Jacob’s final request to his sons was that he be buried in the Cave of the Patriarchs in the land of Canaan. Before Joseph goes to fulfill this request, he mentions very explicitly to Pharaoh’s household that his father adjured him to do so and that he would return. Only then does Pharaoh give permission for him to go “as [his father] adjured him.”
It seems strange that the viceroy of all Egypt would have to ask for permission for much of anything, let alone burying his own father. But Rashi points out that we can see from Pharaoh’s answer, that if Joseph’s father had not adjured him, Pharaoh would not have let him go.
Why would Pharaoh be so reticent to let Joseph bury his father? We can see from the final note of how Joseph asks to leave. Joseph said that he would return to Egypt after the burial. The Ramban explains that Pharaoh was afraid that Joseph would leave Egypt and not come back. Joseph had become an essential part of the Egyptian bureaucracy. The country would simply not function the same without him. Pharaoh’s entire system was held together by Joseph’s efficient management. If Joseph took his skills elsewhere and Egypt fell apart, how would that reflect on Pharaoh? Pharaoh could not allow that for the sake of his own power.
And Pharaoh had good reason to worry. After all, why wasn’t Jacob content to be buried where he died, in Egypt? Jacob’s desire to be buried in the land of Canaan with his forefathers showed that that was the place he viewed as home. If Joseph also viewed that as home, there was surely a concern that he would want to return there if he could.
In the final few lines of our Torah portion, we see that Joseph did in fact view the land of Canaan as his home, when he also requests to have his bones returned there one day. Even as we also see that Pharaoh’s paranoia about losing Joseph extended even over having Joseph’s body buried somewhere else.
A small takeaway from this story is that we should never give up hope. Jacob and Joseph both longed to return to the land of their fathers, but circumstances made that seem impossible. And yet, though it took many long years, today both of them lay in rest, exactly where they wanted to be.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi A and the JET Team
Another takeaway that I see in Joseph asking permission has come down to us in the adage don’t count your chickens…. As B’nai Israel find out with the next Pharoah. I believe we’re told that the famine had ended with Jacob’s arrival in Egypt. So Joseph may have lost his ‘ security clearance ‘. Besides, it was Joseph who said he was coming back, possibly because he didn’t take any of his possessions. I suspect that would have signalled he wasn’t planning on returning. Whether that was because, as you pointed out, Pharoah needed him, or possibly because B’nai Israel needed him in Goshen to ensure their safety.
The other takeaway is that Jews may feel comfortable in galut, but they are just one dictator away from expulsion. anti-Semitism rests just below the surface.