Please do for me an act of kindness and truth: please do not bury me in Egypt. (Bereishis 47:29)

Rashi – A kindness done with a deceased person is the truest of kindnesses.

Before Pesach this past year, there was an upheaval in the Chevra Kadishas throughout the land regarding burying those who passed away without infecting others with corona. How to perform the tahara and kevura was discussed by the greatest of halachic authorities. Some may think that this was just a tzora for those who had passed on, which we, the living, had to deal with. Yet there is a story told about the Chazon Ish (found in Maase Ish) who was in the city Shteiptz during an epidemic. The doctors forbade people to touch the bodies of the deceased for fear of becoming infected, resulting in many corpses lying around the city in a disrespectful state. The Chazon Ish picked up one of the corpses, carried it across town to the cemetery and buried it. When asked “Why did you put yourself in danger?” he responded that those who passed on are also a part of the community, and though there was a judgment on them from above, that also reflects how Hashem was looking at us. Therefore, we were more obligated to bury them honorably.

There is another story told about the Chazon Ish regarding a Jew who originally came from a small Hungarian town. As a teenager, he left the fold of Yiddishkeit. He was miraculously saved from the Holocaust and immigrated to Israel, settling in Be’er Sheva. One Yom Kippur, he dreamt that his father came to him while wearing a kitel and tallis and warned his son that his days were limited unless he does teshuva. This dream repeated itself several times after Yom Kippur, yet the son paid no heed to it. One time he was driving in his car and heard some noise behind him. When he turned around, he was surprised to see his father there, again in his kitel and tallis, warning him one final time to do teshuva. “If you don’t do teshuva, your days are numbered!” The unnerved assimilated man decided to see the Chazon Ish to hear an interpretation of the dream. When he walked into the Chazon Ish’s room, the Chazon Ish turned to him before he could say anything and asked, “What mitzvah did you do that you merited to still be alive?” The shocked man realized that the Chazon Ish knew the story before even being told! The man began to list one mitzvah after the other, and to each the Chazon Ish said it was not adequate to keep him alive. Finally, the man remembered that as a teenager there was once a boy who died, and there was no one to bury him. “I volunteered to do so.” The Chazon Ish said, “Yes, that is the mitzvah that held you in good standing and kept you alive until now.” (Pe’er Hador vol 4)

We live in a time that the world at large sees burial as a troublesome nuisance, with the living relatives looking for all kinds of ways to minimize their responsibilities. Even here in Israel there are many who look for cheaper ways to dispose of their “problem.” We learn in this week’s parsha that this great mitzvah not only is important for those who have passed on but can save ourselves much trouble.

I would like to add an explanation which I saw why this is called “chesed shel emes” – the true kindness. People often request help from their associates, and though their associates may help them, that involvement may end up detrimental to the person who asked for the help. The Chofetz Chaim points out that even a person who pays in advance for his funeral – just as Yaakov promised payment to Yosef – has no way to enforce it. Therefore, it is a true chesed done out of our moral obligation, which in turn becomes a tremendous merit for us.

May we merit that Moshiach should speedily come, and we be reunited with all those dear ones who are resting now in peace.