Vayigash

Overview

With the discovery of the goblet in Binyamin's sack, the brothers confused. Yehuda alone steps forward and eloquently but firmly petitions Yosef for Binyamin's release, offering himself instead. As a result of this act of total selflessness, Yosef finally has irrefutable proof that his brothers are different people from the ones who cast him into the pit, and so, he now reveals to them that he is none other than their brother Yosef. The brothers shrink from him in shame, but Yosef consoles them, telling them that everything has been part of Hashem's plan. He sends them back to their father Yaakov, with a message to come and reside in the land of Goshen. At first, Yaakov cannot accept the news, but when he recognizes hidden signs in the message which positively identify the sender as his son Yosef, his spirit is revived. Yaakov together with all his family and possessions sets out for Goshen. Hashem communicates with Yaakov in a vision at night. He tells him not to fear going down to Egypt and its negative spiritual consequences, because it is there that Hashem will establish the Children of Yisrael as a great nation even though they will be dwelling in a land steeped in immorality and corruption. The Torah lists Yaakov's offspring, and hints to the birth of Yocheved, who will be the mother of Moshe Rabbeinu. Seventy souls in total descend into Egypt, where Yosef is reunited with his father after 22 years of separation. He embraces his father and weeps, overflowing with joy. Yosef secures the settlement of his family in Goshen. Yosef takes his father Yaakov and five of the least threatening of his brothers to be presented to Pharaoh, and Yaakov blesses Pharaoh. Yosef instructs that in return for grain, all the people of Egypt must give everything to Pharaoh, including themselves as his slaves. Yosef then redistributes the population, except for the Egyptian priests who are directly supported by a stipend from Pharaoh. The Children of Yaakov/Yisrael become settled, and their numbers multiply greatly.

Insights

When we study history and we learn of wars, pogroms and holocaust; when we read of natural disasters in the newspapers, and see pictures of continents ravaged by famine and disease people ask, "Where is G-d?"

From the moment the brothers came to Egypt to buy food they encountered one disaster after another. The brothers asked each other "Why is Hashem doing this to us?"

With three small words "I am Yosef," all the brothers' questions were answered. In a flash, the purpose of all the heartache of the previous 22 years became blindingly clear. So too, in the future, when the world hears the three words "I am Hashem," all the dilemmas of history will be solved in an instant.

In Czarist Russia many harsh decrees were enacted against the Jewish People.

The Chafetz Chaim once went to plead against such a decree before a high government official. Since the Chafetz Chaim spoke no Russian, and the government official spoke no Yiddish, an interpreter stood waiting.

The Chafetz Chaim spoke with the feeling and sincerity that can emanate only from a heart as pure as his, and when he finished, silence filled the room.

The interpreter started to speak. "Your honor, the Jew claims..." The Russian government official raised his hand and said "No translation will be necessary... I understood every word..."

As a result of this meeting, the decree was subsequently revoked.

Until he revealed his true identity, Yosef spoke to the brothers only through an interpreter, and thus Yehuda was under the impression that he didn't understand Hebrew.

Nevertheless, Yehuda approached Yosef and wanted to speak "in his ears." He was aware that the content of his words would not be understood, but he wanted to communicate to Yosef the depth of his feelings, for 'words which come from the heart, enter the heart.'

Yosef poured out his heart in a sea of tears at the emotional release of seeing his father after so many years. However, Yaakov's reaction is not mentioned at all.

In fact, at that very moment, Yaakov was reciting the Shema.

Why did Yaakov choose this, of all times, to say Shema?

A tzaddik harnesses every opportunity and emotion to serve Hashem. When Yaakov felt a supreme surge of joy and love at the sight of his beloved son, his first wish was to channel his emotions into a sublime expression of love for his Creator.

Thus he recited the Shema, the ultimate acceptance of Hashem's sovereignty: "And you shall love Hashem, your G-d with all your heart..."

Yechezkel 37 15-28

One of the ways that a prophecy becomes irreversible is if it is reinforced by a symbolic action.

In this week's Haftorah, the prophet Yechezkel foretells that, in the time of the final redemption, the two halves of the Jewish people, symbolized by Yehuda and Yosef, will be brought together like two blocks of wood. Hashem tells Yechezkel "Join them together [so that they] look like one. They shall be one in your hands." (37:17)

Even though nothing could be more separate than two blocks of wood, eventually these two blocks will become one. And even though only Hashem can perform the miracle of making one block out of two, for us to deserve that Hashem will accelerate the redemption, we must "look like one;" i.e., the Jewish People must be united and free from malice and baseless hatred.

For although the redemption is irreversible and inevitable, it is in our hands to delay it or to make it happen today.

(Based on The Midrash Says)

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THE SHATTERED HALVES

"Say to them ' Thus says my Lord Hashem/Elohim: Behold! - I take the wooden tablet of Yosef which is in Ephraim's hand, and of the tribes of Yisrael his comrades, and shall place them with it together with the wooden tablet of Yehuda, and I will make them one wooden tablet, and they shall become one in My hand." (37:19-20)

Throughout the centuries of exile, the eye of the prophet sees the Jewish People still divided into the two antagonistic kingdoms of Yehuda and Ephraim.

The stamp of Ephraim/Yisrael is religious nihilism -fanatical enmity towards every specifically Jewish point of view, and indiscriminate tolerance for every other point of view.

On the other hand, Yehuda/Yisrael cannot escape the reproach that he picks out which mitzvos he wants to keep, and those that he performs more or less mechanically.

When these two shattered halves of the Jewish People are again united, it will not be a sad compromise of 'murdering the Torah;' with Ephraim/Yisrael making superficial concessions to the right, producing a 'Kosher-Style' smorgasbord of glatt treif on the one hand, while Yehuda/Yisrael, the 'fanatical ultra-Orthodox' (as they appear to Ephraim/Yisrael), 'moderate' their demands to comply with the 'modern world.'

Rather, Hashem promises that both will be refined and purified, assured of help to achieve this purity, and these "two wooden tablets" will become "one in My hand."

(Adapted from Rabbi Mendel Hirsch)

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Insights into the Zemiros sung at the Shabbos table throughout the generations. Hamavdil "The One Who Divides"

Ayayh eloa'ah osoy hanosayn z'miros balaylah
Where, please, is the G-d Who created me; Who places songs in the night?

Things happen to us, which seem because of our limited vision to be misfortunes. In the end they turn out to have been for our benefit and causes for rejoicing and singing.

In this zemer that we sing as the sacred light of the Shabbat fades into the comparative darkest of the weekdays, we reflect on this aspect of Hashem's merciful relationship with us. Even in the darkness of circumstances, when it seems that our fortunes are as black as night, we must remember to sing with the confidence that everything will turn out for the best. Hashem, Who created me, places the cause for songs in the very darkness of human existence.

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Written and Compiled by Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair
General Editor: Rabbi Moshe Newman
Production Design: Lev Seltzer
HTML Design: Michael Treblow

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