כו וַיָּ֣מָת יוֹסֵ֔ף בֶּן־מֵאָ֥ה וָעֶ֖שֶׂר שָׁנִ֑ים וַיַּֽחַנְט֣וּ אֹת֔וֹ וַיִּ֥ישֶׂם בָּֽאָר֖וֹן בְּמִצְרָֽיִם׃
26 And Joseph died at the age of one hundred ten years, and they embalmed him and he was placed into the coffin in Egypt.
This is the last pasuk of Sefer Breishit. I’d like to share the comments of Rav Avraham ben HaRambam and Rav Yosef ibn Kaspi for two reasons. They are good examples of how two commentaries deal with endings—both the ending of Sefer Breishit, and the end of their commentary on that book. Ultimately, they are teaching us about the ultimate end/purpose of the Torah.
R’ Avraham ben HaRambam first addresses why Yosef was buried in an ארון, which mean box, as opposed to the ground. (There’s actually a word for a box for bones: ossuary.) He explains that an ossuary would preserve his bones better and would make it easier for future generations to find his bones and bring them to Canaan. Then he remarks that his remains were more likely to decay in the ground because “the body returns (decays) to the earth of necessity because it’s made of the same substance. Just as the spirit returns to its source, ‘וְיָשֹׁב הֶעָפָר עַל-הָאָרֶץ, כְּשֶׁהָיָה; וְהָרוּחַ תָּשׁוּב, אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר נְתָנָהּ.’ ‘And dust returns to earth when the spirit returns to God who gave it.’” Here he completes his commentary on Sefer Breishit with a quote from the end of Sefer Kohelet. It seems that this verse doesn’t add anything to his comments, rather he chose to end his commentary with a poetic flourish. But this is a poetic flourish heavy with meaning. It brings the reader full circle to the beginning of Sefer Breishit, when the first human was formed from the dust of the earth. Now, at the end of this beautiful book of beginnings we return to the beginning.
Rav Yosef ibn Kaspi also finds an opportunity to end his commentary to the first book of the Torah with beauty. He similarly found inspiration from the end of the Book of Kohelet. Here is a translation of Rav Yosef ibn Kaspi’s last comment:
וימת יוסף בן מאה ועשר שנים – סוף אדם למות, ואם קודם זה ״ויצבור יוסף בר כחול הים״ (בראשית מ״א:מ״ט), ״וילקט יוסף את כל הכסף״ (בראשית מ״ז:י״ד). ולא נשאר לו מכל עמלו רק השארות נפשו שבאה גן עדן. ולכן אמר שלמה ״כל אשר בכחך לעשות עשה״ (קהלת ט׳:י׳), כלומ׳, השגת החכמה המעשית והעיונית, כמו שסיים דברו ואמר ״כי אין מעשה וחשבון ודעת וחכמה בשאול אשר אתה הולך שמה״ (שם). ואלו הם הארבעה מיני שלמויות שזכרו ארסטו ואפלאטון. ובכלל, ״סוף דבר הכל נשמע את האלהים ירא ואת מצותיו שמור כי זה כל האדם (שם י״ב:י״ג)״.
And Yosef died when he was 110 years old—it is a man’s end/destiny to die. And though when he was alive “Yosef gathered grain like the sand of the sea,” and “Yosef collected all the silver” nothing was left of all his toils—only his soul remained which went to Gan Eden.
And so Shlomo Hamelech said, “Everything that is in your power to do—do.” Meaning, the gaining of practical and theoretical wisdom, as he concludes his words and says, “For there is no deed, or consideration, or knowledge, or wisdom in the place that you are heading to.”
And these are the four kinds of perfection that Aristotle and Plato mention.
In summary, “The final word, after all has been heard: God—fear; His commandments—keep; for this is the whole of man.”
Rav Kaspi, at the end of this book, takes a deeply philosophical turn. Yosef did so much in his life, but what did it all amount to? In the end, all that remained was his soul. And so, when we live our lives we should do everything in our power to tend to the needs of the soul: to learn to do good deeds and gain knowledge of God’s beautiful world. That, in the end, is all that remains.
It's worth noting that Ibn Kaspi make very similar remarks at the end of Sefer Yehoshua:
ואלעזר בן אהרן מת ויקברו אתו – זה הוא סוף כל אדם, וכן תכלית חומש בראשית וימת יוסף (בראשית נ׳:כ״ו), ואם קדם ויצא יוסף בכל ארץ מצרים, ויצבר יוסף בר כחול הים, וילקט יוסף את כל הכסף. וכן תכלית כל התורה כולה וימת שם משה. אשרי מי שבא לכאן ותלמודו בידו, עם פי׳ הרב שאמר והענינים הנקראים פרדס הם בכלל התלמוד. יבא דודי לגנו ויאכל פרי מגדיו.
And Elazar, son of Aharon, died and they buried him—this is the end of all men, and also the final point of Breishit, “And Yosef died…” and even if previously, “Yosef went out to all of the land of Egypt,” “And he gathered grain like the sand of the sea” and “Yosef collected all the silver.” And so too, the final point of all the Torah is “And Moshe died there.”
Happy is he who arrives here with his (talmud) learning in his hand, considering the explanation of the Rambam who says, “And the matters that are called pardes are included in the category of Talmud. “Let my beloved come to his garden and eat his sweet fruit.”
Though his comments are somewhat cryptic at the end, I think what he is saying is that Sefer Yehoshua, Breishit and Devarim (and thereby the entire Chumash) don’t end with the deaths of Elazar, Yosef and Moshe just because that’s what happened chronologically. More importantly, it is emphasizing the idea that our mortality is, in fact, one of the fundamental, if not the fundamental lesson of the Torah.
Ultimately, no matter what we accomplish and do in our lives, in the end we die. However, we can prepare ourselves for death through our involvement in learning/talmud. Looked at from another angle, the Torah wants us to confront what is ephemeral and what is eternal. Human happiness and our ultimate purpose in life comes down to this realization. וְיָשֹׁב הֶעָפָר עַל-הָאָרֶץ, כְּשֶׁהָיָה; וְהָרוּחַ תָּשׁוּב, אֶל-הָאֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר נְתָנָהּ.’ ‘And dust returns to earth when the spirit returns to God who gave it.’”
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