January 29, 2021
The Bones of Redemption
Beshalach, 5781
One time Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz was in a difficult period in his life and consequently was confused about his own faith in Hashem. He felt that he needed to travel to the holy master, the Baal Shem Tov, in order to help regain his faith. As he prepared to go on his journey, he suddenly heard that the Baal Shem Tov had actually just arrived in Koretz and was staying at a local inn. Overjoyed, he quickly ran to the Baal Shem Tov’s inn, in order to visit him. Arriving at the inn, he found the Baal Shem Tov teaching some students about the passage in the Torah in which Moshe held up his hands in the battle of Amalek (17: 8-13). It says in the Torah that the Benei Yisrael defeated Amalek when Moshe held up his hands. The hands of Moshe are described as emunah. This word–emunah--literally means steady but in rabbinic literature it typically means having faith.
The Baal Shem Tov taught: It sometimes happens that a person feels like he or she is losing their faith. The best way to regain our faith is to turn to Hashem and ask Hashem to strengthen our faith. The real harm that Amalek did by attacking Benei Yisrael was to weaken the faith that Benei Yisrael had in Hashem. The Benei Yisrael desperately needed to regain their faith in Hashem. That’s why Moshe held his hands high and told them to pray to Heaven and to ask for help to strengthen their faith in Hashem.” When Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz heard this, the hearing itself acted like a prayer and immediately he felt his faith becoming stronger (Buber, Tales of Hasidim, 60).
The Baal Shem Tov understands the battle of Benei Yisrael with Amalek to be a battle to maintain our faith even in the darkest of times. The message for all of us is that by keeping our faith in Hashem we will be able to get through the most difficult journeys of life.
This message of maintaining our faith in Hashem does not only mean that we believe that Hashem exists. It also means that we fully commit to the commandments of Hashem and to a way of life in service of Hashem. It means that as we encounter obstacles in life we do not waver in our values system. The best way to defeat the Amaleks of the world is by strengthening our faith and therefore our commitment to Hashem. This core message is not only found in the battle with Amalek at the end of the parasha, it is also present at the very beginning of the parasha as the Benei Yisrael first leave Egypt.
The Torah says:
“And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying, ‘God will be sure to take notice of you: then you shall carry up my bones from here with you’” (13:19).
The Children of Israel were leaving Egypt—collecting silver and gold as they left. While they were doing this Moshe had the presence to stop and bring the bones of Yosef (atzmot Yosef).
The Talmud tells us how Moshe was able to find the bones of Yosef.
“Who had a greater burial than Yosef, as it was none other than Moshe who personally got involved in carrying Yosef’s coffin (aron)?
Come and see how beloved the mitzvot are to Moshe Rabbenu. When Benei Yisrael were leaving Egypt and all the Jewish people were involved in taking silver and gold from Egypt, he was involved in the performance of mitzvot, as it is stated: “The wise in heart will take mitzvot” (Mishlei, 10:8).
How did Moshe Rabbenu know where Yosef was buried? The Sages said: Serach, the daughter of Asher, was still alive. She alone remained from that generation that initially went down to Egypt with Yaakov. Moshe went to her and said to her: Do you know anything about where Yosef is buried? She said to him: The Egyptians made a metal coffin for him and put it in the Nile River so that its water would be blessed. Moshe went and stood on the bank of the Nile. He said to Yosef: Yosef, Yosef, the time has arrived about which Hashem took an oath saying that Hashem will redeem you. And the time for fulfillment of the oath that you made the Benei Yisrael take that they will bury you in Eretz Yisrael has arrived. If you show yourself, it is good, but if not, we are free from your oath. Immediately, the casket of Yosef floated to the top of the water.
Rabbi Natan says: Yosef was buried in the crypt [kabbarnit] of kings. Moshe went and stood by the crypt of kings and said: Yosef, the time has arrived about which Hashem took an oath saying that Hashem will redeem you. And the time for fulfillment of the oath that you made the Benei Yisrael take that they will bury you in Eretz Yisrael has arrived. If you show yourself, it is good, but if not, we are free from your oath. At that moment, the aron of Yosef shook among the coffins. Moshe took it and brought it over to himself” (Sotah, 13a).
What was the importance of Moshe taking Yosef’s bones at that moment?
On the one hand it is as simple as a promise is a promise. The Benei Yisrael had sworn to bring Yosef’s bones with them when they would eventually leave Egypt and this was a fulfillment of that oath.
But it was also a deeply symbolic act. Cemeteries are a very important tool for historians to determine when a community starts and when it ends. In this case, by removing the bones, Moshe is making a clear point that the Israelites had zero future in Egypt. Dr. Leon Kass notes that the bones were the only physical link that the Benei Yisrael had with their ancestors in the land of Canaan. Even though on the surface the bones represent the past, they actually really represent the future. By bringing the bones with them from Egypt they were declaring that the future is in Canaan. Dr. Kass writes:
“[T]he gesture is important to Moses’s mission: it provides the ex-slaves with an edifying connection to their glorious past. Joseph was both a beloved son of Israel and a political power in Egypt…Joseph in the end chose Israel over Egypt and Moses uses that fact to reinforce the same choice among the people” (Kass, Founding God’s Nation, 195).
Bringing the bones of Yosef makes clear that the bones are not an afterthought to the Exodus—one more object to carry while they journeyed in the wilderness --but are in fact the underlying reason for the Israelites to leave Egypt.
Immediately prior to the verse about taking out the bones, we are told that the Benei Yisrael went up from Egypt chamushim (13:18). Rashi says that the word chamushim means armed—as in, the Israelites left Egypt with weapons to protect them. If so, where were these weapons and why did the Israelites not brandish them against the oncoming army of Pharaoh?
The Chasam Sofer therefore comments:
“And what were their weapons? They were the bones of Yosef. The merits of the tzaddikim protected the people” (Maayanah Shel Torah, volume 2, 63).
As the Israelites set out on their difficult journey they carried Yosef’s bones as a protection. The strongest weapon for any nation is always the weapon of “WHY”. Why are we fighting? Why are we willing to live in a wilderness for forty years? Why are we willing to fight for the land of Canaan? The bones of Yosef represent the answer to why.
The bones symbolize both an unbreakable bond with our ancestors and also a map for how to move forward. We move forward in the wilderness of life by following the ways of our ancestors.
The Chida notes that even the greatest prophet of all time—Moshe—could not identify the location of the bones. As the Talmud notes, he needed to ask for help from Serach the daughter of Asher. In this instance Serach outshines Moshe. Serach’s insight came not from her prophetic abilities but from her link to the past, as even the greatest prophet of all needs to be guided by our holy ancestors.
This point about the importance of linking to our past as we forge a new future is made even starker by the Talmudic teaching that the bones of Yosef traveled in the wilderness next to the holy tablets of Moshe:
“All those years that the Jewish people were in the wilderness, these two arks, one the aron of a dead man, Yosef, and one the Aron of the Divine Presence, i.e., the Aron of the Covenant, were traveling together, and passersby would say: What is the nature of these two arks? They said to them: One is of a dead person and one is of the Divine Presence. The passersby would ask: And in what way is it the manner of a dead person to travel with the Divine Presence? They said in response: This one fulfilled all that is written in this. Therefore, it is fitting that the two arks should lie side by side (Sotah, 13b).
The Talmud in Pesachim goes even further and states that wherever Moshe went in the wilderness he took the bones of Yosef with him (imo be-mechitzato). Even when speaking to the Shechinah, the bones were there with him. This is an astonishing idea since typically one who is in contact with a dead body is not allowed in the vicinity of the Shechina (Pesachim 67a; see ad loc. Mesivta Shas, footnote 18).
These powerful teaching of the Talmud remind us that even as Moshe brought down the Tablets from heaven with a revolutionary new law, there was still a strong continuation of the ways of the earlier generations. As much as the tablets would be our guide for the future, so too would the ways of our ancestors—i.e. the bones of Yosef.
Our link to our holy past is our guide for our future and our strongest weapon.
The word for bones in the Torah is etzem. This same word appears just a few verses before Israelites leave Egypt. The Torah states that the Exodus from Egypt happened, be-etzem hayom hazeh, on this very day. In this verse, etzem does not literally mean bone. In fact, its not entirely clear what the word does mean in this verse. The verse would make perfect sense even without the word etzem. The Torah is therefore signaling to us that the success of the Exodus to Egypt is dependent upon the etzem—our relationship with the past.
So too – going back a few verses even earlier – we are told of the commandment to make a Paschal offering as part of our commemoration of the Exodus. Here too, the word etzem appears in an unusual context, as the Torah tells us we must eat the offering but we cannot break a bone (ve-etzem lo tishberu bo, 12:46). Why is there a prohibition against breaking a bone while eating the offering? Perhaps we are to read this not only literally but also symbolically as a reminder that we cannot break our link to the bones of our holy ancestors.
The reason why it is so important to have an unbreakable relationship with our holy past is not only because it will provide us with a guide to the future, but also because it is our holy weapon in managing our present.
As the Israelites gathered at the banks of the sea they felt the mighty army of Pharaoh bearing down upon them.
In that moment the verse states: “Vayitzaku benei yisrael el Hashem—the children of Israel cried out to Hashem” (14:10).
How did they cry out? How did they know what to do?
Rashi tells us: “Tafsu umanut avotam, they seized hold of the craft of their ancestors.”
Many, many times in these last 10 months as our generation faced unprecedented challenges I have thought to myself—“What would our ancestors do?” Thinking about our ancestors has given me strength, hope, and inspiration.
Whatever our journey, whatever our Pharaoh, as long as we grab hold of the path of our ancestors we will have a light shining us forward.
Shmuel Herzfeld
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You can now watch a Youtube recording of Rabbi Herzfeld’s D'var Torah:
https://youtu.be/1PxHh2jmSXg
