The contrast between the burial of Elizabeth II and those of contemporary Jewish religious leaders could not be more stark
During the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, one could not help recalling that the last time the world experienced a royal funeral of such dimensions was some 3,000 years ago. No, not a funeral for the Pharaohs of old, but, l’havdil, of none other than our forefather, Yaakov Avinu.
Yaakov was a G-dly figure on a totally different level, and no earthly king, no matter how beloved, can be compared to him. But one could sense a certain echo, certain small parallels — as well as some major contrasts — between these two massive, royal funerals.
The Torah text describes the event rather simply in Bereishis 50:6 ff: “Yosef, the viceroy of Egypt, went up to bury his father, and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his palace and all the elders of the land of Egypt, and the entire house of Yosef and his brothers… And there went with him chariots and horsemen, and the assemblage was extremely large. They came to Goren Atad on the other side of the Jordan and they eulogized him a great and massive eulogy. And they mourned for his father for seven days.”
The Talmud (Sotah 13) elaborates that the tribute to Yaakov was not limited to Egypt but was universal, for mankind in general appreciated his overarching pre-eminence: “All the kings of the ancient world saw that Yosef had placed his personal crown on the bier of his father, so they did likewise: Each king placed his crown on Yaakov’s bier, so that it was encircled by many crowns.“
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