Parashat B’Shalah/Shabbat Shirah/Tu BiSh’vat
Exodus 13:17 – 17:16

This is the season in Israel when nature comes back to life. Tu BiSh’vat – the 15^thday of the Hebrew month of Sh’vat- is the birthday of the trees, when we begin noticing in Israel that they have awoken from their hibernation and begun to bud. Our Torah reading invariably coincides with this period of renewal. And we have an episode of revival of life, in a manner of speaking, in our Torah portion as well.

The Children of Israel march triumphantly out of Egypt, carrying with them all manner of stuff that they have decided they must not leave behind. Moses carries with him something else: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he [-Joseph] had made the Israelites swear, saying, ‘The Almighty will surely remember you, so please raise up my bones from this place, with you.’” (Ex. 13:19)

We witness the joining together of the living with the dead. The words of the dying joseph that live in Moses’ consciousness are quoted almost exactly here. At the end of Genesis, on Joseph’s deathbed, Joseph had indeed said, “‘The Almighty will surely remember you, so please raise up my bones from this place.” (Gen. 50:25) But Moses’ recollection of those words adds one additional Hebrew word: “itkhem” – with you. And we notice the seemingly superfluous word right before, telling us that Moses took Joseph’s bones “`immo” – with him.

Apparently it was important for Moses that Joseph’s bones be “with him,” and not just carried along with other stuff. Moses wanted to accompany Joseph’s bones. In this way it was as if Joseph, himself was leaving Egypt along with Moses, along with all the living Israelites who had managed to survive long after Joseph’s generation had died. And, in performing this act of accompaniment “l’vayah,” Moses was not only rescuing Joseph, he was once more redeeming his ancestor Levi – whose name means accompaniment. (See Gen. 29:34) Levi had caused Joseph to be thrown down into the pit. Moses reverses Joseph’s fate and raises him up. And, in that act, he continues to raise up Levi from the death curse pronounced upon him by Jacob. (See my Torah Sparks this year for Sh’mot.) Joseph and Levi come to life in Moses’ memory and imagination and in his commitment.

Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi David Greenstein

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image:  “Bundled up in fur for winter- Magnolia buds, Putney VT”  © Putneypics altered and used with permission via Creative Commons License