Vay’chi - Yosef's Oath

קשר השבועה
Yosef's Oath

Promise, or Mission?

As Parashat Vay'chi begins, Yaakov Avinu, sensing that his end is near, calls his beloved son Yosef to his bedside and asks him to fulfill what is now his most important wish: To be buried in the Machpelah Cave in the Land of Israel.

אַל נָא תִקְבְּרֵנִי בְּמִצְרָיִם. וְשָׁכַבְתִּי עִם אֲבוֹתַי וּנְשָׂאתַנִי מִמִּצְרַיִם וּקְבַרְתַּנִי בִּקְבֻרָתָם
"Do not bury me in Egypt; rather, I will lie with my forefathers.
Carry me from Egypt and bury me in their grave." (B'reshit 47,29-30)

Yosef agrees immediately – "And he said, I will do as you say" – but surprisingly, Yaakov does not suffice with this affirmative answer. He asks Yosef to take a vow that he will bury him in the Holy Land: "He said, Swear to me - and Yosef swore to him." (verse 31)

Not only does Yaakov seem not to trust Yosef without a vow, he even appears to have forgotten G-d's promise in Parashat Vayigash to make sure he returns to Eretz Yisrael:

אָנֹכִי אֵרֵד עִמְּךָ מִצְרַיְמָה וְאָנֹכִי אַעַלְךָ גַם עָלֹה, וְיוֹסֵף יָשִׁית יָדוֹ עַל עֵינֶיךָ
I will descend with you to Egypt, and I will certainly bring you back up,
and Yosef will place his hands on your eyes [take care of your needs]. (46,4)

Is Yaakov not showing a lack of faith in G-d by relying more on Yosef's vow than on G-d's promise? Let us not forget that Yosef was punished with two additional years in the dungeon for relying too heavily on Pharaoh's Chief Butler, whom he asked to remember him to Pharaoh, instead of placing his trust solely in Hashem. Why does Yaakov appear to be repeating this mistake?

The Ramban, in his commentary on the Torah, explains why Yaakov required this vow: Yaakov knew that Yosef was subject to the command of Pharaoh, who might forbid Yosef to bury him outside of Egypt. A vow by Yosef to fulfill his father's last wish, Yaakov knew, would render the king obligated to allow him to do so. Proof of this approach is found in Pharaoh's words to Yosef, when he states clearly that he knows Yosef has no choice:

עֲלֵה וּקְבֹר אֶת אָבִיךָ כַּאֲשֶׁר הִשְׁבִּיעֶךָ
Go up and bury your father, as he had you swear. (50,6)

But our second question still remains: Why did Yaakov require a vow from Yosef, instead of relying on G-d to fulfill His promise?

Let us look again at what G-d promised Yaakov, and specifically at the last words, and we will reveal a totally different emphasis: "I will descend with you to Egypt, and I will certainly bring you back up, and Yosef will take care of your needs." (46,4)

This last phrase is not only a promise, but also a command! G-d is saying: "I will accompany you on your way down to Egypt, and I will also accompany you, after your death, on your way back up to be buried in the Land of Israel. But you must make sure that Yosef takes care of this; I want you to initiate a plan by which Yosef will take part in your funeral and burial in the Holy Land. You must persuade him to take upon himself this complex mission."

Yaakov's Bed

Hashem wants Yosef to agree to bury Yaakov in Eretz Yisrael – but why must Yosef also swear to this effect? Is it not enough to have him declare, as he did, that he will fulfill Yaakov's request? Furthermore, Yaakov thanked his son profusely for his oath by "bowing down at the head of the bed" (B'reshit 47,31). What was he so emotional and appreciative about?

As in other passages in the Torah, not all the necessary information is told to us openly, and we must reveal that which is missing by finding the appropriate key. The key is found in a particular word that appears in various contexts and ties them together. How do we find it? By being sufficiently sensitive as we read the verses, until we come upon one word that appears superfluous or out of place.

What is out of place in this case? We have just noted that Yaakov's response to Yosef's vow to bury him in the Holy Land was to bow down at the head of the bed. Why did the Torah have to specify where exactly Yaakov bowed down? What significance is there to the head of the bed?

Just a few verses later, Yaakov and Yosef meet again, and once again, Yaakov’s bed is noted: "Yaakov became strengthened, and he sat up on the bed." (48,2) This time it is not the head of the bed, but rather just the bed - somewhere in the middle.

And a third mention of word "bed," marking the last link in this chain, appears later in Vay'chi, after Yaakov has blessed his sons and left them with his last dying wishes: "Yaakov concluded charging his sons, and gathered his legs to the bed." (49,33) This is clearly referring not to the head of the bed, and not the middle of the bed – but to the foot of the bed, to which Yaakov gathered his legs.

Remarkably, aside from these three mentions, the word מיטה, bed, does not appear even one other time in the Torah! Clearly, this word holds the key to the revelation of a hidden message that the Torah wants us to seek out.

Yaakov's Wife Leah

Juxtaposing these three links, we see that each time the Torah tells us about the bed on which Yaakov lies in his last hours, it provides increasingly more information. The first time, Yaakov asks Yosef to bury him in his forefathers' grave, without providing many details. Though it is well known that Yaakov’s grandfather Avraham and father Yitzchak are buried in the Machpelah Cave, Yaakov does not provide any hints as to who else might be buried there. He simply says, as we quoted above, "Let me lie with my fathers… bury me in their grave." (47,29)

In the second passage, when Yaakov sat up in the middle of the bed, we learn another detail: that Rachel was not buried there:

וַאֲנִי בְּבֹאִי מִפַּדָּן מֵתָה עָלַי רָחֵל בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן בַּדֶּרֶךְ... וָאֶקְבְּרֶהָ שָּׁם בְּדֶרֶךְ אֶפְרָת הִוא בֵּית לָחֶם
And when I came from Padan Aram, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan, along the way… and I buried her there on the way to Efrat, which is Beit Lechem. (48,7)

And finally, in the passage of the third mention of Yaakov's bed, we learn the entire secret of who is buried in the Machpelah complex in Hevron:

שָׁמָּה קָּבְרוּ אֶת אַבְרָהָם וְאֵת שָׂרָה אִשְׁתּוֹ,
שָׁמָּה קָבְרוּ אֶת יִצְחָק וְאֵת רִבְקָה אִשְׁתּוֹ, וְשָׁמָּה קָבַרְתִּי אֶת לֵאָה
There they buried Avraham and his wife Sara; there they buried
Yitzchak and his wife Rivkah; and there I buried Leah. (49,31)

What Yaakov is finally telling Yosef straight out is this: "Just as Avraham is buried alongside his wife there, and the same for Yitzchak and his wife, I too wish to be buried alongside my wife Leah."

This was not easy for Yosef to hear. He has just learned that his mother was buried all by herself, on the road - and now his father is asking him to mobilize all the strength of Egypt (B'reshit 50,7-9) and ascend in full force to the Holy Land to bury him, not next to Rachel, but next to Leah!

Furthermore: Rachel and Leah were engaged in a strenuous rivalry, which Leah ultimately won hands down, regarding who would give birth to how many tribes of Israel. Not only that, but Leah's sons wanted to kill Yosef, and ended up "only" selling him into slavery instead. And after all this, the one to merit burial next to Yaakov – at the hands of Yosef – will be Leah!?

Yet Yosef conquered his emotions, and said only, “I will do as you say” (47,30). He accepted the task of arranging Yaakov's burial next to Leah without hesitation.

Startlingly, as we noted, this was not enough for Yaakov. He continued to pressure Yosef, asking him to swear that he would carry out the mission. Once again, Yosef trembled in his heart: “Am I not trusted to keep my word? Have I not sufficiently shown my loyalty to G-d, my master, and my family all these years?” Yet he asked no questions – and uttered the vow to fulfill his father's last wish.

The Birthright

This noble act merited Yosef the birthright, in place of Reuven – exactly as Yaakov had intended. When Yaakov blessed Reuven, he said:

כִּי עָלִיתָ מִשְׁכְּבֵי אָבִיךָ, אָז חִלַּלְתָּ יְצוּעִי עָלָה
For you went up to your father's lying place and defiled it. (49,4)

As we learned in Parashat VaYishlach, Reuven desecrated his father's bed when he intervened in its placement, without authorization. For after Rachel died, Yaakov had moved his bed from Rachel's tent to that of Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Reuven, protective of his mother Leah, took it out of Bilhah's tent and moved it to Leah's tent. He thus violated Rachel's memory in favor of his mother Leah, against his father's wishes.

But Yosef, as we just saw, did the exact opposite. Yaakov asked Yosef to expend great efforts to bury him not near Rachel, who was left alone along the roadside, but near Leah - and Yosef agreed without hesitation. Yosef thus rectified that which had been done to Yaakov's bed, and Yaakov recognized this with great emotion, by bowing down at "the head of the bed."

The next mention of "Yaakov's bed" is when he "became strengthened and sat on the bed" - the center of the bed, as befitting the reward that he was about to bestow upon Yosef for what he did, as we read in the Book of Chronicles:

וּבְנֵי רְאוּבֵן בְּכוֹר יִשְׂרָאֵל, כִּי הוּא הַבְּכוֹר,
וּבְחַלְּלוֹ יְצוּעֵי אָבִיו נִתְּנָה בְּכֹרָתוֹ לִבְנֵי יוֹסֵף בֶּן יִשְׂרָאֵל
...for [Reuven] was the eldest son of Yisrael, but when he defiled his father's bed,

his birthright was given to the sons of Yosef the son of Yisrael. (Divrei HaYamim I 5,1)

Yosef received the rights of the first-born, and his two sons Menashe and Ephraim were elevated to the status of “sons of Yaakov.” Accordingly, they received two portions of inheritance in the Land of Israel, that of Menashe and that of Ephraim.

Reuven sinned in defiling his father's bed, and he thus lost his birthright. But Yosef, in the merit of honoring his father's bed and essentially restoring his father's honor to its rightful place, gained the birthright that Reuven lost. This explains the linkage between the thanks Yaakov gave "at the head of the bed" following Yosef's vow (47,31) and the promise of the birthright and double inheritance to Yosef in the center of the bed (48,2-5). The Torah connects the two by stating:

וַיְהִי אַחֲרֵי הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה... וַיִּתְחַזֵּק יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיֵּשֶׁב עַל הַמִּטָּה
It happened, after these events...
Yaakov became strengthened and sat upon the bed. (48,1-2)

The opening phrase “It happened, after these events” tells us that there is a link between the previous events and those we are about to hear. Yosef's oath prepared the way for the next stage - namely, when Yaakov then told Yosef that his two sons "Ephraim and Menashe will be to me like Reuven and Shimon." (verse 5) The link means that when Yosef accepted the job of burying his father, Yaakov "became strengthened" – and made the historic decision to give him the birthright and the double inheritance.

And finally, when his "bed" has been rectified, Yaakov can rest assured that the mission has been completed and that his sons will respect his wishes. We thus reach the end of the "bed" series, where Yaakov "gathers his legs to the bed" (49,33) – not at the head of the bed, nor in the middle, but to the foot of the bed.

With the inspiration of Yaakov's bed, and in the merit of Yosef’s vow, the circle has been closed.

The Oath of the Land

Continuing to delve into the significance of Yosef's oath to his father, we will see that it goes beyond a father-son relationship. At the end of Parashat Vay'chi, we find that Yosef followed in his father's footsteps: He asked his brothers to swear that, when the time comes, they would rebury him in Eretz Yisrael:

וַיַּשְׁבַּע יוֹסֵף אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל לֵאמֹר,
פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד אֱ-לֹהִים אֶתְכֶם וְהַעֲלִתֶם אֶת עַצְמֹתַי מִזֶּה
Yosef bound the sons of Israel by oath, saying:
G-d will certainly remember you; bring my bones up from here [with you]. (50,25)

What is so critical and compulsory about burial in the Holy Land that required an oath? Yosef explained the secret to his brothers: "Yosef told his brothers: 'I will die, and G-d will surely remember you and raise you out of this land, to the Land that He swore to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov.'" (verse 24)

He was saying that G-d Himself has shown that our commitment to the Land of Israel can be on no lower of a level than that of an oath. Why? The Talmud teaches:

1. Shimon ben Yochai says: Hashem gave three gifts to Israel, but they were all given via suffering: Torah, the Land of Israel, and the World to Come." (Tr. Brachot, page 5a).

There will be many throughout the generations who will not be able to withstand these sufferings and tribulations, whether physically or spiritually. Only an oath can guarantee that we will continue to hold onto the Land.

Why is the Land of Israel acquired only via suffering? The answer is that the Land of Hashem sets a high spiritual bar for those who want to live in it for a long period. The test of history shows that only adherence to G-d's laws and commandments guarantees the Nation's existence and survival in its Land. In light of this, there is room to fear that the Generation of Redemption might not be worthy of being redeemed and of coming to the Land. This is why G-d bound Himself with an oath:

וַיֹּאמֶר ה' אֵלָיו:
זֹאת הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב לֵאמֹר, לְזַרְעֲךָ אֶתְּנֶנָּה.
G-d said to Moshe: "This is the Land that I swore to Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov,
saying, 'To your descendants I have given it.'" (Dvarim 34,4)

That is to say, G-d will remember His covenant and oath, and Israel will be redeemed – whether or not they are worthy.

Yes, there will certainly be many difficulties, obstacles and delays along the long path towards the actualization of the vision of Israel settling and building its Land. Only a "vow," with all that it entails, will be able to overcome all these hardships.

• Yaakov thus has Yosef swear, in order to overcome the difficulties that Pharaoh might place before him on his return home.
• Yosef then binds his brothers, and the ensuing generations, with an oath that will assure their surmounting of the hardships that might lie in the way of returning his bones to the Holy Land centuries later.
• And the Jews who returned to the Holy Land from Babylon to build the Second Beit HaMikdash also bound themselves with an oath, to make sure they would not fall prey to the luxuries of the Exile and forget Jerusalem:

עַל נַהֲרוֹת בָּבֶל שָׁם יָשַׁבְנוּ... אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלִָם תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי.
תִּדְבַּק לְשׁוֹנִי לְחִכִּי אִם לֹא אֶזְכְּרֵכִי אִם לֹא אַעֲלֶה אֶת יְרוּשָׁלִַם עַל רֹאשׁ שִׂמְחָתִי
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat… If I forget thee, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning; let my tongue cleave to my palate if I do not remember thee,
if I do not remember Jerusalem atop all my joys. (Psalms 137)