“And Joseph
fell upon his father’s face and wept upon him, and kissed him. And Joseph
commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the physicians
embalmed Israel. And forty days were filled for him [Israel] because this
filled the days of embalming, and Egypt wept for him seventy days. And when the
days of weeping were past, Joseph said to the house of Pharaoh saying, “Please,
if I have found favour in your eyes, please speak into the ears of Pharaoh
saying, “May father made me swear saying, ‘Behold, I die; in my grave that I
dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you will bury me.’ Now permit me to
go up and bury me father, and I will return.” And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury
your father as you swore.” And Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the
servants of Pharaoh went up with him, and the elders of his [Pharaoh’s] house
and all the elders of the land of Egypt.” (Breishit 50:1-7)
It is Jewish
custom that we bury our dead as soon as possible, normally the next day. In our
world of families living across countries and around the world, oftentimes
funerals will need to be postponed as mourners travel. Nevertheless, even in
these cases, halakhah dictates that we wait no longer than three days. This is
not only a modern issue. Rachel dies in Bethlehem en route to Efrat giving
birth to Benjamin. She is buried on way, there in Bethlehem, rather than in
Machpelah.
Jacob dies in
Egypt. Instead of being buried in Egypt, or even immediately taken back to
Canaan for burial, Joseph orders the physicians of Egypt to embalm his father.
The embalmers proceed with the drying process, which took forty days. Rashi and
other commentators explain this was necessary to fulfill Joseph’s vow to his
father, to bring him back to Hebron, to the cave of Machpelah, to be buried
with his parents and grandparents. For seventy days all of Egypt wept for
Jacob. The full mummification process is seventy days. What is interesting is
that only after the full embalming is complete does Joseph go to Pharaoh’s
court to request permission to leave Egypt. Shouldn’t Joseph have requested
permission prior to the embalming process to know if it would be necessary?
Furthermore, the body would have been ready for travel after the first forty
days. Why the additional thirty? There is more to this process than just
preparation for travel.
All Egypt
mourns Jacob’s death. The elders accompany Joseph to Hebron to bury his father.
Rashi points out that this is due to respect for Joseph. Joseph occupies a
position only second to Pharaoh. Our tradition teaches that he maintained his
Jewish practice, but as Vizier he would also have to follow Egyptian public
custom. The Egyptians would have been horrified to have Joseph bury his father
without the proper Egyptian respect due to Jacob by his son. To bury Jacob only
according to Jewish practice would have lowered Joseph in the eyes of Egypt and
challenged the practices of Pharaoh himself.
As Jews, we
have lived in countries throughout the world. In every land we have balanced
our practice with those of our country of residence. Even our law, which
states, “Dina d’malchuta dina; the law of he
land is the law,” recognizes this need. Only after Joseph had shown respect for
the practices of Pharaoh and Egypt could he go to Pharaoh and expect mutual
respect for his own practice.
And so
remembering where we live while emphasizing our Jewish tradition, I hope we
will all enjoy shared time and Chinese food away for our offices on December 25,
and may 2013 bring peace and mutual respect to our world.
No comments:
Post a Comment