By Rabbi Shlomo Zargari: After the passing of Yaakov Avinu, the Torah tells us of the entourage that went for the burial in the holy land.
“ויעל יוסף לקבור את אביו״”
Yosef went up to bury his father.
Our Hachamim ( Sota 13) teach us that when they arrived at the מערת המכפלה , Esav came and blocked them, he claimed that this is his portion, because Yaakov Avinu already claimed his portion by burying Leah there. The tribes said to him that he sold his portion, he asked for proof to which they replied: the document is back in Egypt.
The decision was made to send Naftali who was very quick to go to Egypt and quickly get the documents and come back to show Esav that he sold his portion to Yaakov Avinu.
Hushim the son of Dan was there, he was hard of hearing and oblivious to what was happening, he was waiting for the burial to take place, he asked about the delay and was told that Esav is holding up the proceedings until Naftali returns with the documents. When he understood what’s happening, he asked: and until Naftali’s return, my holy grandfather will lay here in disgrace? At that time, he picked up a stick and killed Esav.
The obvious question is why were none of the tribes, the children of Yaakov Avinu, bothered with this question? Why didn’t they take any action? How can they make peace with this disgrace?
Harav Chaim Shmuelovitz זצוק״ל says very famously that the children were engaged in a debate, thinking that now we gave him sufficient reason to give up and let us proceed and from one point to another, in the heat of argument they lost track of what’s happening around them and missed the fact that their holy father was laying in disrespect.
A person by nature gets into a habit and loses track of what happens in his life. Says Rav Chaim, habit is one of the worst diseases to be inflicted upon people. We fall into it and forget the truth.
The only way to get out of it is by a wake up call. Hushim the son of Naftali wasn’t part of the debate and that’s why as soon as he heard the issue, he dealt with it. A person needs to shake himself off of the habits and make sure he is on the correct track using the compass that the Torah provides.