Parshas Vayechi begins with Yaakov Avinu, at the age of one hundred and forty seven years, on his deathbed. He calls for his son Yosef and makes him swear that he will not bury him in the land of Egypt. Yaakov then blesses his grandsons, followed by imparting blessings to his sons. 

When Yaakov dies, Yosef fulfills his promise to his father, and the children of Yaakov take their father up to Canaan for kevurah in the Cave of Machpela. 

At the end of the parsha, we are told that Yosef merits to see generations born upon his knees, and then, Yosef himself dies at the age of one hundred and ten years old.  

The parsha begins and ends with the same theme: longing for Eretz Yisrael.

While Hashgacha decreed that Yaakov would live his final seventeen years in Egypt, upon his deathbed, he calls his son Yosef - the one who had the power in his hand to fulfill his father’s request - and orders him that his burial must not be in Egypt. Yaakov declares: וְעָשִׂ֤יתָ עִמָּדִי֙ חֶ֣סֶד וֶֽאֱמֶ֔ת אַל־נָ֥א תִקְבְּרֵ֖נִי בְּמִצְרָֽיִם, and you shall do with me kindness and truth, do not bury me in Egypt, (for) I will lie with my fathers, and you shall carry me out of Egypt, and you shall bury me in their grave (Bereishis 47:29-30).

Though Yaakov witnessed his children settling in the land of Egypt over the past seventeen years, taking hold of the land, and spreading throughout it (47:27), Yaakov knew that Egypt was not, and would never be, his land or the land of our people.

Echoing his father’s last wish, Yosef - upon his own deathbed - orders his brothers to take his remains out of Egypt when the redemption would finally come. וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יוֹסֵף֙ אֶל־אֶחָ֔יו אָֽנֹכִ֖י מֵ֑ת וֵֽאלֹקֹֽים פָּקֹ֧ד יִפְקֹ֣ד אֶתְכֶ֗ם וְהֶֽעֱלָ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מִן־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַזֹּ֔את אֶל־הָאָ֕רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבַּ֛ע לְאַבְרָהָ֥ם לְיִצְחָ֖ק וּלְיַֽעֲקֹֽב - And Yosef said to his brothers, "I am going to die; G-d will surely remember you and take you up from this land to the land that He swore to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Yaakov; And Yosef made the children of Israel take an oath saying: G-d will surely remember you, וְהַֽעֲלִתֶ֥ם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַ֖י מִזֶּֽה, and you shall take my bones out from here (50:24-25).

The journey first began by Avraham - go for yourself, from your land, and from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you (12:1) - would be continued by his descendants Yaakov and Yosef, if not in their lives, then in their deaths.

Both Yaakov, the father of the twelve tribes, and his son Yosef, ‘the righteous one,’ understood that their place - and the place of our nation - is not in foreign lands. It is, rather, in the land that Hashem promised to the avos. 

When Hashem commanded Avraham Avinu (A”A) to journey forth, the pasuk says: “And Hashem spoke to Avram: go for yourself from your land… to the land that I will show you” (12:1).

The Nesivos Shalom asks an important question: Where do we find that Hashem showed Avraham the land which was to be his destination? From the pasuk, it is clear that Hashem never actually told him where he was going until he reached the land itself!

The Nesivos Shalom explains that, “when Hashem told A”A to go to the land ‘that I will show you,’ He was imparting a much deeper message than vague directions. The beginning of the pasuk says, ‘And Hashem spoke.’ This is because while A”A was still in chutz la’aretz, he only had the merit of having Hashem speak to him. In E”Y, however, A”A was destined to reach even greater heights and to have Hashem appear to him. When Hashem commanded him to ‘go to the land that I will show you,’ He was really telling A”A that once he was in that land, he would merit to ‘see’ Hashem” (The Gift of Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Yishai Kalfa, p.225).

Similarly, the Seforno teaches that when the pasuk says that “Avraham passed through the land, to the place of Shechem, until the plains of Moreh” (12:6), “Avraham did not stop traveling until Hashem appeared to him, as He had promised him, ‘to the land that I will show you.’ Avraham continued to travel through E”Y without knowing his whereabouts until Hashem appeared to him, something that he had not previously experienced. Only then did he know that this was the land that Hashem had spoken about” (The Gift of Eretz Yisrael, p.226).

We see from here that the palpable kedusha that we experience - that permeates our hearts, minds and souls - when we merit to be in the land of Israel, is due to the elevated revelation of the Shechina in the land. Though today, Hashem’s revealed presence remains hidden from us, if there is anywhere in the world that it is most manifest and palpably felt, it is in Eretz Yisrael. This is due to the promise that Hashem made to A”A, telling him that in E”Y, not only would he merit to hear Hashem, he would merit, keviyachol, to see (perceive) the Shechina. 

As the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, this great gift is part of our spiritual DNA. Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik zt’l, the Rav, teaches that: “Certain places where the prophets thousands of years ago had conversations with HKB”H are still endowed with the potential of hasharas ha’Shechina for everyone. 

“Those who want to can receive it, even today. Anyone who is in E”Y and kisses the stones the prophets walked on merits to share in the Divine Presence regardless of whether he is a great rabbinic scholar or not. The gates of Heaven are open to Zion. Anything that emerges or comes down from the gates of Heaven comes down to Zion. There are special windows in Heaven that are only open to Zion… No other land in the world can imitate this quality. All one needs do is open oneself up to the divine flow, which is like dew or a stream coming down upon the land from Heaven” (The Lord is Righteous in All His Ways, p.308-309).

שִׁ֗יר הַֽמַּֽ֫עֲל֥וֹת בְּשׁ֣וּב ה’ אֶת־שִׁיבַ֣ת צִיּ֑וֹן הָ֜יִ֗ינוּ כְּחֹֽלְמִֽים - A song of ascents. When Hashem returns the returnees to Tzion, we will be like dreamers (Tehillim 126:1).

May we merit to see it immediately and in our days. 

בברכת בשורות טובות ושבת שלום

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