בראשית, פרק נ׳, פסוק ג׳

The passing of the patriarch brought together Egyptian royal customs and Israelite tradition in a profound period of preservation and national grief. The embalming process began immediately upon his passing [העמק דבר]. Intended to preserve the body's form for an extended period, it required delicate and continuous labor, with the body being anointed with various spices every single day [ביאור יש״ר, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Because Egyptian embalming lasted for a strict, predetermined period of exactly forty days, the completion of this process was viewed as the fulfillment of a set quota of time [רש״י, מזרחי, גור אריה].

The weeping took place entirely within Egypt [חזקוני, בכור שור]. The primary approach among commentators is that the overall seventy days of mourning consisted of two distinct phases: the forty days of embalming followed by thirty days of formal mourning. A thirty-day mourning period is standard for great leaders, as seen later with Moses and Aaron, while the total seventy days aligned perfectly with Egyptian customs for mourning royalty [אם למקרא]. Typically, the laws of mourning and weeping take effect only after the burial. However, because Jacob was embalmed and destined for a long funeral procession to the land of Canaan, it would be impossible to observe the mourning period in Egypt after the grave was sealed. Therefore, the mourning was exceptionally held beforehand [רד״ק, שד״ל, רש ר הירש].

There are differing views regarding the exact timing of the weeping. Some suggest that the official thirty days of crying only began after the forty days of embalming concluded, as the physical labor and preoccupation with preparing the body left no time for mourning [גור אריה, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Conversely, others argue it is impossible that no tears were shed during the first forty days when the pain was most raw. Crying is not a calculated action but a natural, uncontrollable physical outburst stemming from emotional turmoil, releasing itself through tears and sound [משכיל לדוד, הכתב והקבלה]. This understanding of grief as a spontaneous reaction dismisses the possibility that the Egyptians were crying merely for show to flatter Joseph. True weeping cannot be summoned out of politeness or political obligation [מזרחי, שפתי חכמים].

The Egyptians cried genuinely because they recognized Jacob's immense greatness and considered him worthy of royal honor [ספורנו]. They mourned the loss of the righteous man's splendor and majesty from their city [שפתי כהן]. Above all, their tears flowed from a deep sense of gratitude. They clearly remembered that when Jacob first arrived in their land, blessing came with him. The waters of the Nile rose, and the severe famine that was supposed to last for many years ended far earlier than expected [רש״י, רד״ק, פרדס יוסף]. As a historical reward for the kindness the Egyptians showed by weeping for Jacob, the sages note that the nations of the world later merited a period of relief. The seventy days of weeping stood to their credit generations later, granting them exactly seventy days of respite between Haman's decree of annihilation and Mordecai's letters of salvation [תורה תמימה].