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The days of Israel approached death; and he called his
son, Joseph, and said to him: “...Do me a kindness and
a truth... I shall lie to rest with my ancestors; carry me
out of Egypt, and bury me in their burial site”
Genesis 47:29-30
“Do me a kindness and a truth”—a kindness
done to the dead is a true kindness, for one does not expect
a favor in return
Rashi, ibid
The Midrash relates that when G-d desired to create man,
Truth argued that “he should not be created, for he is
full of lies.” Kindness, however, said, “He should
be created, for he is full of kindness.”[1]
The Midrash does not say what Truth’s response was to
that argument, but we can assume that it said: “But that,
too, is just another of man’s lies. Yes, man does acts
of kindness to his fellows, but not because he is ‘full
of kindness’—only because he expects them to return
the favor.”
But there is one act of kindness that proves Truth wrong:
the kindness done to the dead. This “kindness and truth,”
as the Torah calls it, shows that man is capable of a truly
altruistic deed, thereby proving that all our acts of kindness—even
those superficially tainted by selfish motives—are in
essence true, deriving from an intrinsic desire to give of
ourselves to our fellows.
Based on the Rebbe’s remarks at the founding
meeting of the Chabad burial society, Av 5, 5702 (July 19,
1942)[2]
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[1]. Midrash Rabbah, Bereishit 8:3.
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