Sefer Bereishis concludes with the deaths of Yaakov and Yosef – the last among the Avos. At the time of their death, both make similar requests, asking that their bones should not remain in Egypt. Moreover, both adjure their family members and descendents to ensure their request is fulfilled.
Yaakov and Yosef thus emphasized, on their deathbeds, the depth of their connection with the Promised Land and the transient nature of their sojourn in Egypt. Both meant to ensure that the family of Yaakov should not become assimilated in Egypt – yet they did so in different ways.
Yaakov thus instructed his son, Yosef: “Please – if I have found favor in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do kindness and truth with me – please do not bury me in Egypt. For I will lie with my fathers and you shall transport me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb” (Bereishis 47:29-30).
Later, addressing all his sons, he added a more specific instruction to be buried in Me’aras Ha’Machpelah: “In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which faces Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Avraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial estate” (Bereishis 49:30).
Yaakov was making a very clear statement. I am not Egyptian. I cannot be buried in Egypt, for my place is in the family heirloom that was purchased by Avraham, where my parents and grandparents are buried. My place is with them.
Yosef’s instructions were different:
“Yosef said to his brothers: ‘I am about to die, but G-d will surely remember you and bring you up out of this land to the land that He swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Yaakov.’ Then Yosef adjured the children of Israel, saying: ‘When G-d will indeed remember you, then you must bring my bones up out of here.”
First, Yosef’s instructions were prefaced by a prophecy: Hashem will remember you and take you out of Egypt. Second, his request was not immediate; indeed, it was only fulfilled hundreds of years later. Third, his request included the Divine promise to give the Land to the Avos.
Yosef represents the transition from Avos to Banim, from the level of the Forefathers to the nation of their offspring. On the one hand, he is one of the Bnei Yisrael, sons of Yaakov; but on the other, he himself begets tribes. He serves as an intermediary between the two categories.
Yaakov insisted on an immediate burial in Egypt. By doing so, he ensured that our ancestral landmark of Me’aras Ha’Machpelah was complete. For all generations, even in the harshest exile, we would be able to look towards the Promised Land in the knowledge that our Avos are there, waiting for our return.
Yosef, in contrast, ensured that the elevation of the Avos and their unbreakable connection with the Land remained within the Jewish People. His Aron would remain with the people, in Egypt, a constant and present remainder of two Divine promises: the promise of a future redemption, and the promise of the Land made to the Avos.
The book of Bereishis, the book of the Avos, finished with the death of Yosef. But Yosef does not leave us. His presence continues into the book of Shemos, the book of our national birth, and he emerges from Mitzrayim together with us, providing the eternal link between the Children of Israel and the fathers, Israel himself – Yaakov Avinu – who lies eternally in Chevron. As the link betwee Avos and Banim, he ensures that we will all be united.
Even today, the connection lives on. The entire Jewish people is named after Yosef, after Ephraim, and after Rachel. Indeed, the blessing we give our children, as Yaakov prescribes, is that of Yosef and his sons. We are Yosef. We have not assimilated. It has been tough, it took many years, but we are returning to our Land.
As we return, en masse, we continue to raise our eyes to Chevron, the burial place of Yaakov and the Avos, which calls us to our final destiny.
