"You shall bring them and plant them on the mount of Your heritage, directed toward Your habitation, which You made, HaShem; the sanctuary, O Lord, [which] Your hands founded." 

Our Sages explain, in numbers of midrashim, that the beginning of this verse refers to Israel's entrance to the Land of Israel in general, and not only the Temple Mount, a matter which highlights once again that the Holy Land is indeed the Land of "Your habitation", Land of the Holy Presence. 

Therefore, it is not surprising why Yosef made Israel vow that they take his bones, and so they did even after about 210 years in Egypt, to be buried in the Land of Israel. It is also important to notice that it is this mission of taking Yosef's bones to the Land that played a crucial role in the splitting of the Red Sea, and thus the Exodus in general. 

So our Sages teach us based on the verse in Tehilim - "the Sea saw and fled" - that the Sea fled because it 'saw' the coffin of Yosef who 'fled' from Potifar's wife. Halachically speaking, the transfer of the bones of the deceased from the Diaspora to be buried in the Land of Israel is a legitimate act even today, even though generally speaking halacha bids never to move a corpse from one grave to another grave. 

The reason burial in the Land of Israel is such an important matter, is in part because our Sages interpreted the Torah's words "and the Land will atone on His People" (end of Haazinu) that one who is buried in the Land is "as if buried under the Altar", being atoned for his sins. Similarly, within the Land of Israel there are different levels of burial. 

A few weeks ago, we brought the ruling of the "Gesher Hahaim", one of the most authoritative works on modern burial and mourning, that the dead of Hebron are not even taken to Jerusalem, because of the tremendous merit attached to burial in Hebron - the Entrance of Souls to the Garden of Eden, just as our Patriarchs chose to be buried. 

If so, why was Yosef buried in Shechem and not in Hebron? Simply, we can say that Shechem was given specifically to Yosef by Yakov, as it says "and I give you Shechem over your brothers" (this interpretation is according to the Psikta Vayehi 48, 22), and therefore Yosef had a special personal connection to Shechem. That said, it is important to note that just as Yosef is considered the primary continuation of Yakov (see Midrash Raba Vayeshev 'all that occurred on Yakov occurred on Yosef' and more), and the Patriarchs in general, so too Shechem and Hebron are considered 'sister cities' in many ways - they are the first plots of land bought by our Avos, both are 'Refuge Cities', and both carry the dominant message of the covenant between HaShem and Israel - Shechem is the location of receiving the covenant at Mount Grizim and Eval, and Hebron is the everlasting symbol of HaShem's covenant with our Avot.

Real Stories from the Holy Land #52:  "One day, my wife asked me to buy lemons. That same day, I came across a lemon tree in Hebron whose branches collapsed in the recent blizzard, halachically rendered as ownerless. There were so many lemons, that after taking what I needed, there were still plenty to give to my friends." 

*To share your story please contactThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

*Sources: Exodus 15, 18, Midrash Tehilim 114, Yoreh Deah 363, 1, Ketubot 111a, , Gesher Hahaim p. 299