Nehar Deah

Vaychi

Where is Joseph buried?

According to what is written in our parasha (weekly Torah portion), which concludes the Book of Bereishit, after his death in Egypt, the sons of Jacob, took him and buried him “In the cave in the field of Machpela which Abraham bought the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite opposite to Mamre” (Bereishit 50:13). This verse hints at Abraham’s purchase of the cave of Machpela in order to bury his wife Sarah (Bereishit 23). After negotiations between Abraham and Ephron the Hittite, which conclude with Abraham’s purchase of the Cave of Machpela and the field surrounding it, the story closes with a statement: “And the field and the cave within it were established to Abraham as a burial place, from the sons of Chet” (verse 20). Indeed, according to the continuation of the Torah narrative, Abraham was buried in the Cave of Machpela after his death: “And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the Cave of Machpela in the field of Ephron son of Tzochar the Hittite which is opposite to Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased from the sons of Chet, there Abraham and Sarah his wife are buried” (25:9-10). In the brief description of Isaac’s death we are not told where he is buried, but from the context it is clear that when it is written “And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him” (35:29), it is a reference to his last place of residence, “the city of Arba which is Hebron” (35:37), in the family’s burial plot. It is this viewpoint, that the Cave of Machpela is the burial place of the forefathers and foremothers (with the exception of Rachel), which is the basis of Jacobs request to his sons before his death: “I am being gathered to my nation, bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in the cave which is in the field of Machpela which is opposite to Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. There are buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there are buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife and there I buried Leah” (49:29-31).

Despite this, it seems that there might be hints in the Torah to a different tradition as to the burial place of Jacob. According to the narrative, Joseph requests permission from Pharaoh to go up and bury his father using the following words: “My father made me swear, saying ‘I am dying, in my grave which I have dug for myself in the Land of Canaan, there you will bury me’ and now let me go up and bury my father and I will return” (50:5). Joseph’s words with regard to Jacob’s request to be buried “in my grave which I have dug for myself” is not in line with what is written previously, according to which Jacob was buried in the Cave of Machpela. While one interpretation of the word “cariti” is “dug” (as in: “If a man digs a pit” [Shemot 21:33]), there is also the alternative interpretation of “bought” (as in: “you shall also buy water from them for money and you shall drink” [Devarim 2:6]) and it is unlikely that Jacob bought himself a burial place in the Cave of Machpela or that he dug a grave there! (It is worthwhile noting that Rashi, in his commentary on this verse, recognizes this difficulty and solves it by claiming that Jacob gave a large sum of money to Esau in exchange for him relinquishing his right to a space in the family’s burial place. This commentary-Midrash does not stem from the simple reading of the text.) It is therefore reasonable to claim that this verse is the basis for an alternative tradition according to which Jacob is buried in another place, maybe Shechem. Indeed, when we are told of Jacob’s arrival in Shechem when he comes back to the land from Aram, it is written: “And he bought the portion of land where he planted his tent from the sons of Chamor the father of Shechem for one hundred kesitas” (Bereishit 33:19). It is not mentioned for what purpose Jacob bought the field, but this action is reminiscent of the purchase of the cave of Machpela by Abraham for use as a burial place and also according to the Book of Joshua (24:32), Joseph, the son of Jacob, is buried there in the portion that his father bought. According to this we can then easily understand Jacob’s request “in my grave which I have dug for myself”, especially if we interpret the word “cariti” as “bought” rather than “dug”.

This assumption can help us understand another verse containing Jacob’s words to Joseph before his death, in the story preceding Jacob’s death. In this verse Jacob, in a single breath, mentions his death, the Children of Israel’s predicted going up to the land and the city of Shechem: “And Israel said to Joseph, behold I am dying and God will be with you and will return you to the land of your fathers. And I have given you Shechem, one more [portion] than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Emori with my sword and my bow” (48:21-22). Could it be that this verse hints at Jacob’s request to be buried in the city that he bequeaths to his son Joseph?

This assumption can help to solve another major difficulty: According to the narrative, the funeral procession of Jacob arrived from Egypt to the threshing floor of Atad which is over the Jordan” (Bereishit 50:10) and this route is appropriate for a journey through the plains of Jericho to Shechem, as they did with Joseph’s bones, but less appropriate for a journey to Hebron.

This tradition, according to which Jacob was buried in Shechem, was rejected in favor of the tradition of all the forefathers in one place, the Cave of Machpela, but surprisingly it managed to survive for hundreds of years and we find it written in the book “The Acts of the Apostles” in the speech of Stephen, one of the earliest Christians, who surveys the history of Israel from it’s inception. He says of Jacob: “So Jacob went down into Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers, and were carried over into Shechem, and laid in the burial place that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Chamor the father of Shechem” (7:15-16). Though the land is recorded as being bought by Abraham, and not Jacob, it is still surprising that these writings contain a mention of the tradition of Jacob being buried in Shechem.

How can we explain the existence of two different traditions of Jacob’s place of burial? Its seems that one possible explanation arises from the realization that the two cities which are competing for the right to be known as the last resting place of Jacob, are Hebron, in the Kingdom of Judah, and Shechem, in the kingdom of Israel. It is reasonable to assume that the tribes of the Sons of Joseph, especially the tribe of Ephraim, each told of their father’s burial within their portion of land, in their central city; while the tribes of Judah all told of the burial of the forefathers in the Cave of Machpela which is in Hebron, one of the central cities in their kingdom. The tradition of the tribes of Judah won out and that of the sons of Ephraim was left in the Torah as a vague hint only.

It is also possible that in the story of Jacob’s death there is a very slight hint to a third tradition, which existed during biblical times, as to the burial place of Jacob. Jacob’s words: “And when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the Land of Canaan on the way, when they were still kivrat eretz (see below for explanation) to come to Ephrata and I buried her there on the way of Ephrat, which is Bethlehem” (Bereishit 48:7) seem to be out of context and commentators expended great effort to try to explain their appearance in the current context. Again we can speculate, that this piece, which tells of Jacob, on his deathbed, recalling the burial of his beloved wife in the presence of her son Joseph, served as the basis of a request to be buried next to her, similar to what is told in the tradition of Jacob’s burial in the Cave of Machpela, according to which he justifies with the words: “there I buried Leah”.

It seems therefore, that in ancient times, among the children of Israel, there were many answers to the question of the burial place of Jacob. These many answers show us the importance of Jacob in the eyes of the children of Israel, who all wished to identify his burial place as being in their central cities – Hebron, Shechem and maybe even Bethlehem.

Ancient Literature – The Book of the Acts of the Apostles

The four books which are among the most important in Christian sacred literature, the “New Testament”, deal with the history of the originator of Christianity, Jesus, up till his death. The continuation of the history of the Christian religion is told in the book “The Acts of the Apostles”, a historical composition, whose main topic is the annals of Christianity and its spread after the death and resurrection of Jesus, up till the arrival of Paul, one of the first transmitters of the new religion, in Rome. The book tells of the expansion of the church from Jerusalem to the rest of the Land of Israel and from there on to Antioch in Syria, Macedonia, Greece and Asia, and eventually to Rome.

The book was written in the Greek language, probably during the second half of the first century CE. Since then, this book and the rest of the books of the New Testament have been translated into many languages. The most common translation to Hebrew was written during the second half of the 19th century, by the German biblical researcher, Franz Delitzsch, with the aid of his student, the Jewish biblical commentator Arnold Ehrlich. Delitzsch and Ehrlich’s translation was essentially written in biblical and Mishnaic language and is comparable to a book of archaic style.

Despite its Christian orientation, the book also has great importance to the research of Jewish history and its culture in the first century of the Common Era. We will deal here with one example: In the beginning of the book (2:1-4) we are told that “on the day of the completion of the seven weeks” the Christian congregation of Jerusalem gathered together and suddenly they heard the sound of a great noise from the heavens and tongues of fire split and landed on all the members of the congregation. As a result of this the people were filled with the holy spirit and began to speak in tongues. This story draws on the Jewish tradition of the giving of the Torah on Sinai: Tongues of fire and a great noise are used by second temple literature to describe this occasion and in the Midrashim, God’s speech is described as fire. Here is also reflected the Jewish tradition that, on the occasion of the revelation at Mount Sinai, the Torah was given in seventy languages: “Every spoken word, which came from the mouth of the holy one, blessed is he, divided into seventy languages” (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 88b). In addition, mentioning the revelation as taking place specifically on the Festival of Shavuot (Weeks) indicates that the author was aware of Jewish tradition, according to which the Festival of Shavuot is also the day commemorating the giving of the Torah, and used this tradition for his own purposes.

From this short story we can also learn about the character of Jerusalem during the time of the Second Temple. It was a large city with a multilingual population. According to the book of the Acts of the Apostles, Jerusalem contained many Jews who came from many places in the world and they were amazed that the people of the Galilee heard all their languages: “And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Aram Naharayyim (Mesopotamia), Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia” (2:8-9).

The use of ancient Christian literature allows us to recreate Jewish traditions, which were lost from Jewish literature and were indirectly preserved in Christian sources, for example the tradition of Jacob’s burial in Shechem, which is mentioned in the book, the Acts of the Apostles (7:15-16), a tradition that almost does not exist in Jewish Literature.

Language – What is “kivrat eretz”?

The place in which Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin is explicitly stated in Bereishit 35:16: “Then they journeyed from Beit-El; and when they were still kivrat eretz from Ephrata, Rachel labored, and she had hard labor.” A similar description appears in our parasha when Joseph tells of Rachel’s burial place: “And when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the Land of Canaan on the way, when they were still kivrat eretz to come to Ephrata and I buried her there on the way of Ephrat, which is Bethlehem” (Bereishit 48:7). According to this context it seems that the expression “kivrat eretz” in both places seems to indicate some measure of distance. This phrase appears in an additional place in the Bible, in the story of Geichazi who chases after Na’aman, after he has walked “kivrat eretz” (Kings II 5:19) and also there it seems that this is the meaning of the phrase.

Its exact meaning has long engaged Chazal, who explain it’s mention in the story of Rachel’s death as a reference to a description of the season of the year in which it took place: “In the time when the earth is hollow like a sieve (“k’vara”) and the grain (“bar”) is found” (Bereishit Rabbah 82:7). Here we have a play on words on “kivrat [eretz]” both from the term “k’vara” and the term “bar”. (Note: in Hebrew the letters “b” and “v” interchange under certain grammatical conditions.) According to R’ Eliezer the term refers to the latter part of summer, to the time when they have already harvested the grain (“and the grain is found”) and the ground is dry like a sieve. Traveling under such conditions is not easy and this, according to the sage, might explain why Jacob buried Rachel immediately on her death and did not carry her body under impossible conditions to the burial plot of the forefathers in the Cave of Machpela in Hebron.

Certain medieval commentators (such as R’ Sa’adiya Gaon [Babylon, 10th century]) offered a different explanation of the phrase “kivrat eretz”, and especially its first part: they saw the first letter as indicating similarity and then explained the word “varat” as a unit of measure from those days, like the mil of ancient times and today’s kilometer. According to this “kivrat” = “k” + “varat” = approximately a barat.

This explanation found support from Acadian: in this language the word “beru”, which refers to a measure of time – a double hour, one twelfth part of a day – was also used as a measure of distance, the distance that the average person could travel in two hours. With the help of this measure the distances between astronomical bodies was also calculated. In order to differentiate between the astronomical measure and the land measure they used the phrase “ber qaqqari”, which meant the ber of the land. It seems therefore that this is the way to explain the Hebrew term “kivrat eretz”: the “k” refers to similarity, as medieval Jewish commentators proposed and the unit of measure “barat eretz” was loaned from the Acadian, meaning a measure of land that can be traveled in two hours.