“They came to the threshing floor of Atad that is beyond the Jordan, and they lamented a very great and substantial lament there and observed mourning for his father for seven days” (Genesis 50:10). “The inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, and they said: This is a substantial mourning for Egypt. Therefore, he called it Avel Mitzrayim, which is beyond the Jordan” (Genesis 50:11).
“They came to the threshing floor…” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: We have reviewed the entire Bible and did not find a place whose name is Atad. Is there a threshing floor for a thorn bush [atad]? Rather, these were the Canaanites. It teaches that they were fit to be trampled like a thorn bush.
By what merit were they spared? It is due to the kindness that they performed with Jacob our patriarch. What kindness did they perform? Rabbi Elazar said: They untied the belt of their loins.24They allowed their garments to hang down, which is inappropriate for labor or battle, as a sign of mourning.
Reish Lakish said: They untied the ties of their packs. Rabbi Yehuda bar Shalom said: They pointed with their finger and said: “This is a substantial mourning for Egypt.” The Rabbis said: They straightened their postures.25This was a sign of respect (Matnot Kehuna). Alternatively, they stretched themselves in order to see Jacob’s bier (Maharzu).
The matters can be inferred a fortiori: If these, who did not move, neither with their hands nor with their feet, but merely because they pointed with their finger, were delivered from punishment, Israel, who perform kindness with their prominent ones and their common ones, with their hands and with their feet, all the more so. Rabbi Abahu said: Those seventy days between missive and missive26The first missive called for the utter destruction of the Jewish people (Esther 3:12), and the second missive allowed the Jews to assemble and defend themselves (Esther 8:9). correspond to the seventy days that the Egyptians performed kindness with Jacob our patriarch.27Jacob’s merit saved the Jews from destruction, but this merit was suspended for seventy days, corresponding to the days on which the Egyptians mourned Jacob.