EXODUS XIII:17-XVII:16
CONCERN FOR MORTAL REMAINS
Before he passed away, the patriarch Yaakov (Jacob) expressed to his sons his desire to be buried in the Promised Land: Israel. The Torah relates that Yosef (Joseph) commissioned Egyptian doctors who were experts in this field, to embalm the patriarch, a task that lasted 40 days. Then, all of Egypt mourned the passing for a period of 70 days. At the end of this period of weeping, Yosef went to Pharaoh’s court to intercede with the monarch and request permission to bury the patriarch in the Promised Land, as Yosef had sworn to do.
Pharaoh approved the request, and a large delegation of Egyptian notables, along with the patriarch’s sons, set out for Israel. Once they crossed the Yarden (Jordan) River and arrived at a place called Goren Ha’atad, they completed 7 days of mourning. The most honorable Egyptian delegation did not go unnoticed by the inhabitants of the region, who concluded that the deceased was a very important personage in Egypt.
It should be noted that Yosef, who held a position subordinate only to the Pharaoh, had to ask the monarch for permission to bury his father. Yosef’s decision-making power was quite limited if he needed Pharaoh’s consent to be absent from the country. Perhaps the request for the leave was due to the reason for the trip.
By expressing that he wished his mortal remains to rest in Israel, Yaakov was stating that he did not consider himself an Egyptian. This is highlighted by his refusal to assimilate into local customs and traditions, preferring to be faithful to the teachings of his ancestors. Considering that the Egyptian cult of the dead emphasized that the afterlife was the permanent residence of the person, Yaakov‘s will clearly manifested where his loyalty lay and what his cultural and spiritual north was.
My late father, who was born in Poland, where he served as rabbi for 7 years and then as Chief Rabbi of Peru for 3 decades, during his lifetime never visited the State of Israel. He died in New York City in early 1968. However, he had acquired two graves in a cemetery in Jerusalem, where he was buried. The second grave would be filled years later by my late mother. Although my father never set foot in the land of Israel, he knew its geography and history. He knew the name of every place where the Hebrews had camped during the years of their wilderness journey after the exodus from Egypt. Where they had found water and where they had to use weapons to defend themselves.
Theodore Herzl, founder of political Zionism, buried in the city of Vienna, had included in his will the request that his remains be transferred to the land of Israel after the creation of an independent Jewish state. Centuries earlier, many rabbis had expressed their desire to be buried in Israel. According to an ancient tradition, in the messianic era all corpses would be transported to the Promised Land and these scholars wanted to prevent their bodies from having to make a long and painful journey. Seeing life as fleeting and death as long-lasting, many people longed to rest in the land of their ancestors—their true home.
We note that Yosef did not have excessive power in Egypt and that he never lost his Hebrew identity. It is possible that, for some time, the idea of integration into Egyptian culture popped through his mind, especially during the years of difficulty that were followed by success at the Pharaoh’s court. But the presence of the brothers who came to Egypt to look for food brought about a return to the roots: he could not deny who he really was.
Just as the patriarch Yaakov had done, Yosef also insisted that he wanted to be buried in Israel. He swore an oath that his remains would accompany the people during the exodus from Egypt. While the Hebrews received loans of all kinds of goods from the Egyptians before the exodus (a kind of compensation for the free forced labor they had provided), Moshe (Moses) took care to collect the “bones” of Yosef to accompany the people during their journey through the desert.
The Hebrew people traveled through the desert with two arks: one of them contained the Two Tablets of the Law and the second the mortal remains of Yosef. When asked what the relation between the Tablets of the Law was, which contained the rules for a constructive life in this world, while the second ark contained the remains of a dead man, the people answered: he who rests in this ark, referring to Yosef, fulfilled the instructions represented by the Tablets of the Law, the second ark. In this way, Yosef participated in the exodus from Egypt together with his people, an exodus that is the central theme of these chapters of the Bible and that is remembered in the fundamental celebrations of Jewish tradition.
MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA
CONTAINS 1 PROHIBITION
24. Exodus 16:29 Do not go beyond the limit allowed on Shabbat
