Final And Proper Honors
‘In A Grave Not His Own?’
(Bava Basra 112b)
The land in Eretz Yisrael that was apportioned to the Bnei Yisrael by Joshua at the time they entered the land remains their eternal possession for all generations. Thus, if a person sells an ancestral land (s’dei achuza) in Eretz Yisrael, though the buyer has the right of use of that land for any and all purposes, the land nevertheless reverts back to its original owner (or his heirs) at the culmination of Yovel – the jubilee year.
The Gemara (111b) cites the verse (Joshua 24:33), “And Elazar ben Aharon died and he was buried in Givat Pinchas.” The Gemara deduces that this was a property that Pinchas owned in the lifetime of his father (i.e., he did not inherit it from his father, which would imply that he bought it).
The Gemara suggests that he inherited the land from his late wife – a proof that a man, once he marries, becomes his wife’s heir, not her father or brother.
As to why the Gemara assumes that he inherited the property and did not buy it, the Gemara answers that he would never have buried his father in a purchased property which must be returned to its original owner at the culmination of the Jubilee. For surely in such a situation, the righteous Elazar, the High Priest, would not have been buried in a grave that does not belong to him.
Nimukei Yosef (ad loc.) explains that this is specifically our Gemara’s teaching – that it is a lack of dignity for the departed to be buried in a gravesite owned by another.
Even A Pauper
The Chasam Sofer (Responsa Yoreh Deah 331 citing our Gemara as its source says prevalent custom is that everyone pays for his own grave. Even a pauper who lacks the means to pay full price nevertheless pays something, even a considerably reduced price, for his own plot.
Indeed we find a biblical source in Parashas Chayei Sarah (Bereishis 23:3-20) that upon the death of Sarah, Abraham purchased a burial plot, Me’aras HaMachpela, from Ephron Hachiti, as a burial ground for Sarah, himself, and his heirs.
Thus, from here we see the importance that the plot belong to the departed in order that it satisfy being kever shelo (lit. “his plot”).
Really His?
Dover Meisharim (Responsa, Vol. 1:4) asks the following: Even if we say that Pinchas inherited the property from his wife, how would we refer to this as “his plot” in reference to Elazar?
He answers that Pinchas had an available solution: He could have given land b’matana – as a present – to his father (he cites Responsa Rashba that there is a possibility of acquisition for a dead person) and this is according to R. Meir (Bechoros 52b) who rules that a gift does not return at the Jubilee.
He also offers another novel interpretation that kever shelo – his plot – really means the son’s plot – a plot that the son bought or inherited, and there is actually no need to gift it to the father who has died. We might add that the example that Chasam Sofer cites regarding Sarah would prove either hypothesis. Either Abraham gifted the plot to Sarah after her death, or the requirement of kever shelo here would refer to Abraham, and since he was her husband that would suffice.
