Question: The pasuk states (Bereishis 47:30), "...and carrying me out of Mitzrayim (to bury me in Eretz Yisrael)" - why did Yaakov ask for this? Why couldn't he rely on his own merits to protect him wherever he would be buried?

Answer (R. Elazar/ R. Chanina/ R. Yehoshua ben Levi): There is a hidden reason.

What's the hidden reason? R. Shimon ben Lakish said - the pasuk states (Tehillim 116:10), "I will walk before Hash-m in the lands of the living". (Why is Eretz Yisrael referred to in this way?) If he meant life in this world, he could have referred to Tzur and its environs or Kisarin and its environs that have a plenty of fruits...?

Rather, R. Shimon ben Lakish said from Bar Kapara that it's called 'the lands of the living' since the dead there will be the first to be resurrected. This is learned from the pasuk (Yeshaya 42:5), "...Who gives a soul to the people upon it".

Question: Will the Rabbis of the Diaspora lose out (and not be resurrected)?

Answer (R. Simai): Hash-m will make for them tunnels in the ground and they will roll like bottles. When they will reach Eretz Yisrael, their souls will be returned to them. What's the source for this? The pasuk states (Yechezkel 37:14), "And I will put My spirit into you, and you shall live, (and I will set you on your land)".

Question (R. Berachya to R. Chalbo/ R. Chalbo to R. Imi/ R. Imi to R. Elazar/ R. Elazar to R. Chanina/Some say R. Chanina to R. Yehoshua ben Levi): Will even Reshaim like Yeravam ben Nevat and his friends, who were buried in Eretz Yisrael, be resurrected?

Answer (R. Yehoshua ben Levi): The pasuk states (Devarim 29:22), "Sulfur and salt consumed its entire land".

(R. Berachya): The question was asked by many to many, but we still have no answer.

Answer: Since Eretz Yisrael burned (while they were buried there, they would have received) their punishment (and they can now be resurrected).

Baraisa (R. Yehuda): Eretz Yisrael burned for 7 years (at the time of the destruction of the Temple), as the pasuk states (Daniel 9:27), "And he will strengthen the covenant with the princes for seven (years)".

What did the Cusim who lived in Eretz Yisrael do to plant (at that time when the land was burned)? It didn't all burn at the same time - it burned in sections.

The pasuk states (Yirmiyah 20:6), "And you, Pashchur, and all those who dwell in your houses shall go into captivity, and you shall come to Bavel and there you shall die and there you shall be buried". There was a dispute between R. Abba bar Zamina in the name of R. Chelbo and R. Chama bar Chanina. One said 'you will die there and there you will be buried there' is considered two punishments; if you will die there and be buried here (in Eretz Yisrael) it is only one punishment. The other opinion said that burial here is an atonement for dying in Chutz LaAretz.

(R. Yona citing R. Chama bar Chanina): A person's legs are his guarantor to bring him wherever he needs to be (to die). The pasuk states (Melachim 1:22:20), "Who will entice Achav and have him go up and fall in Ramos Gilad?" so that he would die there rather than in his home.

Elichoref and Achya were scribes of Shlomo HaMelech. Shlomo once saw the Malach HaMaves (Angel of Death) looking at them and grinding his teeth (in anger). Shlomo said a Name (of the names of Hash-m) and they became suspended in the air (so that the Malach HaMaves couldn't get to them). The Malach went and took them from there. Shlomo saw the Malach laughing. Shlomo asked him why he had originally been angry and why he was now laughing. The Malach HaMaves said, "Hash-m told me to take them from the air and I didn't know how they would get there. But you decided to send them there so that I could fulfil my mission." Shlomo went and took them from there in order to take care of their burial.

Two sons of R. Reuven bar Istrubilus were students of Rebbi. Rebbi saw the Malach HaMaves looking at them and grinding his teeth. Rebbi told them to exile themselves to the south (so that exile could atone for them and save their lives). The Malach HaMaves took them from there (as it had been decreed that they would die in the south).

Ulla, who would often travel to Chutz LaAretz, was on his death bed in Bavel. He began to cry. They asked him, "Why are you crying? We will take you for burial in Eretz Yisrael!" He replied, "What will it help me, since I am losing the jewel (my soul) in an impure land! One cannot compare it being released in the bosom of its mother to it being released in the bosom of a stranger."

R. Meir was in Asia and he was on his death bed. He said, "Tell the people of Eretz Yisrael that they should attend to their Rav that has passed away in Chutz LaAretz to bring him to burial there." Despite this, he ordered that while his coffin was still in Asia, it should be placed on the beach. (Leave it there and it will float by itself to Eretz Yisrael. This is what actually occurred and he was buried in Tiveria.)

The pasuk states (Tehillim 24:2), "For He founded it upon seas and established it upon rivers." Seven bodies of water surround Eretz Yisrael - the Great (Mediterranean) sea, the Tiveria (Kinneret) sea, the Samchu sea, the Milcha sea, the Chulta sea, the Shalias sea and the Afamia sea. What about the Chametz sea? It was man-made by the Roman king Diklatinus.

The pasuk states (Bamidbar 21:20), "(The well of Miriam) overlooks the Yeshimon (surface of the wilderness)". R. Chiya said that if someone ascends Har Yeshimon and sees something sieve-like in the Kinneret, it is Miriam's well.

(R. Yochanan): The Rabbanan calculated it and it was directly facing the central entrance of the old Synagogue of Serungin.

Rebbi bar Kiria and R. Elazar were walking in the street. They saw coffins that were being brought from Chutz LaAretz to Eretz Yisrael.

(Rebbi bar Kiria to R. Elazar): What does it help them? I apply to them the pasuk (Yirmiyah 2:7), "...and made my heritage an abomination" - in your lives, you did this (by going to live in Chutz LaAretz) and you come and make my land impure in your death!

(R. Elazar replied): When they arrive in Eretz Yisrael, as an atonement, they take a clump of earth and put it on their coffin, as the pasuk states (Devatim 32:43), "...and He will appease His land and His people".