There is an old joke about a rich man who dies and stands before God. God asks, “I made you so wealthy, why did you give nothing to charity?” The man answers, “I will, I have many assets on earth, just let me give now!” The response from God thunders, “Up here, we only accept receipts.”

It is axiomatic that you cannot take anything with you when you die. But the reverse is not true – you can take the dead with you when you are alive. This finds both literal and metaphorical expression in this week’s Torah portion when Moses locates and carries the bones of Joseph with him as the Israelites leave Egypt. The verse says Moses took the bones “with him” and the Kli Yakar comments that Joseph stayed with him, for while gold and silver passes away, the merit of this act endures.

Centuries before, at the end of Genesis, Joseph entreats his brothers to swear that when God remembers them to bring them to the Promised Land, “You shall carry my bones from here” (Gen. 50:25). In Ex. 13:19, we read that Joseph “exacted an oath,” which in Hebrew is two words, hashbe’a hishbia. What does the doubling mean? Joseph knew that his brothers would not live to see the redemption. He was exacting an intergenerational promise: throughout the servitude and oppression of Egypt, the Israelites would remember that the bones of Joseph waited for liberation as well.

We are all born into networks of responsibility. We feel the tug of family, community, country. When Judaism enjoins us to teach our children, it reminds us that to be Jewish is both a command and an honor, and part of it is to ensure that the next generation remembers the sacrifices and celebrations of those who came before. The simultaneity of Jewish life means we live in the past and the present at once. We stood at Sinai and we stand here.

All of us carry a great deal through life – memories, aspirations, relationships, burdens, natural gifts. Some focus on carrying material possessions. To carry the bones of Joseph is the Torah’s way of telling us that Moses bore the past of our people with him as they began the journey to Israel.

What do you carry?