Shemos 13:19

וַיִּקַּ֥ח מֹשֶׁ֛ה אֶת־עַצְמ֥וֹת יוֹסֵ֖ף עִמּ֑וֹ כִּי֩ הַשְׁבֵּ֨עַ הִשְׁבִּ֜יעַ אֶתבְּנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר פָּקֹ֨ד יִפְקֹ֤ד אֱלֹהִ-ים֙ אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְהַעֲלִיתֶ֧ם אֶת־עַצְמֹתַ֛י מִזֶּ֖ה אִתְּכֶֽם

“And Moshe took with him the bones of Yosef, who had exacted an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will be sure to take notice of you: then you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”

And our Rabbis, may their memory be a blessing, state in the gemara (Sotah, 13a) “The wise in heart will take mitzvot” (Proverbs 10:8). This is referring to Moshe, that the entire Jewish people were involved in the plunder and he was involved with the bones of Yosef. There is a point to be examined, is it not but one mitzvah? The verse says mitzvot (plural), how is it possible to explain taking of the bones of Yosef as multiple commandments?

Furthermore, there is another difficulty: Why did they call Joseph “Atzmos” (literally “bones”)? Even though the simple reason is because Joseph himself said in his lifetime (Bereishis 50:25), “And you shall bring up my atzmos from here,” there is still more to be said regarding the deeper intent.

Resolving the difficulties through this, we can resolve the first question as well. Specifically, that “Atzmos” refers to the primary “trait” of Joseph, which was his merit in providing sustenance to the entire world. As it is written (Bereishis 42:6), “And Joseph was the ruler over the land; he was the one who provided grain to all the people of the land.”

And as is known (See Likutei Torah Vayeshev), Joseph is the Tzaddik Yesod Olam (the Righteous One, the Foundation of the World), the “conduit” that passes all the holy abundance from the Sefirot to the Congregation of Israel.

Moshe, peace be upon him, took this mitzvah for himself as well. According to our Sages (Taanis 9a), the Manna was given in the merit of Moshe. Even the cakes of dough that the Israelites brought out of Egypt already tasted like Manna (Kiddushin 38a) because of Moshe.

Therefore, providing sustenance for all of Israel is certainly called by the name “mitzvos”, because at that time, everyone else was occupied with gathering private sparks of holiness, but Moshe extracted the “general/collective” holy sparks that Joseph the Tzaddik had originally drawn down into Egypt.

Or it can be said according to the words of the Yalkut Reuveni (Parshas Shemos 66, 94) that Moshe our teacher was on the same spiritual level as Joseph, See there. For concerning Joseph it is written (Bereishis 37:2), “and he was a youth (na’ar),” and regarding Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, it is written (Shemos 2:6), “and behold, a youth (na’ar) was crying”. One can then interpret “atzmos” [as related to the word otzem, meaning strength or intensity] as the strength of Joseph: that he always came to the aid of the weak. Specifically, he aided the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, whom his brothers would despise, yet he would bring them close (as noted by Rashi on Bereishis 36:2).

Similarly, Moshe our teacher, peace be upon him, saved the Hebrew man from the hand of the Egyptian who was striking him, and he saved the daughters of Midian from the shepherds. One who comes to the aid of the weak merits kingship. Therefore, Moshe and David were tested through the pasturing of sheep, as our Sages of blessed memory said (Shemos Rabbah 2:2-3): “You have shown compassion to the sheep of Yisro… come and pasture My sheep”.