At the end of the book of Genesis, Joseph makes one deeply poignant request. Although he would die in exile, he knew that one day God would bring His people back to their land. When this time would come, he made the people promise that they would vehaalitem et atzmotai mizeh, "Carry my bones with you."
When Moses ascended Mount Sinai, and there was the catastrophe of the Golden Calf, he smashed the tablets and together with God made new ones. Ever afterward, the Israelites carried with them in the Ark the new tablets and the fragments of the old.
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