Deal with me kindly and truly: do not bury me... in Egypt (Gen. 47:29)
One reason the mitzva of burying the dead is called a "kindness of truth" is that it is one of the few deeds a person can do that is completely good: It often happens that we think we're doing someone a favor, yet later it turns out to have been harmful, or something negative results from it. Nothing bad, however, can ever arise from giving a Jew a Jewish burial. (Ohel Yaakov)
And now your two sons...Ephraim and Menashe, are as Reuven and Shimon (Gen. 48:5)
It is only "now," when the Jewish people will enter Israel for the first time after the Exodus from Egypt, that Ephraim and Menashe will each receive a separate portion of land. When Moshiach comes, however, they will both share in the single portion of Joseph. (Meshech Chochma)
Reprinted from the Parshat Vayechi 5761/2000 edition of L’Chaim.
