By Rabbi Moshe Pogrow
The true concept of chessed is preserved by the addition of emes. As Tehillim tells us, “All the ways of G-d are chessed v’emes” (Tehilim 25:10). Man often acts out of love, but chessed v’emes is love that does not lose sight of what is essential.
Avraham had a burning ardent desire to see his son married. But if he had been so carried away by this desire that he chose a wife who was not spiritually and morally suitable, it would not have been chessed shel emes. Emes is the stipulation that qualifies chessed.
Yaakov knew very well that Yosef would bury his father with much pomp and splendor. But he told him, “For all your chessed, do not lose sight of emes. I would rather not be buried at all than be buried in Egypt.”
The stress is on his request to not be buried in Egypt. You would think that fulfilling it would not be so difficult as to require such a solemn oath, but from the story, it appears that Pharaoh and the Egyptians would not have taken it kindly had Yaakov and his family emigrated from Egypt. So, too, the transfer of Yaakov’s remains to Canaan would not make a good impression. It would show that Yosef’s family still did not consider themselves citizens of Egypt, that they were still emotionally attached to their former country.
But the motivation for Yaakov’s request may be more profound than that. During the seventeen years that he lived in Egypt, Yaakov must have witnessed the powerful influence that landowning had on his descendants. Vayei’achazu bah: they were held by their property and were bound by it. They had stopped seeing their time in Egypt as an exile. In the sweetness of settling down permanently lay the danger that, over time, the people would betray their heritage and become estranged from their mission.
This was enough of a reason for him to say to Yosef, “You may wish to live in Egypt, but I do not even want to be buried there.”
In the pasuk, this request is expressed not as “Yaakov,” as a private individual, but as “Yisrael,” as bearer of the national destiny, as a warning for the future of his children.
Based on the commentary of Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch zt”l on Chumash, with permission from the publisher.
