And when the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at Goren ha-Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” That is why it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
Source Citation
Torah Temimah cites Yerushalmi Sotah 1:10.
Chazal
Core Text
התרו חגורי כתפיהם ... זקפו קומתם. מלמד שאף הכנענים השתתפו באבלו של יעקב.
English: They loosened their shoulder straps and stood upright; this teaches that the Canaanites too participated in mourning for Jacob.
On the daf / in context: The Yerushalmi reads the behavior of the Egyptians/Canaanites at the mourning as a public expression of their participation in Yaakov’s aveilus.
Type of Learning
Aggadic expansion of the Canaanites’ participation in Jacob’s mourning.
What Is Learned
The unusual attention paid to the burial is read as evidence that even the local Canaanites joined in honoring Jacob.