Jacob said to Joseph that he wanted him to perform a חסד ואמת, with him (47,27); he described the kindness as a "true kindness" because in performing a deed of this nature to a departed there can be no expectation of recompense to the performer. Many people raise the point that Joseph had already received his reward for this kindness before he actually performed it. Had not his father promised that Ephrayim and Menashe, Joseph's two sons, would each inherit a slice of the land of Israel, just like Jacob's own sons? So how can we speak about a חסד של אמת? Not only that, Jacob gave special blessings to Joseph's children (something that is not recorded as having happened with his other grandsons); he also allocated the city of Shechem as belonging to the tribal territory of Joseph. In view of all this, how can one speak about a חסד של אמת, a totally altruistic act of kindness? Bereshit Rabbah 98,2 understands the additional שכם Jacob bestowed on Joseph as the birthright and the garments of Adam (which had been owned by Esau; Genesis 27,15). In view of all this, how can we speak about a totally altruistic act of kindness?

The author quotes an anonymous source in the name of Rabbi Yitzchok of Orleans: When Jacob said: ועשית עמדי חסד, he had in mind that the act of kindness he requested from Joseph would be an act of true kindness if performed for other deceased people. The author finds it difficult to credit this explanation since if this was all that Jacob had in mind, he would not have had to elaborate that much. The author therefore follows a different approach, as we shall see.

At the time Jacob made his request that Joseph bury him in the land of Israel, he did not hold out any promise of reward for Joseph when he requested his promise to bury him in the land of Israel. Neither did Jacob use the opportunity to apologize for burying Joseph's mother in the middle of nowhere instead of with his, Jacob's ancestors. By his withholding any promises or apologies Jacob made sure that Joseph should acquire the merit of performing an act of גמילות חסד that was totally altruistic. Once Joseph had promised his father to bury him in the land of Israel, and had sworn an oath concerning this, -on a different occasion,- as attested to by the words ויהי אחרי הדברים האלה, "It was after these events," in 48,1, Jacob did explain why he had buried Rachel where he did, and that Joseph would inherit in the land of Israel as if he had been his firstborn son, etc. All of this occurred after Jacob had been taken ill.

We must try and understand why Jacob was so concerned about his burial that he made Joseph swear an oath. Actually Jacob had two reasons, both stemming from similar considerations. Firstly, Jacob wanted to acquire the merit in Heaven of having performed such an act of pure altruism, as we will explain in more detail later. This is why he turned to his favourite son, the one who was the most like him. We have explained repeatedy that Joseph was the image of his father in character, in historical significance, etc. We have a tradition that the son can confer merits on his father, whereas the father cannot do the same thing in reverse (Sanhedrin 104).

The second reason stems from the fact that, as we have explained elsewhere, Jacob, Joseph and the brothers are the mystical dimension of the בנין in the Celestial Regions. Jacob is a mystical dimension of the emanation תפארת, the domain of the Ineffable four-lettered Name of G–d. The twelve tribes represent the twelve ways that this name can be spelled. When the Torah wrote: ואלה תולדות יעקב יוסף, the latter was equated with the former. We will come back to this later. The words: ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת, mean that by your performing an act of true kindness with me you will cause me to acquire the merit of a truly performed act of kindness in the Celestial Regions. By adding the word עמדי, Jacob intimated that between them they could complete the בנין in its fullest sense. Jacob conveyed to Joseph that whereas he, Jacob, was the essence of that בנין, Joseph was its extension. The existence of such an extension enables the root of this בנין to be placed in a still higher region in the emanations than it had started out from. It is in those regions that חסד של אמת has its roots. We will still explain all this.

In my commentary on פרשת וישלח I have already explained at length the meaning of the statement that "Jacob did not die," and how Jacob's "death" occurred when he received the news about Joseph's disappearance, and how his soul was restored when he received the news that Joseph was alive and well. He thus became his own re incarnation. That re-incarnation was no longer subject to physical death. "Death" happened only to the part of the Jacob-Israel personality known as Israel. This is the deeper meaning of 47,29: ויקרבו ימי ישראל למות, "the death of the person called Israel drew near." The spiritual part of Jacob's soul (נפש) called Israel, was on a higher level than the spiritual part of the נפש called Jacob. Jacob's request to Joseph to perform a חסד של אמת emanated from his “ישראל” aspect. The word עמדי emphasized that he was speaking in his capacity as ישראל.

The concept of שלמות הבנין and the acquisition by Jacob of the merit of חסד של אמת converge into one overall concept. The word ארץ appears here three times, (verses 3-4-7) We also encounter the expression היכל השם three times in Jeremiah 7,4. The Sanctuary called היכל השם is situated in a sacred ארץ. In commenting on Isaiah 12,6: כי גדול בקרבך קדוש ישראל, "For The Holy One of Israel will be great in your midst," our sages state that G–d will not take up residence in the Jerusalem "above" until He has been able to do so in the Jerusalem "below." The plain meaning of that statement is that the Jerusalem "below" is the Sanctuary in the Holy Land, ארץ ישראל, the Temple whose speedy rebuilding we pine for every day. This Temple is on a site that corresponds to the Sanctuary in the Celestial Regions. The Sanctuary in the Celestial Regions in turn is the סוד, mystical dimension of the ארץ העליונה, the "Earth" of the upper regions, also known as ארץ חפץ. Chabakuk 2,20 says of that land: וה' בהיכל קדשו הס מפניו כל הארץ, "And the Lord is in His Sanctuary, be silent before Him all the earth!" The Sanctuary of G–d, היכל, discussed here is that of the attribute known as א-ד-נ-י, the numerical value of which equals 65, the same as the numerical value of the word היכל. These two words also have the same numerical value as the word הס in the verse from Chabakuk quoted. The היכל is the ארץ של ישראל סבא, the land of the founding father of the Jewish people, Israel, otherwise known as תפארת ישראל a mystical dimension of the Ineffable Name.

There are even higher regions than these. We find the deeper meaning of the coming of G–d to the Jerusalem on earth as per Isaiah 12,6, the name of G–d used: the Ineffable Name of G–d י-ה-ו-ה. In the היכל קדשו, we encounter a union between the name א-ד-נ-י, and the name י-ה-ו-ה seeing we have the equivalent of the name א-ד-נ-י in the letters of the word היכל, and the four-lettered Name in the same expression. The mystical dimension of a union in the terrestrial world is expressed by the letter ו, combined with the letter ה, i.e. י-ה-ו-ה is divided into two parts. The mystical dimension of a זווג, union, in the Celestial Spheres is the letter י followed by the letter ה. The Jerusalem of the Celestial Spheres is the union between the emanations חכמה and בינה. These principles are explained in the Zohar and quoted in Pardes Rimonim chapter 13 of the treatise called מהות והנהגה.

Briefly: The Sanctuary exists on three levels, i.e. there are three Sanctuaries, היכל השם. One is located on earth, one is in the domain of the emanation תפארת, and yet another one is in the domain of the upper three emanations כתר-חכמה-בינה. Each Sanctuary is situated on ארץ (of a kind). The terrestrial Sanctuary is located in the Jerusalem of our ארץ ישראל. These Sanctuaries are all "opposite" their counterparts in the Celestial Spheres which in turn are also perceived as rooted in a kind of “ארץ”.

The Zohar writes at the end of פרשת וזאת הברכה: "We have learned that Jacob, Moses, and Joseph pursued a similar path. Jacob died and was buried in ארץ ישראל, both flesh and bones. Joseph had only his bones buried in ארץ ישראל. Moses had neither his flesh nor his bones buried in ארץ ישראל. What is the reason for this? Jacob was the original "husband" of the שכינה called "Matronita." [We have explained how Jacob's name was engraved on the throne of G–d. The throne is a form of the "upper" שכינ ה also identified with the emanation בינה, which is perceived of as female. The "lower" שכינה is the emanation מלכות. In either case, both at the beginning of his career and at its end, Jacob is perceived as the "husband" of that level of the שכינה. Ed.]

Once Jacob died, Moses became the second "husband" of the relevant שכינה [presumably the "upper" one, בינה, seeing that Moses had attained 49 of the 50 levels of בינה Ed.]. However, this union could last only while Moses lived on this earth, since upon the death of a wife's second husband she "returns" to her former husband, having only been on "loan" during the interval. Since Jacob was by then in the Holy Land, Moses, automatically had to remain outside the Holy Land. The reason that Jacob was buried body and bones in ארץ ישראל is that he represented the גוף, body, of the ארץ של ישראל סבא, as we have mentioned before. Joseph, being the extension of his father, was the extension of the גוף, limbs or bones. These "bones" symbolize the spiritual forces or permutations of G–d's Ineffable Name that radiate in all directions from the emanation בינה, enabling a physical universe to take shape. A צדיק, as such is also called צבאות, part of G–d's armies or executive arm. It was therefore appropriate that Joseph's bones rather than his entire body were interred in ארץ ישראל. None of this reflects negatively on Moses. On the contrary, whereas Moses was able to establish a union with the "upper" level of the שכינה during his life on earth, Jacob established his union with that level of the שכינה only after he had departed. We find an allusion to Moses' intimacy with that part of the שכינה in Numbers 7,89, where the way the Torah describes Moses' being at home in the אהל מועד, the visible manifestation of the בינה on earth, is most striking. Moses did not need to be invited in; he acted as if he were the owner of that domain. The author finds in the number of the 600,000 Jews that left Egypt allusions to the radiations of the various combinations of G–d's Name in all the six directions of the compass, proof that Moses led the people by means of the power inherent in the emanation בינה. If Moses was already on such a level while his soul was still enshrined in his body, it is clear that once Moses died, his soul would ascend to an even higher region than the level represented by בינה. That level, which we have described elsewhere as יובל, is beyond any level associated with any of the three levels to which the term ארץ can be applied. Moses' being "buried" in what we commonly call חוץ לארץ is a compliment to him thus rather than a reminder of some inadequacy on his part. In fact, once Moses' life on earth had come to an end, he joined the souls of "his" 600,000 people who also had not been buried in the Holy Land. If we find that Moses separated from his terrestrial wife Tzipporah –something used by his sister Miriam as an accusation against him in Numbers 12,1 – the reason was simply that Moses had already "used" [in the sense that one has relations with one's wife. Ed.] the spiritual light from extra-terrestrial regions as we know from Exodus 34,29 where Moses is described as emitting supernatural light from his face. Having a "wife" in those regions, it is easy to understand that Moses could no longer share life with a wife on earth. Jacob, on the other hand, had married four wives and had shared a fully terrestrial life with them, one of the reasons that his bed, מטה, was called שלימה, "complete" by our sages. This means that only upon his death did his רוח ונשמה, soul and spirit, merit entry to the seventh level i.e. בינה.

Moses surpassed Jacob in that respect by having separated from his wife during his lifetime. This was called כלת משה, the perfection of Moses while on this earth. The word כלה is an expression used by Kabbalists to denote completion of a spiritual stage, in this case the attainment of the highest level of the emanation מלכות. [Cf. More about this in chapter 23 of the שער ערכי כנויים of Pardes Rimonim under the heading כל. Ed.]

[We have discussed on pages 207-209 the meanings of the terms שמטה, יובל within the framework of a discussion on the relative meaning of "time" and the emanations, and will assume that you, the reader, will look there to refresh your memory if necessary. Ed.]

When Abraham made Eliezer swear that he would not take Isaac back to Charan, he made him swear by the organ on which circumcision had been performed, an organ that therefore had become dear to him, the symbol of the covenant with G–d (Genesis 24,3). Granted that there were good reasons then for the method employed by Abraham, why did Jacob request that Joseph, his son, perform the oath in the same manner by placing his hand on his father's organ (47,29)? Why did Joseph not mention the symbol of the oath that he made the brothers swear by when he in turn requested that the brothers swear they would take his remains with them when the time came for the redemption from Egypt (50,25)?

Jacob made Joseph swear by his own "root," seeing Joseph symbolized the ברית, the covenant with G–d, as we have pointed out on numerous occasions. Placing his hand on his father's organ then was not symbolic of the covenant of circumcision, but of the ברית העליון, the covenant between G–d and man that ensures the continued existence of the universe. The word ירך in that context represented the seat of reproductive activity, the root of physical man, not merely its sanctification by circumcision. When Joseph made his brothers swear, he merely made them swear by his own מדה, attribute, not in his capacity as symbol of something higher. Since Joseph considered himself as an "extension," a pipeline of the domain of his father, he merely made sure that his bones would be moved from the ארץ התחתונה, the lowest level of earth (in this case Egypt), to the "lowest" level of היכל השם, Sanctuary, to the land of Israel. It is precisely because Joseph was that pipeline between the ארץ עליונה, the equivalent of earth in the Celestial Regions, that Jacob blessed Joseph's children by invoking their father. This is the meaning of ויברך את יוסף, "He blessed Joseph," before the line: המלאך הגואל אתי מכל רע הוא יברך את הנערים, "May the angel who blessed me bless the lads" (48,16). No רע, evil, stuck to our patriarch Jacob. Evil is the very reverse of maintaining the Holy Covenant as we know from: ויהי ער רע בעיני השם, "Er was evil (same letters reversed) in the eyes of the Lord" (38,7). Concerning people who are evil, it is written: לא יגורך רע, "Evil cannot abide with You" (Psalms 5,5), seeing Evil has no foothold in ארץ העליונה, the celestial equivalent to earth. That ארץ is known only as ארץ טובה, and טוב is the צדיק, the foundation of the universe as we know from: אמרו צדיק כי טוב הוא, "Say (about) the righteous he is good" (Isaiah 3,10). This is why the seed of Joseph, the keeper of the Covenant, was more sacred than any other, and as a result merited to be counted among the other founders of the tribes.

This also explains what Joseph meant when he said: אנכי אעשה כדברך, "I shall do as you have said" (47,30). It should have sufficed for Joseph to say merely אעשה כדברך, without the addition of the word אנכי. With the word אנכי, Joseph alluded to the fact that he in turn would act just like his father and make those responsible swear to take his own remains with them to ארץ ישראל. This also explains Jacob saying: השבעה לי, and Joseph's response being described as: וישבע לו. Jacob said: "Swear to me that you will do for me the very same thing you want to do for yourself."

We can understand now why Jacob had to insist that Joseph confirm what he had promised by an oath. Surely he had no reason to distrust his son, and such a son at that! He was concerned with the benefit Joseph himself would derive from having taken an oath on the matter. This is the reason he made him swear.

There is another mystical dimension to an oath. We know that the Kabbalists relate the word שבועה, oath, to the word שבעה, seven. This is an allusion to the seven days of the בנין whose root is the attribute Jacob and whose extension is Joseph the foundation of the Covenant and extension of the "body" i.e. Jacob. [The "lower" 7 emanations are perceived as emanations that translate the thoughts formulated in the "upper" 3 emanations into practice. Hence the description of the 7 days of the בנין, the 7 days during which the physical universe came into being. Ed.] Body and Covenant are considered essentially as one which enables us to understand the subject matter we are dealing with.

Let us first refer to one vitally important verse תתן אמת ליעקב, חסד לאברהם כאשר נשבעת לאבותינו מימי קדם, "You grant truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham as You have sworn to our forefathers in days gone by" (Michah 7,20). [The normal translation of the verse is not applicable here. Ed.] Why was the patriarch Isaac not mentioned? Besides, why was Jacob mentioned before Abraham?

The answer is found in the fact that it was Jacob who redeemed Abraham as we have learned from Jeremiah 31,11. Abraham was saved from Nimrod's furnace only in order for Jacob to be born in the future. This does not mean that Jacob's merits were greater than those of Abraham. On the contrary; Abraham, the founder of Judaism, possessed comprehensive merits. He had such great merit that he should not have been denied the ultimate merit of being a martyr for his faith. Had G–d allowed such martyrdom, however, Jacob would never have seen the light of this world. The fact that Jacob's מטתו שלימה, that he raised all his children to remain loyal to his teachings, represented the mystical dimension of completing the בנין in the Celestial Regions, as we have described this elsewhere.

Let me now explain that when the words אמת and חסד are used together the meaning is חסד של אמת, a true, altruistic act of kindness, whereas when these words are used separately they retain their normal meaning of "truth" and "kindness." "Truth" refers to the attribute of Justice, tit for tat. When the word חסד is appended to the word אמת however, the meaning of אמת is changed to אמת נצחיי, an eternal truth, as distinguished from a mere reaction to a denial of truth which we know as מדת הדין, the attribute of Justice. Although Jacob's attachment to the mystical dimension of בנין derived from his merits, i.e. was in the nature of a reward, tit for tat kind of מדת הדין, he desired something beyond that.

He wanted to be part of the higher היכל השם, a domain higher than that of merely בנין. He wanted to be associated with the domain that is the root of בנין, the domain of יובל, the domain attained by Moses. He desired to be associated with that domain in his capacity as ישראל, even though only part of his personality would qualify. He hoped to attain this level through Joseph performing a חסד של אמת with him. The words אשר נשבעת לאבותינו מימי קדם in the verse we quoted from Michah allude to the root of the domain of בינה, a period prior to "time," at the very beginning of the emanations which led to the Creation.

This is the mystical domain of שבועה. Although Jacob did not attain his wish, a small part of his personality did succeed in getting a glimpse of the spiritual domain of יובל also. His request of Joseph to render an oath, a שבועה, must be understood in that vein.

When the Torah reports Israel as bowing down at the head of the bed, 47,31) ראש המטה), this is a reference to Jacob and his "bed" (children) jointly having completed the בנין, and having thereby acquired a claim to a domain higher than that of בנין itself. If the ultimate that Jacob attained is symbolized by the word Mittah, the ultimate that Moses attained is symbolized by a word composed of the same letters, i.e. Matteh, only the vowels being different. He is described as holding the מטה אלוקים בידו, the staff of G–d in his hand, an allusion to a higher היכל השם. The word is composed of the letters מט,+ the letter "heh". 49 of the 50 gates of בינה were revealed to Moses; the letter ה is an allusion to the first letter ה in the Ineffable Name, a letter representing בינה.

All of Israel heard the Ten Commandments in one single phrase without punctuation. G–d repeated the first two commandments so that they could be comprehended by everybody word by word. This makes a total of twelve that every Israelite heard from G–d directly. This in turn corresponded to the twelve tribes, two of whom were allocated special functions, as we have mentioned. When you add the fact that the commandments were inscribed on two tablets you have the figure 14. This also corresponded to the fact that the twelve tribes had extensions, תולדות, the sons of Joseph. The reason there were two tablets was to distinguish between the written and the oral law. The number fourteen symbolizes the יד (14) החזקה of Moses who was the recipient of the Torah (cf. last verse in the Torah).

The reason that these numbers need to be found in the construction of the תפילין is the statement of the Talmud Kidushin 35, based on: למען תהיה תורת השם בפיך that the entire Torah is compared to תפילין (Exodus 13,9).

The author explains the tradition that G–d lays תפילין as related to the concept of the emanations. The four Torah portions that are placed within the תפילין of the head are perceived as alluding to the emanations חכמה, בינה, גדולה, גבורה, whereas the four portions in the תפילין של יד, allude to the emanations תפארת, נצח, הוד, יסוד. The תפילין on the head belong to the emanation כתר, crown, which presides over the emanations mentioned, whereas the four portions in the תפילין של יד "belong" to the lowest of the emanations מלכות. Jacob, by dint of having achieved a degree of תקון, spiritual repair work, after the damage caused to the universe by Adam, is perceived as laying תפילין in the Celestial Regions, i.e. "wearing" תפארת. The fact that the phylacteries are made of leather are a reminder of the leather garments G–d made for man after he forfeited the garments of light. It is due to Jacob's spiritual accomplishments, that wearing תפילין made of leather has become a mark of distinction rather than a reminder of man's fall from grace. The 12 stitches needed to sew together the "housings" of the phylacteries are an allusion to the assistance Jacob received from his twelve sons in performing that spiritual repair work. G–d's "laying" phylacteries can therefore be understood as G–d donning the תפארת which Jacob had attained.

The verse which tells us that Jacob bowed at the head of the bed, is an allusion to the phylacteries of the head; Jacob's extension, Joseph and his brothers, are the allusion to the phylacteries of the hand. When Jacob crossed his hands (48,14) while blessing Joseph's sons, he took a cue from the manner in which we don the phylacteries.

The commentators have difficulty with the word כי in the verse. Rabbi Bachyah, for instance, understands the word in the same sense as it is used in such verses as סלח לנו אבינו כי חטאנו, "Forgive us our Father, although we have sinned," or as in Psalms 41,5: רפאה נפשי כי חטאתי לך, "Heal me although I have sinned against You."

The author does not think there is a need for translating the word כי as "although." He believes the word is translated perfectly adequately as "for." Jacob wanted to give some distinction to Ephrayim over Menashe; he also wanted to accord honour to Menashe, however, for he was the firstborn. He acted very wisely in granting greatness to both sons. This is why he did not want Ephrayim placed on his right side but preferred to cross his hands. Had he had Ephrayim moved to his left side, this could have been interpreted as his having denigrated Menashe.

Although the phylacteries are placed on the left arm, this does not denigrate the right arm; it is required in order that the phylacteries may be placed on the left arm. The right hand is the hand with which both the writing of the portions of Torah within the phylacteries and the tying of the knots is performed. The right hand thus has in no way been denigrated when it comes to the performance of the מצוה of תפילין.

When Isaiah 49,3 quotes G–d as saying of Israel: ישראל אשר בך אתפאר, "Israel, you, in whom I glory," the reference may well be to Jacob in his capacity of ישראל סבא who dons the phylacteries of the head. Those phylacteries are known as פאר, as glorious headdress, as is well known. I have already mentioned that the whole Torah is compared to תפילין. Torah itself is subsumed in the word את, which the Talmud in Shabbat 55 understands as referring to people who observe Torah from א-ת. The extra letters את in אתפאר refer to such people.

We may be able to answer a question raised in the Zohar on Genesis 49,25 where Jacob in his blessing for Joseph says: מאל , ואת שדי ויברכך, "The G–d of your father who helps you, and Shaddai who blesses you." The Zohar questions why the Torah wrote ואת שדי instead of וא-ל שדי. According to our approach the answer is simply that Jacob indicated that Joseph just like his father also has a part in the מצוה of תפילין, albeit in his capacity as an extension of his father. Therefore, Joseph's part in that מצוה is the phylacteries which are worn on the arm, and which feature the letters of the word שדי in the manner in which the strap is wound around the hand and the knot near the housing.

To get back to the number of stitches used to stitch together the תפילין. The author had stated elsewhere that the number of tribes is usually 12. When we include Levi and the two sons of Joseph it is 14. When we subtract the two tribes described as מלכא and שמשא who were designated as heads of Zion and Jerusalem respectively, there are only ten tribes, corresponding to the Ten Commandments. The twelve tribes which usually feature in our considerations, and which represent the number of sections the land of Israel was divided into, also represent the number of divisions of the ארץ ישראל למעלה, the celestial counterpart of the Holy Land down here as described in Ezekiel. The division into ten, twelve or fourteen respectively also occurs in other crucial contexts, even at the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

Originally it was customary to make twelve stitches when sewing together the upper and lower parts of the housing of the phylacteries. This corresponded to the twelve tribes. Maimonides, in Hilchot Tefillin 3,10 allows for either 10 or 14 stitches. The Ari Zal noted that there were different customs in this matter. Jews from Italy, Spain, North Africa and Eastern Europe had different customs in that regard. Since there are twelve gates in the Heavens corresponding to the twelve tribes, the Ari Zal did not see any reason why these customs could not co-exist. This is all based on Ezekiel. Every tribe's prayer is perceived as ascending to Heaven via his particular gate. This does not mean that all these gates are of the same size, nor that access to them is equally easy. In view of this we understand why the various tribes have different nuances in their respective liturgy, though they all pray to the same G–d. Everybody has to retain his particular custom since nowadays we do not know who belongs to which tribe. Concerning the liturgical details found in the Talmud, these are equally valid for all the tribes, however¹.

footnotes: ¹ When the Torah stresses in 49,28 that Jacob blessed each of his sons according to his particular blessing, no doubt this is meant to emphasize that despite the fact that all the sons together were extensions of Jacob, there were individual differences and that these individual differences were worth preserving.

The entire subject matter under discussion revolves around the spiritual levels of ארץ ישראל and the three levels of היכל השם we have discussed at the outset. This is why, when Jacob noticed that his death was approaching, he called for his son Joseph to instruct him to bury him in ארץ ישראל. When he said: ושכבתי עם אבותי, "I wish to lie with my fathers" (47,30), he intended to answer a question that arises from a statement of our sages in Ketuvot 111, that dying and being buried in ארץ ישראל is not to be compared to merely being buried in ארץ ישראל after one has died outside the Holy Land. The Talmud there describes the scholar Ulla as regularly travelling between Babylonia and the land of Israel though he was resident in the land of Israel. He died while in Babylonia, and Rabbi Eleazar grieved over Ulla's misfortune of having died on unclean soil. When informed that his bier was being transferred to the land of Israel, Rabbi Eleazar stated that this did not make up for Ulla having died in a foreign country. In view of this, Joseph might have questioned the value of transporting the remains of his father to the land of Canaan.

The issue raised in Ketuvot 111 is raised by the Zohar (Sullam edition Vayechi page 106) in an even more drastic manner. To those who have died in חוצה לארץ and whose body is being transferred to ארץ ישראל, Rabbi Yuda wants to apply the verse from Jeremiah 2,7: ותבאו ותטמאו את ארצי ונחלתי שמתם לתועבה, "You have come and have defiled My land and made My inheritance an abomination!" Rabbi Yuda answered that Jacob was an exception to this rule; the שכינה had accompanied him on his descent to Egypt and had never left him. This is the reason G–d had said to him in 46,4: אנכי ארד עמך מצרימה, ואנכי אעלך גם עלה, "I shall go down with you to Egypt and I shall also go up with you." The message to Jacob was that, in spite of the fact that his soul would depart on foreign soil, it would remain close to G–d, whereas his body would be buried with those of his ancestors.

This may also explain why Joseph's burial in the Holy Land conferred spiritual elevation upon him. We have already explained that the reason G–d sent Joseph to Egypt ahead of the rest of Jacob's clan was to ensure that when Jacob and his family would begin their exile, they would come to a land where G–d's שכינה had already established a foothold. As a result, Joseph's body too would not taint the Holy Land when it would be buried in there.

I prefer a different approach to this problem of bodies defiling the land of Israel. We know that in all places where the entire Jewish people is present it is permissible to offer sacrifices because the atmosphere prevailing in the Holy Land is also present when the whole Jewish people are in one location. This is exactly what the Jewish people did in the desert for forty years after the Tabernacle had been erected. The sacrifices offered on the altar outside the land of Israel have never been considered as in the class of שחוטי חוץ, disqualified because not offered on a holy and designated site in ארץ ישראל. We can now conclude that because Jacob and Joseph died in an environment in which all of Israel was present, a holy environment, one in which the atmosphere of ארץ ישראל could be perceived, there was therefore no problem in burying their bodies in ארץ ישראל proper. The advantage of the land of Israel consists in that it confers elevated spiritual status on Jews living there even when only a tiny fraction of the Jewish people is present. It is this lesson that Jacob conveyed to his son Joseph when he said: "I wish to lie with my fathers." He hinted to Joseph that the latter should not think that his father perceived of himself as dying in an unclean land, and that he would only be "lying" with his fathers when transported there but would not be integrated in the Holy Land. Seeing that at the time of his death an atmosphere of the Holy Land prevailed even in Egypt there would be great spiritual benefit to having his remains transferred to the cave of Machpelah.

The author credits the Zohar with having inspired him with the explanation just offered, but he could not recall where in the Zohar he had come across such an idea.