Resources for Kesubos 111

1.     The גמרא says that someone who is buried in ארץ ישראל is as if he is buried under the מזבח. While the גמרא is clear that it is better to come to ארץ ישראל alive, it is still a כפּרה to be buried there. The רמב"ם  in הלכות מלכים פּרק ה הל׳ י"א brings this להלכה. The גמרא also says that people buried in Israel avoid the need for גלגול מחולות at the time of תחיית המתים. Finally, we know that יעקב אבינו and יוסף הצדיק both asked for the bodies to be buried in Israel. Nonetheless, there are several sources that would say not to be buried in Israel. The הגהות מימונית on the רמב"ם  mentioned above brings a ירושלמי where two תנאים saw bodies being brought to ארץ ישראל for burial and רבי בר קריא said “what is the point of them coming here? They are the embodiment of the פּסוק of “ונחלתי שמתם לתועבה בחייכון ותבאו ותטמאו את ארצי”. The זוהר in פּרשת ויחי basically says this as well. רב הענקין ז"ל in עם התורה was also famously opposed to people from חו"ץ לארץ being buried in Israel for the same reason we insist on people being buried in simple wooden coffins: if it becomes popular to need to spend a lot of money on funerals then people who couldn’t afford it may not bother to bury their relatives at all. As an aside, רבינו בחיי in פּרשת חיי שרה (at the beginning) says that while ארץ ישראל is a holy place to be buried, the best place to be buried in ארץ ישראל is in חברון since there the נשמה is more "מחובר" to its source, Hashem. This is the reason the אבות wanted to be buried there.

2.     The גמרא says that עמי הארץ will not be זוכה to תחיית המתים as you need the "טל" of תורה to be מחיה מתים. רב יוחנן didn’t think Hashem would כביכול like to hear that  that so רבי אלעזר said they could be זוכה לתחיית המתים by being דבוק לתלמידי חכמים via doing business with them, marrying off children to them, etc. The בית הלוי in his הקדמה to his שו"ת explains our גמרא as follows: when a person who did מצוות but did not learn Torah dies, it is considered the same as תשמישי מצוה (like ציצית that got worn out) which can be discarded. However, someone who learns תורה who died is like תשמישי קדושה where the item itself becomes קדוש and retains it’s קדושה even after it stops being used (like an old cover of a ספר תורה.)It is that אור that can be מחיה מתים.  רב יוחנן assumed that assisting a תלמיד הכם is similar to תשמיש דתשמיש which can be discarded. רבי אלעזר then explained to him that the person assisting the תלמיד חכם is the תשמיש קדושה itself since the תלמיד חכם is not a just תשמיש קדושה but rather קדושת ספר תורה itself. Just as קלף of תורה שבכתב is קדושת ספר תורה itself so to the heart of the תלמיד חכם is the קלף of the ספר תורה of תורה שבעל פּה. Therefore, just being an assistant to a תלמיד חכם is enough to get the light of תורה.