תלמוד על בראשית 50:11

HALAKHAH: “Joseph had the merit to bury his father and none of his brothers was greater than he,” etc. ³²⁸Gen. rabba 100(7). Rebbi Isaac said: The glory of the Lifegiver of the Worlds³²⁹The Sephardic pronunciation חַי follows Maimonides (Hilkhot Yesode Hatorah 2:9). Ashkenazic pronunciation follows the Biblical חֵי (Dan. 13:7). The Worlds are this world, the World to Come, and all other possible worlds He created. was with them. It is written: “They came to the threshing place of the brambles.³³⁰Gen. 50:10.” ³³¹The same question, in the framework of a different sermon, in the Babli, 13a. Since when does the bramble-bush have a threshing place? Rebbi Samuel ben Naḥman said, we checked in all of Scripture and did not find a place called “brambles”. What are “brambles”? These are the Canaanites who should have been threshed like brambles. By which merit were they saved? By the merit of: “The inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing place of the brambles.³³²Gen. 50:11.” What act of kindness did they do for him? Rebbi Eleazar said, they unbelted³³³As a sign of mourning, to stay in their houses.. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, they undid the knots on their shoulders³³⁴Also a sign of mourning, not to appear in their togas.. The rabbis said, they stood up³³⁵They translate “the inhabitants of the land” as: “those sitting on the earth”.. Rebbi Yudan bar Shalom said, they pointed with their fingers and said, “a heavy mourning is that for Egypt”. ³³⁶The entire paragraph is a sermon in honor of the local burial society. Now these who did no act of kindness with their hands or feet; look what the Holy One, praise to Him, did reward them with; Israel who are used to do acts of kindness with their hands or feet for their great and their little ones, [they deserve] so much more!