AND THE PHYSICIANS EMBALMED ISRAEL. They powdered his body with a preservative.¹ It is possible, though a bit far fetched, that chanetah (putteth forth) in The fig-tree putteth forth (chanetah) her green figs (Cant. 2:13) is analogous to va-yechantu (embalmed).² means sweetened. Others say it means powdered, from the word va-yechantu.”

footnotes: ¹ This according to I.E. is the way a body is embalmed (Weiser). Krinsky holds that I.E. believes that only Jacob was embalmed in this manner so that his body would be spared the desecration that the usual embalming procedure entails. ² Cf. I.E.’s comment on Cant. 2:13, “Chanetah

WHICH I HAVE DIGGED. Kariti means I have digged. Kariti is similar to yikhreh in if a man shall dig (yikhreh) a pit (Ex. 21:33).³

footnotes: ³ According to Krinsky, I.E. believes that Jacob prepared his own grave in the cave of Machpelah.

AND WITH HIM WENT UP ALL THE SERVANTS OF PHARAOH. All of Egypt with the exception of Joseph are called servants of Pharaoh.⁴. If the aforementioned are elders, why does the Bible refer to them as servants? Hence I.E.’s comment. According to Cherez and Krinsky, I.E. was troubled by the clause all the servants of Pharaoh. If all the servants went along with Joseph to bury Jacob then no servants remained in Egypt to serve Pharaoh. This appears highly unlikely. Hence I.E. points out that all the servants refers to the Egyptians who accompanied Jacob’s body, for all the Egyptians are called Pharaoh’s servants.

footnotes: ⁴ The verse speaks of the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house

[CHARIOTS. The word rechev (chariot) is similar in meaning to mirkevet (chariot).⁵ (the second chariot). This comment is omitted in some editions of the Mikraot Gedolot.

footnotes: ⁵ Cf. Gen. 41:43, mirkevet ha-mishneh

HORSEMEN. The meaning of parashim (horsemen) is well-known.]

AND HE MADE A MOURNING FOR HIS FATHER SEVEN DAYS. This, as our sages of blessed memory say, took place after they interred Jacob.⁶. This is so because the sages of the talmud say that mourning commences after the burial of the deceased. Cf. Sanhedrin. 47b.

footnotes: ⁶ What I.E. means is, even though the actual burial of Jacob is reported in verse 13, it occurred before he made a mourning for his father seven days

AND HIS SONS DID UNTO HIM. That is: And behold his sons did as he commanded them, namely, carried him and buried him in the place that he commanded them to inter him.⁷, etc., as a report of what happened after the mourning for Jacob. It is rather a report of what Jacob’s sons did for their father.

footnotes: ⁷ Since the mourning described in verse 10 took place after the burial of Jacob we cannot interpret And his sons did unto him

IT MAY BE THAT JOSEPH WILL HATE US. Perhaps Joseph will harbor a hatred for us. Yistemenu (will hate us) is analogous to va-yistom in And Esau hated (va-yistom) Jacob (Gen. 27:41).⁸ The word lu (it may be) is used in Scripture in many ways.⁹ is sometimes used to denote a request, or to denote, would that…lu is also used to denote if and perhaps…and lu is also sometimes used to denote it may be.”

footnotes: ⁸ There, too, I.E. interprets: and Esau harbored hatred toward Jacob. ⁹ Cf. Rashi, “Lu

I PRAY THEE. Anna (I pray thee) is a conciliatory expression.

[FOR AM I IN THE PLACE OF GOD.] Saadiah Gaon explains this as meaning: am I in the place of God that you fall before my face and say, Behold, we are thy bondmen?

TO PASS. Aso (to pass) is an infinitive.¹⁰, hence I.E.’s comment.

footnotes: ¹⁰ The usual form of this infinitive is asot

CHILDREN OF THE THIRD GENERATION. In view of the fact that bene (children of) is in the construct with shilleshim (third), the children referred to are the fourth generation.¹¹

footnotes: ¹¹ The children of the third generation are the fourth generation.

WERE BORN. Yulledu (were born) means grew up.¹²

footnotes: ¹² They weren’t actually born on his knees. Joseph raised them; that is, he hugged them and placed them on his knees as a father does when raising his children.

AND THEY EMBALMED HIM. The physicians.¹³

footnotes: ¹³ The text doesn’t say who embalmed him. However, in view of verse 2, the reference must be to the physicians. Our text is thus abridged. It should have read: And the physicians embalmed Israel (Weiser).

AND HE WAS PUT IN A COFFIN. Someone put him in a coffin.¹⁴ is a kal which means, and he put However, the subject has been omitted. Hence we must interpret it as, and someone put. Similarly the word oto (him) is to be added to the text Hence va-yisem ba-aron should be rendered, and someone put him in a coffin. The root of va-yisem is yod, sin, mem and follows the paradigm of va-yitzer (formed) (Gen. 2:7).¹⁵ is a peh yod, kal. So is va-yisem. However, Rabbi Jonah, the grammarian, says that va-yisem is vocalized with a chirik in place of a shuruk.¹⁶ is a hofal from the root yod, sin, mem meaning, and he was put. However, if va-yisem was a hofal it would have been vocalized va-yusam. Hence Rabbi Jonah says that va-yisem has been vocalized with a chirik in place of a shuruk. According to Rabbi Jonah va-yisem ba-aron is to be rendered: and he was put in a coffin. The advantage of this interpretation is that one does not have to add the pronoun oto (him) to the text and the subject is not omitted from the verse. However, I consider this interpretation to be far-fetched.¹⁷, it would have vocalized va-yisem like a hofal. In his Sefer Ha-Tzachot I.E. sharply criticizes Ibn Janach for suggesting that Biblical words be read other than as written. I.E. writes, “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul not to believe the words of the grammarian (Ibn Janach) who noted in his book (Sefer Ha-Rikmah) more than a hundred (Biblical) words that require change…Heaven forbid such a notion…his book is fit to be burned.”

footnotes: ¹⁴ According to I.E. va-yisem ¹⁵ Va-yitzer ¹⁶ According to Rabbi Jonah ibn Janach va-yisem ¹⁷ If Scripture intended to use a hofal

[IN A COFFIN.] The reason why ba-aron (in a coffin) is vocalized with a kamatz is that it signifies the coffin which he had prepared for himself. ¹⁸ means in a coffin. Ba-aron on the other hand means in the coffin. Hence our verse must be referring to a specific coffin, i.e., to the coffin that Joseph prepared for himself.

footnotes: ¹⁸ Be-aron