5TJT by Rabbi Yair Hoffman [...] Yaakov knew that Hashem Yisboruch would not be able to resist the
cries of a mother. A young mother, who died in childbirth at the age of
26, and was a remarkable tzadaikes.
Yaakov Avinu did not bury Rachel in the ancestral plot his
grandfather Avrohom Avinu had purchased. He did not bury her at Maaras
HaMachpeilah in Chevron. She would not be buried with the other Avos
and Imahos. Her destiny lay elsewhere.
Yaakov Avinu buried her on the side of the road – on the path toward Yerushalayim, on the path in Beis Lechem.
Why? Why?! Why?!?
She was the love of Yaakov Avinu’s life. Why didn’t he bury her next
to him? Why did he not bury her with the Imahos and the Avos?
The answer is one we all know, of course. Because when we get up to
the B in the above mnemonic, the Babylonians, the same thing was going
to happen. The Jewish people being exiled to Babylonia, passing that
road in Beis Lechem would be relegated to oblivion. [...]
> Yaakov Avinu did not bury Rachel in the ancestral plot his grandfather Avrohom Avinu had purchased. He did not bury her at Maaras HaMachpeilah in Chevron.
ReplyDeleteHe also probably didn't bury her in Kever Rachel, at least according to Sefer Shmuel Aleph. Also geographically it doesn't make sense that our exiled ancestors would pass Kever Rochel on the way out of Yerushalayim. After all it's south of the city and Babylonia is north...
Also geographically it doesn't make sense that our exiled ancestors would pass Kever Rochel on the way out of Yerushalayim. After all it's south of the city and Babylonia is north...
DeleteBabylonia is actually West(think Iraq and Iran). While the capital of Babylon was on a WNW orientation, there was a body of water(the Kinneret/Yarden/Yam Melach) that stood between the two. Ancient armies used to go out well out of their way, for both strategic and practical reasons, to circumvent bodies of Water. In that sense the most direct route would have actually have been to go south around the Yam Melach, rather than to go North around the Kinneret.
I think you mean east (not west). They would have avoided deserts and traveled along rivers which is northeast.
DeleteAlso simple reading of the Torah indicates that she was buried in that place because that is where she died.
Welcome to the life of the directionally challenged.
DeleteWhat's with the "Why? Why?! Why?!?" part?
ReplyDeleteDramatic emphasis!
Delete