Journey to Jerusalem 2026: Har Menuchos - The Kever of Rav Menachem Ziemba…Plus Plus

 

 

 Journey to the Shomron 2026: Mitzpeh Yosef; Overlooking Kever Yosef  

 Starting Shovavim Overlooking Yosef Hatzadik: Journey to Shomron 2026: Mitzpeh Yosef

What Reading Does To Your Brain

 Progressives and their digital invention# are taking away this ability to read from a book. Newspapwers are practically non existent, with almost all matter on the internet. Reading from the internet is not cozy, esp. with its blue light hurting your eyes. I love reading from a Sefer. And our Bnei Yeshiva are reading from the best sources! Sorry, necessary to go to UT to enjoy this video.

 

 Reading feels effortless, but it's one of the most unnatural things the human brain has ever learned to do. In this video, I explore how the brain learned to read, how it turns symbols on a page into meaning, and why reading reshapes attention, memory, and empathy. 

From the half-second behind every sentence to the way books simulate experience in the mind, this is a look inside the reading brain, and why deep reading still matters in a world built for distraction. 

 Sources and further reading: Bal, P.M. & Veltkamp, M. (2013). “How Does Fiction Reading Influence Empathy? An Experimental Investigation on the Role of Emotional Transportation.” Dehaene, S., Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read (Penguin, 2009). Dehaene, S. “Inside the Letterbox: How Literacy Transforms the Human Brain.” Mar, A.R., Oatley, K.& Peterson, J.(2009). “Exploring the link between reading fiction and empathy: Ruling out individual differences and examining outcomes.” Communications, 34(4), 407–428. Pulvermüller, F. (2005). “Brain mechanisms linking language and action.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 6, 576–582. Verghese, J. et al. (2003). “Leisure Activities and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly.” New England Journal of Medicine, 348(25), 2508–2516. Wolf, M. Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World (Harper, 2018). Wolf, M. “Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound.” The Guardian, 2018.

Comments to the above video:

In late January this year (2025) I had a “mini-stroke” that I recognized as having affected precisely the “visual word-form area.” Letters were fragmented, not just from each other, but into bits and pieces, like an over-stirred alphabet soup. I’m an editor by profession, so, at least initially, this would have been a huge blow. For some reason, my response was, “Okay; this is an interesting challenge. Let’s fix it.” In hospital, the nurses would relentlessly challenge me to read words in various font sizes, even when waking me at 2 am for some other reason. This encouraged me to read even more, and I got back to editing right away. Eleven months later, I read more slowly—but also more carefully. I find that I’m far more sensitive to what an author wants to say, and more inspired to edit “empathetically”: not try to change a point of view, but to try to see it more clearly, which has always been at the root of my craft. It’s all about attention.

“ Reading expands the architecture that thinking depends on”……What an amazing sentence!!

This was an extraordinarily interesting podcast. I have read avidly all my life, I’m now 75, and it’s never given me a feeling of superiority but a deep awareness that people who don’t read lose out on so many “life experiences”. I occasionally pick up a very challenging read that slows me down and makes me reach for a dictionary, and I find it recharges me. This podcast has filled in so many questions I’ve had about reading. Thank you very much indeed.

I am a retired reading specialist and have worked with thousands of humans in learning how to read. On thing I noticed is that young people with "learning disabilities" continue to improve their reading skills well into adulthood. . My middle school students self selected books to read so when they finished one book they started another and I documented their reading this way 200 minutes a week. These minutes expanded and they got "extra credit" for reading more and almost all students reported that they were reading twenty minutes at home each evening, but they looked at the clock and realized they had just read an hour. They are amazed. Most common comment: this is the first time I actually read a book. My students had the highest state test scores with 80% of the eighth graders reading well into the high school level by the end of the year. I gave them a before and after test (Gates McGinity because it had a vocabulary subtest) and they were so proud of themselves. I told parents a good reward was to take them to the local big city, thirty miles away, and go to a bookstore. They got extra credit for going to the library. Students thought this was an easy class: all you had to do is read.

I hardly ever like movies from books. They destroy the imagination. It's a miracle to read a story and create the images in my head by myself

The comments are very interesting, read more of them.

Reb Neuberger: SHEMOT: The Origin of Golus

 

THE ORIGIN OF GOLUS

We are in Sefer Shemos. These are the parshios of Deep Golus, the prototype exile which is the model of all our exiles. How we got into exile is a subject which needs to be studied in great depth. This, I believe, is the key to understanding where we are today and how we can emerge from this darkness into the eternal light which Hashem has promised His children. This week’s article is longer than usual, but I believe the subject matter warrants the additional length.

 

In Parshas Vayigash Yehuda confronts Yosef. Yehuda’s argument is so powerful that apparently Yosef is overcome and is – so to speak – “forced” to yield to Yehuda and release Binyomin. In fact Midrashim tell us that the brothers were prepared to destroy Mitzraim – including Yosef himself -- if Yosef did not yield. They had the power to carry this out, and Yosef – who understood every word they said in Hebrew in his presence – was completely aware of their plans.

 

The Torah uses the fateful words: “V’lo yachol Yosef l’hisapaik … Now Yosef could not restrain himself….” (Beraishis 44:34) These words have always jumped off the page at me! They scream out a strong question. If, in fact, Yosef “could not restrain himself,” that implies that he wanted to restrain himself, that he was not ready at that moment to reveal his identity. Rather, events “forced” him to reveal himself prematurely.

 

Why, you may ask, is that so important? What difference did it make when Yosef revealed himself? I will answer you that the fate of the world hangs on those words.

 

What was Yosef trying to accomplish? By his manipulation of events, Yosef was trying to erase the sina, the hatred among the brothers. If, in fact, he was not able to fulfill his plan, that implies that the sina had not in fact been erased.

 

The consequences of this are mind boggling.

 

Because the sina was not completely erased, our ancestors were plunged into torturous slavery in Mitzraim, which became the prototype for all future goluses, down to this very day. Because the sina was not completely erased, the Ten Martyrs were tortured and killed. Because the sina was not erased, the Second Temple was destroyed and we were thrown into the terrible Exile which enchains us to this very day. Because the sina was not erased, we endured centuries of torture, including the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Nazis, Communism, October 7, every catastrophe down to this very moment!

 

All because Yosef was not able to restrain himself in front of his brothers!

 

I am not, chas v’shalom, judging Yosef. To have restrained himself would have been like a person standing on a mountaintop and trying to stop a meteor before it hit the earth’s surface! But the fact is that, apparently, he wanted to restrain himself and could not.

 

I had not been able to find a commentary which agrees with this, until our son, Rabbi Aharon Yaakov Neuberger Shlita”h, told me that he had heard precisely this approach from Rabbi Malkiel Kotler Shlita”h in the name of his father, Reb Schneur zt”l.

 

Rabbi Kotler referred specifically to the Rashi on the possuk which says, “Then he [Yosef] fell upon his brother Binyamin’s neck and wept, and Binyanim wept upon [Yosef’s] neck….” (Beraishis 45:14) The Gemara states, “Reb Elazar said, [Yosef] wept over the two temples that were destined to be in Binyanim’s territory and were destined to be destroyed … and that Binyomin wept over Mishkan Shilo, which was in Yosef’s territory and was destined to be destroyed.” (Megillah 16b)

 

Why, at this moment of the brothers’ reconciliation, would the Torah allude to the destruction of the Mishkan and Bais Hamikdosh? Precisely because the reconciliation was incomplete! Yosef had not able to restrain his revelation; the sina had not been completely erased, and that sina is the cause of all our troubles down to this very day!

 

In addition, Rabbi Kotler mentioned the Haftara for Parshas Vayigash, in which Yechezkel ha Novi describes two wooden tablets, one representing Yehuda and Bnai Yisroel and the other representing Yosef. Hashem says to the Novi that these two tablets “shall become one in your hand.” Thus, the Novi foretells the day when all Bnai Yisroel shall become one and the sina will be erased forever. The Haftara thus alludes to the essence of the Parsha, which is the ultimate unity of all Bnai Yisroel!

 

Since then, I heard also from Rabbi Yair Hoffman Shlita”h that the Zohar and Rabbeinu Bachya take a similar approach: although Yosef had completely forgiven his brothers, it is possible to say that the brothers – on their exalted level – had not yet completely erased their sina toward Yosef. This, my friends, appears to be the cause of all our terrible troubles until the present day.

 

May Hashem help us!

 

Now I want to examine a burning question: if this is correct, what exactly did Yosef want to achieve? What was he waiting for? What more could the brothers have done to erase sina from Am Yisroel and prevent future catastrophe?

 

In order to answer that question, I want to examine Yosef’s two dreams in Parshas Vayeishev. In the first dream, the brothers’ sheaves stood up and bowed down to Yosef’s sheaf. In the second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. These two dreams are, although similar, actually quite different. In the first dream, Yosef is “seen” so to speak, represented by his sheaf, and the brothers bow down to him. In the second dream, Yosef is not seen – meaning that there is nothing in the dream representing Yosef – and not only his brothers, but apparently his parents bow down.

 

I would like to suggest that the entire series of machinations to which Yosef subjects his brothers in Mitzraim can be seen as a gigantic moshul. Yosef’s actions are apparently illogical. He accuses his brothers falsely and the accusations are fabricated. Obviously, there is deep logic to what he is doing, but his actions do not seen to make sense.

 

What happened in Mitzraim reminds me of a chapter in Tehillim, in which Dovid Hamelech says of Hashem, “You reduce man to pulp and say, ‘Repent Oh sons of man.’ For a thousand years are [like] yesterday … [until] we shall acquire a heart of wisdom.” (Tehillim 90)

 

It seems that Dovid Hamelech is speaking about golus, which reduces man to pulp. We don’t understand what is going on; it all seems to make no sense, but we are crushed. They raise blood libels against the nation which by statute is not permitted to consume blood! It is all lies, lies upon lies. They know it and we know it! Everything they say is sheker, but they use it to attack us, regardless of truth or falsity.

 

In the end we know it is all from Hashem. All this sheker, these centuries of torture and false accusations are all from Shomayim, because we apparently need to be “reduced to pulp” in order to do teshuva and “acquire a heart of wisdom.” Until we get the sheker out of our own hearts, we will be confronted by a world of sheker.

 

This reminds me of Yosef in Mitzraim. All the false accusations, the torture and imprisonment … they are all meant to reduce his brothers to “pulp” so they will do teshuva and the sina can be erased. (Besides being actual events), this is a gigantic moshul foreshadowing our own future goluses! “Ma’ase avos siman l’banim … the events of the fathers are a sign for the children.”

 

Now what would have been the result if Yosef had been able to resist the pressure and not reveal himself prematurely? As I said before, the Midrash tells us that the brothers were prepared to destroy Yosef himself and all of Mitzraim if Yosef did not release Binyomin. So far the brothers had not done complete teshuva. If they had done complete teshuva they would have given up their plans to destroy Yosef and Mitzraim and instead have said, “Ribono shel Olam, all this has come upon us because we sold our brother into slavery! Forgive us. Chatasi! Chattasi! Chattasi! We were completely wrong! We are the evil ones and the Viceroy’s absurd punishments are only coming upon us because we sinned against our brother. Hashem forgive us! We are the evil ones!”

 

That is, I believe, what Yosef wanted to achieve! But he could not restrain himself and he therefore failed to achieve his goal of inducing the brothers to do complete teshuva!

 

My friends, I believe that all the absurd accusations that have been leveled against Am Yisroel over the centuries, all the insane torture and hatred over the past two thousand years are exactly echoing this scenario. What Yosef was doing in Mitzraim was a foreshadowing of exactly what would happen to us in Golus. And why? Because we are living out the consequences of our failure to do teshuva for our own sinas chinom.

 

Now let’s return to Yosef’s dreams. Dream Number One refers to events in Mitzraim. It was directly fulfilled when the brothers bowed down to him. But Dream Number Two is different. Where was Yosef in this dream? He wasn’t there, so to speak, because Dream Number Two seems to be a moshul for Hashem’s conduct of history. Dream Number Two will only be fulfilled when “the sun and the moon and eleven stars,” meaning all of Am Yisroel, will bow down before Hashem in the final act of teshuva, when we understand that the blame is all ours and we are “reduced to pulp” and accept all responsibility upon ourselves and acknowledge before the Ribono shel Olam “Chatasi, I am guilty. Please forgive me. I accept all responsibility for my fate.”

 

(Why “eleven stars,” by the way? Perhaps, there will be those among Am Yisroel who will not be able to stand the test of Golus, who will not be willing to do teshuva and will therefore be “missing” at the end of history, just as those who did not choose to follow Moshe Rabbeinu out of Mitzraim died in the Plague of Darkness and never were zoche to stand at Har Sinai.)

 

My friends, where does this bring us?

 

It would seem to me that this is telling us that we are in Golus today because the stain of sinas chinom has not been erased. It was not erased through the actions of Yosef and it still has not been erased through all the intervening centuries. All that happens to us, the false accusations, the hatred, the senseless violence, the illogical condemnations which bear no relation to reality, all of these are a message from the King of the Universe. And what is the message?

 

"Fellow Yidden, we need to heal ourselves! We are tearing ourselves apart through jealousy and causeless hatred! All our troubles occur because we need to heal the internal breach! When we heal the breach in our Jewish Family, then we will simultaneously heal the breach between us and our Father in Shomayim. When we do this, the day which we have all been awaiting will suddenly dawn, k'heref ayin! Then, suddenly, Moshiach ben Dovid will reign and the Bais Hamikdosh will be rebuilt, and on that day Hashem will be One, ‘Hashem Echad Ush’mo Echad!’"

 

Meteor hurtling toward the earth

 

GLOSSARY

Dovid Hamelech: King David

Golus: Exile

K’heref ayin: in the blink of an eye

Midrashim: classic commentary on the Torah

Mitzraim: Ancient Egypt

Moshul: parable

Parshios: Torah portions

Ribono shel Olam: the Master of the Universe, G-d

Sefer Shemos: the Book of Exodues, second book of the Torah

Sheker: lies

Shomayim: Heaven

Sina: hatred

Tehillim: Psalms

Teshuva: repentance

Zoche: had the merit to ….

Reoccupying The West Bank: A Judean Vlog

 Come along for a day in Judea and Samaria with a Jew living on the land. From houses going up and tractors at work to breakfast, donkeys, dogs, and flags—this vlog gives a real look at life while building up our homeland, Eretz Yisrael. Through the everyday chaos and joy, we explore what it means to prepare ourselves and our land for the Geulah, one step at a time

Shovavim 5786 - Episode 1: Natural Tendencies | Rabbi Nachum Binder

 

A Hug Instead of Food - R' Moshe Bergman....Plus Rav Shach

 

 

 Rav Shach Was sandik For Both - R' Yosef Wilner

Reb Ginsbourg: Vayechi

 "Do not bury me in Egypt"

Why did Jacob ask to be buried in Israel? See what the commentators have to say.

The Torah relates : (47:29-31): ‘The time approached for Israel to die, so he called for his son, for Yosef, and said to him:’Please - if I have found favor in your eyes, please place your hand under my thigh and do חסד ואמת: kindness and truth with me please do not bury me in Egypt. For I will lie down with my fathers and you shall transport me out of Egypt and bury me in their tomb.

‘He said:’I personally will do as you have said.’

‘He replied: ‘Swear to me’, and he swore to him.’

Rashi comments:’He called for his son, for Yosef’: the person who had the power to carry out his request.’

‘חסד: genuine kindness’: a kindness done for the dead is true kindness, because one does not look to any payment in return.’

‘Please do not bury me in Egypt’: because ultimately its soil will become lice, which would swarm under my body; AND because the dead outside the Land of Israel will be resurrected only after rolling through underground channels to the Land of Israel; AND so that the Egyptians not make me an object of idol worship.’

Siftei Chachamim - on this Rashi - elucidates:’ Rashi only mentions‘ kindness done with the dead’- but it includes whoever does an act for which he does not expect any payment in return, as an act of חסד ואמת.

‘As when Eliezer asked Laban to give Rivkah to him without any payment - not from him, that he give him presents - and certainly not from Avraham, who was far away.

‘If you should ask, then, why did Rashi not say that here was a matter of חסד ואמת, we need to say that, after all, we find that Yaakov did ‘pay’ Yosef for his promise to take him for burial in the Land of Israel, as the Torah relates later (48:22), that he gave him an additional gift, over his brothers.

‘Therefore, Rashi here expounded as he did, because at the time when Yaakov made his request to Yosef, he did not promise him any reward - nor wss it on his mind at that time, to give him that which he later gave him - Shechem - and for this reason, it said here חסד ואמת.’

The Kli Yakar, noting that Rashi offers three separate commentaries, says:’All three are needed, for each other, as the reason that he not be made an object of idol worship, and that lice not be his lot after his burial, are one: as why will they make him an object of idol worship, more than any other deceased? Because they will see that lice have taken hold in all the graves other than his.

‘If, on the other hand, lice did appear also in the earth of his grave, it wuld cause him discomfort - could the Creator not save him from this discomfort, especially as our Sages say:’רימה: Worms did not affect seven, one of them being Yaakov’ - and if worms did not have hold over them, certainly neither did lice.

‘These two reasons, in themselves, are not sufficient to explain why he commanded that he be buried in the Land of Canaan, and not elsewhere in the Land.

‘The concern of rolling through underground channels to the Land, is, in itself, also not sufficient, as, if it were, why did he command:’Do not bury me in Egypt’ - it would have sufficed that which he said:’Bury me in their tomb’.

‘Instead he said: I ask of you to bury me in the tomb of my fathers, but if something should prevent you from burying me in the Land of Canaan, bury me in a land other than Egypt - why? Because of the concern of becoming an object of idol wordhip, or of the lice.

‘He said’: ‘Swear to me’: not because he doubted Yosef, that he would not obey his father’s command, but rather to give him justification before Pharoah, as Rashi brings:’As he made you take an oath’: if not for that oath, he would not have permitted you to bury him outside Egypt.

‘The reason Yaakov added:’Swear TO ME’, was due to his concern that Pharoah would seek to absolve him from his oath - Yaakov therefore said:swear to me’, which meant that only Yaakov could absolve him of the oath - as it was made ‘to him’.’

The Ktav Sofer notes that Yosef added - seemingly superfluously - ‘I PERSONALLY will do as you have said’, commenting: He could - had he not said ‘personally’ - fulfiled his oath and his father’s command, by others, and not troubled himself to carry it out.

‘However, our Sages teach that it is more meritorious to personally perform an act, than to do so, by others - this more so, when one performs the act in fulfillment of a mitzvah; not so, when one does it for the expectation of a reward for his deed, as all that is required is that the deed his father asked be performed - his burial in the tomb of his fathers - be it by himself, or by others.

‘As Yaakov specifically asked that he do חסד ואמת :’kindness and truth with me’, Yosef answered:’I personally will do it’, as - it being a mitzvah - it is more meritorious when done in person, than by others.

‘This also explains why - after Yaakov had made him take an oath to do his bidding - he now - after Yosef had said:’I personally will do as you have said’ - made Yosef take a further oath, that he would do it personally.’

Rav Eliyahu Shlezinger raises another question, arising from Avraham sending Eliezer on his mission: ‘When he sent him on his mission to find a wife, for his son, Yitzchak, he also made him take an oath - as Yaakov did in our instance - we might opine that that was because Eliezer had a ‘personal interest’ in the matter, as he hoped that his daughter might be chosen to be the wife of Yitzchak, and might therefore not make every effort to fulfill Avraham’s wish, to find a wife for Yitzchak from Avraham’s family.

‘In the case of Yosef, what concern could Yaakov have, that led him to require that Yosef take an oath?

‘The reason may be, that Yaakov asked Yosef to do for him חסד ואמת: ‘kindness and truth’, which Rashi expounded as : ‘kindness’ which one does with the dead, which is ‘true’ kindness, as no reward is expected.

‘The Siftei Chachamim’ - which we brought - ‘added: not limited to that which is done for the dead, but whenever done without expectation of reward, even though the beneficiary is alive, it is still ‘true’ kindness.

‘When Yaakov asks Yosef, to ensure that:’I lie down with my fathers..and bury me in their tomb’, Yosef answers:’I personally will do as you ask’ - meaning: I, too, will do as you ask, and also command to be buried in the Land of Israel, and not in Egypt.

‘He thereby asked for something in exchange for fulfilling his father’s request.

‘Since Yosef asked for ‘something’ in exchange, Yaakov immediately asked him:’Swear to me’, and he swore to him’ - this because it was no longer a case of חסד ואמת, as - like Avraham’s servant, Eliezer - Yosef now had ‘a personal interest’ in the matter, it was no longer possible to believe him without his taking an oath.’

The Be’er Mayim Chaim also expounds in this way:’The word אנכי: ‘ I personally will do as you have said’, is superfluous , as Yosef should have simply said:’I will do as you have said’.

‘In the event that Yosef would want to bury him - Yaakov - in Egypt, so that the two of them would be buried in the same place, Yosef answered him, that this was not his intention for himself - but that he, too, would ‘do as you have said’, meaning: I, too, will do as you have said - to command that I be taken for burial out of Egypt .

‘This is why this is said here, as it is Yosef’s answer to Yaakov’s concern.’

The Panim Yafot adds:’Let us recall that Yaakov had been promised by Hashem (Vayigash 46:4) - when he told him not to fear descending to Egypt, to be reunited with his long-missing son, Yosef - that ‘I will ascend with you’, but his concern was that he not be interred there, and only brought to his final burial place, at the time of the redemption of Bnei Israel, from their exile - as was the case with Yosef.

‘This is what he meant by his plea: ‘do not bury me in Egypt’, not even temporarily.

‘Rather, as soon as I die, take me out of Egypt.

‘The Gemara (Ketuvot 111.) relates that Yaakov knew that he was completely righteous - and, if so, why did he trouble his sons to take him for burial, and not wait till the redemption? Answer: because of his fear that in the time he would kept in a crypt by the sons of Esav, who sought to bury Esav there - in place of Yaakov.

‘Our Sages (Sotah 13.) record that the sons of Esav, in fact, fought with the sons of Yaakov, over the burial plot.

‘Yaakov did not want to be buried anywhere other than with his fathers - and therefore commanded that he be taken there immediatelly, for burial.’

The Ben Ish Hai offers the following insight, on Yosef’s oath:’It appears to me, with help from Above, that Yosef would think:’If I swear, I am doing because of my oath - better, then, that I not take an oath, as then I will be doing it in fulfillment of the mitzvah of honoring my father’.

‘His father replied:’Swear to me, as you are not swearing on your own volition, but ‘to me’: because I commanded you to do so, and you are therefore, by the oath, heeding my command, as I told you:’Swear to me’.’

Abarbanel expounds:’The Torah relates that, as soon as Yaakov felt his strength waning, he realized that his days were coming to an end - though he was not ill at that time.

‘He therefore called for his son, Yosef, to command him as to his burial - a lesson to all of us, not to delay making arrangements until close to death, as then we will be less able to do what needs to be done.

‘He called for Yosef, because - according to Rashi - he had the power to do what needed to be done - rather than to his other sons.

‘The Midrash gives a different pleasing reason for this: since Yosef was the one who called him to descend to him, therefore it was right that Yosef also attend to his return, to the place from whence he brought him.

‘Yaakov seemingly foresaw in his ruach hakodesh, that Yosef’s bones would remain in Egypt, until the redemption, and was concerned lest Yosef should decide that this too, be the fate of his father.

‘He therefore said:’Do kindness and truth with me’, since Yaakov had two relationships with Yosef: his being his son, and his being the viceroy - as to the latter, he said:’do kindness with me’, as to the former - being his son, he said:’truth’, as he was obligated according to the intellectual truth, to do it.

‘His request’: ‘Please, do not bury me in Egypt’ - the word נא here, means ‘now’, meaning: I know that at the time of the redemption, Bnei Israel will take your bones from here, but I do not want that I should now be buried in Egypt, but, that immediately upon my death, take me out of Egypt, and bury me with my fathers, so that at no time, shall I be buried in Egypt.

‘Yosef answered:’’I will do as you say’, meaning: whatever is within my power, I will certainly do it- may it be Hashem’s Will, that Pharoah gives me permission to leave.

‘The Midrash elucidates, saying:’My father, after you strove so hard to be buried in the Land of Israel, I, too, will ‘do as you have said’, and command that, after my death, I also be taken from here, there - ‘as you have said’.

‘So that Pharoah not prevent Yosef doing his father’s bidding, Yaakov made Yosef take an oath - which he needed - so that he could say to Pharoah: ‘My father made me take an oath’,to which Pharoah’s reply was: ‘Ascend and bury your father, as you swore to your father.’

‘The Alshich Hakadosh expands on the importance of the oath, that Yaakov made Yosef swear, ‘as the Gemara (Sotah 36:) relates, that Pharoah did not allow Yosef to leave with his father’s remains, until Yosef said to him:’If you force me to break my oath to my father, I will also break my oath to you, that I not reveal that you do not know lashon hakodesh, and you will be dethroned.

‘This, I think, is the reason Yaakov made Yosef swear to him - so that he could use it, should Pharoah wish to prevent him doing Yaakov’s bidding.’

A final insight, from Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch:’If I have found favor in your eyes’: this is not the way a father speaks to his son - nor a son to his father - least of all, Yaakov to so speak to Yosef.

‘The word נא: please, will explain the matter - Yosef, in his lofty station, no doubt wanted to utilize it to confer upon his father extra benefits, but Yaakov at no time agreed to accept them - he did not want to be the father of the ‘viceroy’, and now arrived the hour, that Yaakov wished to exercise his influence over Yosef.

‘Therefore:’if I have found favor in your eyes’ - now is your opportunity to do me a special favor- do this for me.

‘Yaakov knew full well that Yosef would bury him with all the glory possible , but he said: in all of this, don’t forget the truth: it is preferable to me that I not be buried at all, than that I be buried in Egypt.

‘We would not have thought that fulfilling this request would present such difficulty as to require an oath.

‘However, it appears that Pharoah and the Egyptians would not look kindly on it - it would be seen as offensive to their sensitivities.

‘A deeper reason underlay this. Yaakov had lived seventeen years in Egypt, he saw the deep influence this had on his children.

‘They started, in their minds, changing the Nile for the Jordan River, and ceased to see themselves as being in galut.

‘This, in itself, was sufficient reason to implore them not to bury Yaakov in Egypt, but to take him to their real homeland.

‘This would have been sufficient reason to say to them: your wish and hope is to be like the Egyptians - but, I, that is not my wish, nor to be buried in Egypt.

‘This is why he expresses this request of his - not as ‘Yaakov’, but as ‘Israel’, the bearer of the national destiny, as a warning of the future to his sons.’

לרפואת נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.