Portion of the Portion

YOSEF'S BONES

Before Yaakov died he instructed his children to bury him in Israel - and that is what they did. But Yosef was buried in Egypt. Why didn’t he ask his brothers to bury him in the holy land?

Rashi in our portion (Sh’mot 13:19) answers this question: When Yaakov died - Yosef was still at the height of his career and had power in Egypt. It was not difficult for him to have his father buried in Israel. But he knew that things would change and that when it was his turn to die, the Egyptians would have forgotten what Yosef had done for Egypt and the Jews would be in a different position without the power to take him elsewhere for burial. So he was buried in Egypt. But he did make his brothers swear to him - HASHBEI’A to make their children swear HISHBI’A to take his bones out of Egypt with them, PAKOD YIFKOD when HaShem finally redeems the Jews from Egypt.

This message was passed down throughout the bondage in Egypt until the time of the redemption. And we see in our portion that Moshe himself, while organizing all the other aspects of the Exodus from Egypt worries about taking Yosef’s bones with them. The Midrash points out that Moshe dealt with the mitzva of taking Yosef’s bones out of Egypt while the rest of the nation were busy amassing wealth. The midrash says CHACHAM LEV YIKACH MITZVOT - a smart person will grab mitzvot - Moshe was smart to grab this mitzva. The rest of the nation were going around to the Egyptians to ask them to “borrow” things to take with them. The Midrash seems to say that Moshe was doing a mitzva while the rest of the nation was not. But we know that the people were instructed to ask the Egyptians for KLEI CHESEF AND KLEI ZAHAV (11:2), gold and silver vessels. So what they were doing was also a mitzva? Why does the Midrash say that Moshe was smart cause he did a mitzva - and that everyone was smart for doing a mitzva?

The Avnei Nezer says that both were doing mitzvot, but there was a little difference. The nation was involved in a mitzva that they had physical benefit from - they were amassing wealth. Moshe on the other hand chose to do a mitzva where there was no personal benefit - he was dealing with dead bones. This was the CHOCHMA of Moshe; he knew which type of mitzva to choose to do. May we all be so smart.

This Shabbat is TU BiShvat, the cut off point for counting tree years for Orla. Rabbi Natan from Breslov in his book Likutei Halachot in the section on Orla explains how the mitzva of Orla improves our midot and rectifies the sin of eating from the tree in the garden of Eden. Its very complicated, but one thing he mentions there is a connection to the bones of Yosef. Sh’vat is the eleventh month, Yosef is the eleventh tribe. Yosef controlled himself and was a big Tzadik and therefore the splitting of the sea was because of his merits, as the Midrash says: HAYAM RA’A VAYANOS - the sea split when it saw the box with Yosef’s bones. There’s lots of deep inner meaning in what he writes but a practical TU BiShvat message is to follow the ZIDKUT of Yosef and the CHOCHMA of Moshe.

Chicken Stock from bones
If a recipe calls for deboned chicken or you have leftover bones you can save them in the freezer. When you have 1-2 bags full you can defrost them in the fridge then put in a large pot - covered with water. Add a splash of vinegar to release the minerals from the bones. Bring to a boil, skim the foam off the top, then simmer till the house fills with the smell of good soup.

And for TU BbiShvat…

2 chickens
1 cup slivered almonds
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup white wine
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 can mushrooms

Cover chicken with ingredients. Bake your chicken at 180C for 2 hours in a covered pan with a bit of water at the bottom.

• Other Portion of the Portion
• The Hide & Seek of Purim
• SHOV'VIM TAT
• The Women in Sh'mot