By Rabbi Alberto Sermoneta
“ …And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years”
With these words begins the parashah that we will read this coming Shabbat and which concludes the first book of the Torah.
The commentators point out that this parashah, unlike all the others contained in the Torah, is linked to the preceding one without any spaces or blank lines.
Why does this happen?
Our Masters explain that the life of Jacob was an alternation of events, good and less good, without any interruption.
In this parashah we read about the events that took place in the final days of the life of our third patriarch, and particularly, through careful reading, we can discern the deep love and bond he had for his sons.
It also recounts the prophecies that Jacob made to his sons on his deathbed: their destiny would be tied to the behaviour they had shown during their lives.
Many commentators on this passage (cf. Gen., ch. 49) define it as "Jacob's blessings to his sons", but reading it carefully, we realise that for some of them, such as Simeon and Levi, responsible for the slaughter of an entire town because of their sister Dinah, they are not exactly blessing words; rather harsh and crude. (cf. Gen. ch. 34).
Having finished the prophecies concerning his sons, Jacob engages his son Joseph and makes him take a sacred oath: “ ...Al na tikbereni be Mizraim”
“...please do not bury me in Egypt”. (cf. Gen., ch. 49, vv. 22 ff.)
He therefore has his son promise that he will bury him in the Cave of Machpelah, in that land which was purchased by Abraham to bury Sarah and where, apart from Rachel, who died in childbirth along the way and was buried in Bethlehem, all the Patriarchs with their wives were buried.
Why this strange promise, why did Jacob and then later Joseph, despite being endowed with such glory in Egypt and having enjoyed Pharaoh's favours so much, not want to remain in that country after death? What frightened them?
Rashi, the greatest commentator on the Torah and much of the Bible, argues that whoever dies in the land of Israel immediately atones for their faults, as it is said in the book of (cf. Deut., ch. 32, v. 43): “The land shall make atonement for His people” therefore, not having the possibility of dying there, at least burial in Israel would make them endure the pains of punishment in the Divine Judgment.
There is yet another explanation: both Jacob and Joseph, being so important in Egypt, would have been buried in the pyramids, with all the criteria of Egyptian burials, categorically prohibited by the Abrahamic tradition, which harks back to the saying in Bereshit (ch. 3 v. 19) “ ….For you are made of dust and to dust you shall return” thus devoid of any wealth and of anything that can represent ephemeral earthly life.
Joseph too, on his deathbed, makes his descendants take the same oath: while predicting to them that shortly afterwards they would be made slaves of Pharaoh, he recommends that when they leave they must not forget to transport his remains to Israel ........and so it was.
Shabbat Shalom
Translated from the Italian with Google Gemini. The Italian text is the original.