Chasidut על בבא בתרא 233:3
Kedushat Levi
Rashi explains that G’d took the Jewish people out of Egypt in order for them to inherit it by arriving there. Their arrival in the land constitutes their achieving their objective, שלימות, much as the branches of the tree producing fruit achieve their objective. In Leviticus 25,38 we read: הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים לתת לכם את ארץ כנען להיות לכם לאלוקים, “I have taken you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan to become your G’d.” According to our author, Rashi explains the words לתת לכם, as “in order for you to achieve your שלימות, maturity there by performing My commandments.” According to Baba Batra 158 the very air of the Holy Land confers wisdom on its people. The reason why even walking in the Holy Land [by Israelites, of course, Ed.] adds to one’s wisdom is illustrated by an example of Rabbi Zeyrah who left Babylon in order to settle in the Holy Land again, changed his mind on a Halachic point involving the laws of inheritance, accepting the view of a local scholar, whereas a sage who moved from the land of Israel, adopted the former view of Rabbi Zeyrah when he came to Babylon.
Since the generation who left Egypt as adults did not get to the land of Israel, only their sons, it follows that the parents did not achieve their שלימות, “maturity” until their sons had made the Land of Israel their ancestral heritage. This is the meaning of “the dead inherited the living.”
This statement in the Talmud about the dead inheriting the living, also explains another statement in the Talmud Sanhedrin 104, according to which a son [while alive Ed.] can confer spiritual merits on his [deceased] father, whereas his deceased father cannot confer merits on his surviving son. The Talmud bases this on the example of the second generation of the Israelites bestowing merits on their fathers after they carried out the task set by G’d for this people of settling in the Holy land and observing the Torah there. Avraham after his death, or Yitzchok, after his death, could not confer merits on their respective sons that these had not acquired during their respective lifetimes.
Since the generation who left Egypt as adults did not get to the land of Israel, only their sons, it follows that the parents did not achieve their שלימות, “maturity” until their sons had made the Land of Israel their ancestral heritage. This is the meaning of “the dead inherited the living.”
This statement in the Talmud about the dead inheriting the living, also explains another statement in the Talmud Sanhedrin 104, according to which a son [while alive Ed.] can confer spiritual merits on his [deceased] father, whereas his deceased father cannot confer merits on his surviving son. The Talmud bases this on the example of the second generation of the Israelites bestowing merits on their fathers after they carried out the task set by G’d for this people of settling in the Holy land and observing the Torah there. Avraham after his death, or Yitzchok, after his death, could not confer merits on their respective sons that these had not acquired during their respective lifetimes.
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