Finding Yosef’s Remains

Parshat Beshalach tells the exciting story of the exodus from Egypt. In the third Pasuk of the Parsha, we are told that Moshe took the bones of Yosef with him, as they left Egypt.

Many have commented on the timeliness of this verse, with the miraculous recovery of the remains of the last hostage in Gaza, Ron Gvili. We believe that there are no coincidences, and everything is part of a Divine plan.

In Yosef’s case, the Egyptians held Yosef’s remain “hostage,” thinking that as long as his remains were hidden, the Jewish people would never leave Egypt.

They placed Yosef in a sarcophagus, a stone coffin, somewhere in the Nile. There are two versions that explain how Moshe was able to locate the remains.

The first involves Serach Bat Asher, who was among the seventy Jews that originally went down to Egypt with Yakov Avinu. She was still alive when the Jews left Egypt, which meant that she was more than 200 years old!

She kept the secret during that entire time of where Yosef was hidden. At the proper time, she revealed these details to Moshe.

The second explanation is that there were certain “magic words,” that were given to Moshe that were known from Yosef’s time. These words, פקוד יפקוד, “He will remember,” served two purposes. The first was that when Moshe said them, the people knew that this was a sign that he was the true redeemer. The second time he said פקוד יפקוד, the remains of Yosef floated to the top of the Nile.

As Jews, it is clear that we are a people that cherish every human life, living or dead. The promise to Yosef that his remains, and those of his brothers, that they be buried in Israel was fulfilled, just as we have witnessed this in our time.