Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. And forty days were completed for him for so are the days of embalming completed and the Egyptians wept over him for seventy days. (Genesis 50:2-3)

How is this consistent with Jewish law, which emphasizes that the dead may not be tampered with?

Indeed, there is a prohibition against nivul hameit (defilement of the dead), and great importance is placed on treating the body with dignity and respect. This includes endeavoring to have a quick burial in the earth, which helps the soul depart from this world and ascend on high. Given all of that, one cannot help but wonder about Joseph’s having his father Jacob embalmed for 40 days, and how that jives with Judaism's emphasis on burial!

Was Jacob Truly Embalmed?

Before we begin, let us note that the contemporary embalming process, which involves injecting chemicals that delay the decay of the interior organs, is different from the ancient process, which consisted of treating the body with various oils and spices to preserve the body.

Additionally, some point out that a careful analysis of the verses, especially in light of archaeological and historical data, supports the idea that Jacob was not even embalmed the way it was done back then. Jacob’s embalming was carried out by Joseph’s servants, the doctors, rather than the priests, who would ordinarily have been called upon to perform a religious rite like preparing a body for the afterlife.

Furthermore, we know that the Torah is always concise and precise, yet instead of simply stating, “they completed the forty days of embalming,” the Torah states in a somewhat convoluted way that “forty days were completed for him for so are the days of embalming completed . . .”

This implies that they waited 40 days, the time it normally takes to embalm, but not that the typical embalming process was actually carried out.1

The Reason Joseph Was Punished

Yet, even if a full embalming was not performed, wouldn’t any tampering or delaying be problematic from a Jewish standpoint? Was Joseph wrong?

According to Rabbi Yehudah in the Midrash, the answer is yes. Joseph should have known that the body of his righteous father would be preserved by G‑d Himself and no further efforts were necessary. As a punishment, he passed away before his brothers, most of whom were older than him.2

This, however, doesn’t explain what Joseph was thinking. Furthermore, according to another opinion in the Midrash, not only is the embalming not considered any fault of Joseph, it was actually Jacob’s idea. Why?

Masking the Miracle

As mentioned above, the Talmud and Midrash point out that the bodies of the completely righteous people do not decompose. Thus, even if Jacob was not embalmed, he would not have decomposed.

The Midrash also states that although the famine was meant to last for seven years, it was miraculously cut short with the arrival of Jacob in Egypt.

Knowing this, Jacob feared that if the Egyptians would see that his body remained intact and did not decompose, not only would they not let his children take his body out of Egypt for burial in Israel, they would make a deity out of him. Indeed, even after all was said and done, Joseph still had to get special permission from Pharaoh to bury Jacob outside of Egypt, which Pharaoh only reluctantly agreed to.

Therefore, Jacob asked that they “embalm” him to show (or at least give the appearance) that he was a regular man, whose flesh and blood would decompose if they wouldn’t embalm him.3

Others explain that it was actually Joseph’s idea (not Jacob’s), but the reason was the same—he feared that would they not do so, the Egyptians would make a deity out of Jacob.4

Jacob Really Didn’t Die

It is interesting to note, that despite the lengths the Torah goes to tell us about Jacob’s embalming and burial, the Talmud5 relates the following incident.

Rav Nachman said to Rav Yitzchak: “So said Rabbi Jochanan: Our father Jacob did not die.”
Asked Rav Yitzchak: “Was it for no reason that the eulogizers eulogized, the embalmers embalmed and the buriers buried?”
Responded Rav Nachman: “I am only citing a verse. It is written, ‘And you, my servant Jacob, fear not, says the L‑rd, and do not tremble, O Israel. For behold, I shall save you from afar, and your descendants from the land of their captivity.’6 The verse equates Jacob with his descendants: just as his descendants are alive, he, too, is alive.”7

When we follow in the righteous ways of our patriarch Jacob, Jacob is indeed truly alive!