taken literally,” then you are mistaken. There are indeed opinions that many aggadatos are not to be taken literally, but to the best of my knowledge there is NO opinion that the explanations of the Rishonim/Acharonim are not to be taken literally.