This week’s Parsha is Parshat Beshalach. Pharaoh has finally decided to let Bnei Yisrael leave Mitzrayim, after enduring all of the Ten Makkot from Hashem. Specifically in this week’s Parsha, we read about how Moshe took it upon himself to bring the bones of Yosef out of Mitzrayim as the Jewish people left their 210-year servitude.
This seems like a fairly harmless action. However, according to Masechet Zevachim (Daf 102 Amud Aleph), Moshe Rabbein was considered a Kohen.
We know, however, that Kohanim are not to be around dead bodies, and are certainly forbidden from touching them. Doing so would make a Kohen tamei, impure. If this is the case, then why is Moshe the one taking a dead body as opposed to any other person in the nation?
There are actually numerous sources who explain how if a dead body is being neglected in any way, not only is it not a sin for a Kohen to take care of it but it is actually considered a mitzvah for them. This would only apply here, though, if the rest of Bnei Yisrael couldn’t take Yosef’s body. Why was Moshe the only one who could do so? Where were the rest of the Jews?
During the plague of choshech, darkness, Hashem instructed the Jews to look through the possessions of the Egyptian woman. Later, when Bnei Yisrael was leaving, they first went back to the Egyptians and asked for their gold and silver. This way, they weren’t stealing, but if the Egyptians were to deny having any, the Jews would be able to prove them wrong.
Therefore, at this specific time, the Jews were already preoccupied in getting the Egyptians gold and silver. This is why carrying Yosef’s bones was specifically a Mitzvah for Moshe to do (called a mes mitzvah).
Moshe ultimately realized that if he was not going to do this, no one else would. This incentivized him to take initiative and bring Yosef’s bones out of Mitzrayim, ensuring that it would happen.
We can learn from this that when others are preoccupied, rather than standing idly by,
We should take the initiative ourselves to do whatever needs to be done. We shouldn’t always just depend on others to get a job done. When we want something done, we have to do it ourselves. We, as individuals, must take the responsibility to make sure that everyone around us is treated with respect and everything goes accordingly.
By: Simcha Rosenberg (10th)
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