Vayechi

“And the days of Yisrael (Yaakov) drew close to his death, and he called to his son, to Yosef. And he said to him, ‘Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, place your hand under my thigh and do for me kindness and truth—do not, please, bury me in Egypt!’” (Breishis 47: 29)

“’Place your hand’ – this is an expression of a vow.” (Rashi ibid.)

Rashi’s comment is puzzling. Did Yaakov Avinu fear that his son Yosef would ignore is explicit request to be buried in the land of Israel? Indeed, Yosef himself responds in the affirmative; what was the purpose of the formal vow?

Ramban explains that Yaakov had no such suspicions about Yosef’s commitment to fulfill his request. Rather, Yaakov understood the pressure under which Yosef worked—the control of Pharoah. Thus, Yaakov’s intent was to strengthen Yosef’s obligation to his elderly father in a way which even Pharaoh would have to respect.

We can add to this insight an understanding of the nature of obligation. We learn from here that the vow was not only for Pharaoh’s benefit, but for Yosef’s benefit as well. Granted Yosef’s intense desire to fulfill his father’s request, it cannot compare to the level of commitment and the potential strengths which flow from an external source of obligation, outside one’s own will. This was also a purpose of Yaakov’s oath.

We see this same idea in Yehuda’s commitment of responsibility for his brother Binyamin. Yehuda tells Yaakov, “I will be his guarantor, you may search for him from my hands” (Breishis 43: 9). Here too, in addition to his own intense personal desire to insure the safety of his father’s cherished remaining son from Rachel, there is no comparison between that level of desire, and the yoke of obligation placed on an individual from outside his own will. Thus, Yehuda added the concept of “arvut”, personal acceptance of responsibility, to his own feelings of obligation.

(This d'var Torah is based on the work Peninei Daas, the essays of the Telsher Rosh HaYeshiva Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch, zt"l, edited by Rabbi Noson Tzvi Baron, shlit"a, and Rabbi Avrahom Chaim Levin, shlit"a, vol. 1, p. 125-6)