Vayigash D'var Torah

Summary:

This portion finishes the story of Joseph. At the beginning of the portion, there was a famine, so Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to ask for food. Joseph asked them to bring their youngest brother, Benjamin with them. So his brothers went back to Jacob and asked to take Benjamin with them, and he allowed them to, as long as they promised to return him safely. When they returned, Joseph couldn’t contain himself anymore, and so he started crying and made them leave the room. He then called them back and told them that he was their brother (who they thought to be dead), Joseph. Joseph then gave them lots of provisions and told them to bring Jacob to him. His brothers returned to Jacob, and they brought all of their kids and Jacob’s grandkids, for a total of 70 people travelling with them. Joseph told them to settle in the land of Goshen, and Jacob decided that he was ready to die having seen Joseph alive.

Commentary:

One interesting part of this portion comes right after Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. After Joseph re-introduced himself, the first thing he told his brothers was, “Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you” (Genesis 45:5). Joseph then explained that God had sent him to Egypt and gave him power because of the famine, so Joseph could save his family and himself by having access to food. He did give them access to food, and he talked with Pharaoh to make sure his brothers were treated like guests of honor. My takeaway from this is that Joseph somehow doesn’t feel negatively towards his brothers, even after they hated him, wanted to kill him but threw him in a pit instead, sold him as a slave, and lied about it to Jacob. This is one example of a leader in the Torah doing good and thinking about others (compared to the selfish behavior we’ve seen from others over the past weeks), and it’s especially impressive considering these people hurt Joseph, but family bonds were strong enough to break through their previous experiences.