The Baal Haturim says that Yaakov gave over to Yosef 5 out of the 6 sidrei mishna. He derives this from the word זקנים, which has the ראשי תיבות of all of the sedarim besides taharos. The obvious question is why did taharos get a tough bargain, why didn't Yaakov give that over to Yosef? We understand that when Yaakov learnt the mishnaios with Yosef, he wasn't just explaining the simple meaning of the text. If Rav Zusha would interpret every line of a mishna as a lesson in the service of God, obviously Yaakov was able to do the same thing. To study taharos would be to life a life on the level of tahara. The adage is you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Yaakov could teach Yosef all the way up to the waters of tahara, but he couldn't make him drink the waters. The holy Gerrer Rebbe, the Beis Yisroel explains that a person must acquire taharah by themselves. Yaakov could give Yosef all the preparations to be able to obtain the level of tahara, but at the end of the day it was up to Yosef himself to determine if was willing to take the plunge into the waters of tahara.
See more about this from my father, here.
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