“treat me with faithful kindness” (47:29). In giving his burial instructions, Jacob asks to be treated with chesed v’emet. The Midrash asks why Jacob uses this expression—is there really such a thing as unfaithful kindness? Rather, Jacob’s words come to teach that truly faithful kindness is that which the living show the dead (B’reishit Rabbah 96.5). Consider that when a person shows kindness to someone living, no one knows for certain what that person’s motivation is; perhaps there is a hope for a favor in return. Furthermore, the outcome of that action is uncertain; while intended to be kind, it may result in harm or pain. But the kindness shown to a dead person—in the form of burial and a eulogy—is always true kindness. In addition, it is disinterested; one expects no favors from the dead (Itturei Torah).
“Rachel died…on the road” (48:7). Jacob had once before pressed Joseph to bury him in his ancestral burial plot (47:28–30). The commentators ask why Jacob only now—and not in that earlier scene—discusses his decision to bury Rachel at the roadside (rather than in the cave of Machpelah). One commentator argues that there was room in the cave of Machpelah only for Jacob and one of his wives. Up until now, Joseph had accepted the fact that Leah—as Jacob’s senior wife and the mother of his oldest sons—was entitled to that place. However, Jacob has since adopted Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, saying that they “will be to me as Reuben and Simeon” (48:5). With his sons recognized as the equals of his father’s oldest sons, Joseph then must have inquired why his mother should not henceforth be viewed as Jacob’s senior wife—and so be entitled to burial by his side. Therefore, Jacob now explains his decision to bury Rachel near Ephrath (Itturei Torah).
In defending his decision, Jacob explains that Rachel is destined to be an intercessor for her descendants (and, in fact, for all Israel). When the Israelites are conquered by the Babylonians, they will pass Rachel’s tomb on their way into exile. Rachel will then mediate on their behalf, beseeching God to have compassion on her children (a rabbinic understanding of Jeremiah 31:15–17). Rachel, rather than any other matriarch, is chosen as Israel’s intercessor because of her compassion for her sister, and her willingness to overcome her jealousy, when Leah married Jacob by subterfuge (Itturei Torah, citing Rashi and Eichah Rabbah, proem 24; see parashat Vayeitzei at 29:25).
“Rachel died.” Heb. metah alai Rachel, literally “Rachel died on me” or “…upon me.” According to Rut Rabbah 2, the preposition indicates that Jacob sees Rachel’s death as a “greater grief than all his other misfortunes.” Another rabbinic tradition construes the preposition as a reminder that a woman’s death is painful especially to her husband (BT Sanhedrin 22b). The same teaching meanwhile derives the parallel lesson—that a man’s death pains his wife more than anyone else—from Ruth 1:3, “And Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died…” because that verse identifies him in terms of her.
“By you” (48:20). In his commentary on this parashah, Rashi cites this verse as the source for the custom of blessing sons with the words “May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.”
blessing each one (49:28). How could Jacob have “blessed” Simeon and Levi, given the harsh words he directed toward them (49:5–7)? One interpreter of this verse suggests that Jacob’s rebuke of his sons was, in fact, a blessing. In cursing their anger specifically—rather than his sons—Jacob sought to temper it, and to encourage them to distance themselves from their inappropriate behaviors. In this sense, his criticism was intended as a blessing, offering his sons a chance to renounce their past actions and become better people (Itturei Torah).
“Please…forgive…your brothers” (50:17). Given that the narrative did not mention Jacob’s having dispatched this exact message, Rabbi Eleazar son of Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai sees this verse as proof that one may alter another person’s words for the sake of peace (BT Y’vamot 65b); the brothers’ claim made it easier for them to approach Joseph and easier for him to respond positively.
“I will provide” (50:21). Commentators wonder why Joseph promised to care for his brothers’ children. The brothers believed that the compassion Joseph had shown them since their arrival in Egypt reflected his duty to them as his older brothers. They feared that when they died, Joseph’s anger at them for selling him into slavery would emerge and be directed at their children. Joseph reassures them; not only does he have no intention of harming them, but he plans to care for their children even after their death (Itturei Torah).
—Dvora E. Weisberg