What does the unusual term "Kivras ha'Aretz" mean?
Rashi #1 (citing Menachem ben Seruk) and Rashbam: It means still a long distance away. 1
Rashi #2 (citing the Midrash): It refers to the time of year - in the spring, when the land is full of holes like a Kevarah (sieve), 2 and it is pleasant to travel (Sifsei Chachamim).
Ramban (citing the Radak): The distance that one travels between daybreak and breakfast. 3
Rashi #3: It is a measure of land, about a Parsah (four Mil).
Rashi (to 48:7, citing R. Moshe ha'Darshan): It is a Mil (2000 Amos), the equivalent of Techum Shabbos.
Ramban: It is a small measure of land, less than a Mil. He writes, 'When I came to Eretz Yisrael, I found that Kever Rachel is less than a Mil from Beis Lechem.'
Which explains why Yaakov buried her there in the middle of the way and did not take her to Efrat, as the Pasuk goes on to explain (Rashbam).
Mizrachi: This was at the beginning of spring, when it is plowed. Also in the heat of summer, the land is full of holes, but then it is hard to travel.
Ki'Bras means 'like the time that one eats' (See Eichah 4:6).
The Pasuk in Yirmeyahu, "A voice is heard in Ramah - Rachel is crying for her children" (Yirmeyahu 31:14), implies that she was buried in Ramah!
What is the significance that Rachel died now?
Malbim: Yaakov married two sisters. This was permitted before Matan Torah, and Hashem told him to do so, to father the Shevatim. After Hashem blessed him to be under Divine Hashgachah, this was like after Matan Torah, and it was improper to be married to two sisters, especially after the last Shevet was born. For the same reason, she was not buried in Me'aras ha'Machpelah.
Ha'amek Davar: Midas ha'Din struck Yaakov. 1
Ramban (to Vayikra 18:25): This was Hashgachah. She merited to die in Eretz Yisrael, and Yaakov merited that he not transgress being married to two sisters in Eretz Yisrael. The Avos kept all the Mitzvos in Eretz Yisrael. (Hagahah in the Rosh, to 35:19).
Ha'amek Davar (to 35:15) said that Yaakov called the place 'Elokim Beis El,' to teach that Midas ha'Din is in the precise place of a Tzadik. (PF)
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'Kivras ha'Aretz' - Homiletically, the season when the land is hollow and pierced like a sieve (Kevarah), when ploughed fields are common." What is Rashi explaining?
Gur Aryeh: How can a season be associated with a sieve? When the land is ploughed, it becomes punctured and full of holes like a sieve; this is the time of year being referred to.
