parshaמפרשי הפרשה

כלי יקר — ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף עמו

Why 'עמו' — 'with him' — at the end of 'ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף'? Could the verse not have stopped after 'יוסף'?

וחז"ל דרשו על משה פסוק 'חכם לב יקח מצוות' שכל ישראל נתעסקו בביזה והוא נתעסק במצוות, רצו לתרץ ייתור לשון 'עמו' שבא למעט עסק ביזת מצרים, כי הממון קנין שאינו דבק עמו כי לא ירד אחריו כבודו, אבל מה שהאדם מסגל מעשים טובים בעולם הזה הוא הדבר הדבק עמו בעולם הזה ובעולם הבא... ואולי לכך עסק דווקא במצווה זו עכשיו, להיות לישראל כמזכיר את יום המיתה, כי בסיבה זו לא יהיו כל כך להוטים אחר הביזה.

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כלי יקר

כלי יקר על שמות י״ג:י״ט

Kli Yakar on Exodus 13:19

Beshalach

Q — Why 'עמו' — 'with him' — at the end of 'ויקח משה את עצמות יוסף'? Could the verse not have stopped after 'יוסף'?

A — Chazal (Sotah 13a) read the verse as the source for 'חכם לב יקח מצוות' — while all Yisrael were busy collecting Egyptian spoils, Moshe was busy collecting Yosef's bones. Kli Yakar grounds this drush in the surplus word 'עמו': *that* is what truly stays with a person ('הדבר הדבק עמו בעולם הזה ובעולם הבא'). Money is not 'with you' — 'לא ירד אחריו כבודו' (Tehillim 49:18) — but mitzvot are. Kli Yakar adds a second layer: Moshe specifically chose the mitzvah of bones-for-burial as a memento mori for Yisrael — 'להיות לישראל כמזכיר את יום המיתה' — which would temper the frenzy over spoils.

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