VAYIGASH 44:18 - 47:27
In the Parsha, among other things:
Judah approaches Joseph to plead for the release of Benjamin, offering himself as a slave to the Egyptian ruler.
Upon witnessing his brothers’ loyalty to one another, Joseph reveals his identity to them.
Joseph declares: “I am Joseph; “Is my father still alive?” The brothers are overcome by shame and remorse, but Joseph comforts them
The brothers return to Canaan with the news. Jacob comes to Egypt with his entire and is reunited with Joseph after 22 years.
On his way to Egypt Jacob receives a Divine promise: “Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.”
Because of the famine, Egyptians and Canaanites had to sell all their assets to Joseph who represented the Pharaoh. Pharaoh became exceedingly wealthy.
Pharaoh gives Jacob’s family the rich region of Goshen in the Nile delta..
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The Parshah opens at 44:18 with Yehuda’s speech to Joseph. It is the longest speech in the Chumash, lasting for 16 verses. Yehuda says אָבִי “my Father” 14 times. Which "Father" is this?
Whether he knows it or not, Yehuda is doing T’sheuvah. Twenty two years ago, Yehuda was willing to make some money by selling his brother into slavery. Now, he is willing to put himself into slavery for the sake of his Father…a similar set of circumstances, but now with a lofty outcome. He is a changed man and our leader. And as a reasonable consequence we are called the "Yehudi", the Jews.
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At 44:33-34, Why does Joseph want his brothers to say to Pharaoh that they are shepherds, an occupation abhorrent to Egyptians, so that the family may settle in the area called Goshen?
Rabbi Etshalom supplies an answer to this question: He is of the opinion that Joseph has pragmatic foresight. Joseph is thinking that our family and our Tribe have a particularly unique mission, and we are coming into a land that has core values different from us. In the long run it will be advantageous that we are always seen as foreigners, always seen as the “Other” and always seen as separate and worthy of separation.
Living in Goshen you will be kept foreign and distant from the rest of the population so that assimilation will be impossible or relatively unlikely.
Today the Land of Israel fulfills that purpose.
It does and will continue to do just that.
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At 46:2, in referring to the Patriarch Jacob by name, Hashem uses both “Israel” and “Jacob”.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּמַרְאֹת הַלַּיְלָה, וַיֹּאמֶר יַעֲקֹב יַעֲקֹב; וַיֹּאמֶר, הִנֵּנִי.
“And God said to Israel in visions of the night, and He said, "Jcob, Jacob!" And he said, "Here I am."
What is the significance of each name, ie., Israel and Jacob? And Jacob twice? This is not the 1st time that Jacob had a vision.
And is a vision of the night a dream or something else?
What does הִנֵּנִי "Here I am." signify?
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” וַיֹּאמֶר, אָנֹכִי הָאֵל אֱלֹהֵי אָבִיךָ; אַל-תִּירָא מֵרְדָה מִצְרַיְמָה, כִּי-לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל אֲשִׂימְךָ שָׁם.
אָנֹכִי, אֵרֵד עִמְּךָ מִצְרַיְמָה, וְאָנֹכִי, אַעַלְךָ גַם-עָלֹה; וְיוֹסֵף, יָשִׁית יָדוֹ עַל-עֵינֶיךָ."
"And He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid of going down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.
I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up, and Joseph will place his hand on your eyes".
Woe to those people who leave the Land to dwell some place else.
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At 46:17 we learn about the children of Asher. His Mother was Zillah. She was Leah’s handmaiden. Asher had a daughter. Her name was Serach, שֶׂ֣רַח. It is unusual for a woman to be mentioned by name in the Chumash. And we know nothing more about her.
However there are many Midrashim praising her beauty, intelligence and amazing longevity. She even helped Moses fulfill the obligation to bury Joseph’s bones in Israel. If you look at Serach’s name, and end it with the open letter Hay, it resembles the name Sarah. Seal the letter Hay with the letter Yud, a representation of Hashem and you are back to Serach.
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The Haftorah portion for Parshat Vayigash is from the Prophet Ezekiel (יְחֶזְקֵאל ) 37:15-28. In it Hashem commands Ezekiel to take two wooden sticks and write on one some words that signify the Kingdom of Judah, and on the other some words that represent the Northern Kingdom. He is then to join the two sticks together, in an meaningful symbolic gesture once more uniting the entire nation of Israel.
The symbolism is meaningful. Ezekiel prophesied shortly before the fall of the First Temple, probably around 598 BCE. From the preceding verses he was staunchly anti-Egyptian. At the time of his writing the Northern Kingdom was no more, and the Kingdom of Judah was in imminent danger of being destroyed.
First of all: why use wood? What inferences may be drawn from using wooden sticks?
Wood is a readily handy material, somewhat durable. Unlike clay or metal or stone, wood requires little preparation and is more durable than papyrus or parchment. Alternatively: Hashem knows what he is doing.
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At 47:6 Pharaoh gives Jacob’s family the rich region of Goshen in the Nile delta..
בְּמֵיטַב הָאָרֶץ, הוֹשֵׁב אֶת-אָבִיךָ וְאֶת-אַחֶיךָ: יֵשְׁבוּ, בְּאֶרֶץ גֹּשֶׁן
"...in the best of the land settle your father and your brothers. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen,..."
To get the best land in all of Egypt, Joseph's brothers probably had to uproot the prior owners. Whether in the short term or in the long term this could not have been a good move.
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At 47:14 - 20
Representing the Pharaoh when the famine began, Joseph sold grain to the Egyptian populace and to the Canaanites. As the famine continued, people ran out of money and had to sell their livestock to Joseph. The famine continued and in order go buy grain, people had to sell their land and possibly themselves as slaves to Joseph.
14And Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan with the grain that they were buying, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.
15Now the money was depleted from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan, and all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, "Give us food...
16And Joseph said, "Give your livestock, and I will give you [food ]...
17So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food [in return] for the horses and for the livestock in flocks and in cattle and in donkeys, and he provided them with food [in return] for all their livestock in that year.
18will ...We will not hide from my lord, for insofar as the money and the property in animals have been forfeited to my lord, nothing remains before my lord, except our bodies and our farmland.
19 ...Buy our farmland for food, so that we and our farmland will be slaves to Pharaoh, and give [us] seed,
20So Joseph bought all the farmland of the Egyptians for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold, each one his field, for the famine had become too strong for them, and the land became Pharaoh's.
I think in the long run, Joseph the Israelite representing the Pharaoh, did not endear us to the Egyptians.
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