Shabbos Parashas Vayigash - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Vayigash - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller And He said, "I am the G-d, L-rd of your father. Have no fear of descending to Egypt for I shall establish you as a great nation there." [Bereishis 46:3]

Without prompting or pleading from Yaakov, G-d shows up to speak to him. The verse preceding ours says, "G-d spoke to Israel in night visions, and He said, 'Yaakov, Yaakov.' And he said, 'Here I am.' " With no more opening than that, G-d now tells Yaakov not to be afraid. Was Yaakov afraid of something? What? Why did G-d need to calm his fears?

Rashi, in his typical cryptic style, gives us an answer: "Because he was distressed, because he was forced to leave for outside the land." This seems like the conclusion of an explanation rather

than the explanation itself.

Radak fills in the gap: "The very G-d who prevented your father from descending to Egypt is now telling you not to be afraid to undertake this journey together with your family." Radak has reminded us that G-d ordered Yitzchak to remain in the land of Canaan, not to leave for Egypt during the famine that existed during his time. Perhaps now that Yaakov was faced with the same scenario,

the rule against leaving might apply to him as well. In this opnion, G-d is telling Yaakov that the

travel ban that applied to Yitzchak does not apply here. This makes sense if Yaakov was actually worried about this point, but we see no indication that this was the case.

Abarbanel asks, "What need was there for the Almighty to say to Yaakov 'fear not to go down into Egypt'? Yaakov had evinced no trepidation regarding this step and prior to the Divine revelation explicitly stated 'I will go and see him before I die', and he had indeed already 'taken his journey with all that he had' [Bereishis 46:1]." It seems that Yaakov had no fear at all. Rav Hirsch thinks similarly, when he says, "But Yaakov was in the most joyful mood. Something must have occurred which sent him into an anxious worrying mood, so that he needed reassurance."

Sforno gives us an answer. "Fear not to go down into Egypt. If you remain here your children will intermarry and become absorbed by the Canaanites, but in Egypt they will not be able to do so because Egyptians reject the Jews. Your children will be a separate, distinct people." Sforno is

telling us that sometimes anti-Semitism can be put to good use. Where the people with whom we live

are kind to us, we run the risk of assimilation, but where we are rejected, we can more easily remain G-d's people. This would be a great answer to our question, except for one nagging issue. How did Yaakov know this?

Look back at the previous verse, cited above. Earlier in the Torah, G-d told Yaakov that he would no longer be called Yaakov, but Yisrael would be his name. Now, G-d Himself calls him Yaakov. Not only that, but repeats it. What does this mean?

Ramban tells us that this indicated to Yaakov that he would no longer be the great power who could

strive with angels and men and come out victorious. There was a change going on here. Yaakov's

family was about to become exiled and enslaved. Yaakov feared, not for himself, but for his

descendants. G-d is here telling him, Don't worry, I will take care of them. By repeating the promise to make Yaakov's descendants into a 'great nation', G-d was reassuring Yaakov that the grand plan had not changed, that this was merely a step along the way. Assuming this is what Yaakov feared, there is still a problem. Talelei Oros writes, "If what Yaakov so feared was the yoke of exile destined to fall upon his children's shoulders, how was G-d's promise that they would become 'a great nation' of any consolation? Yaakov's primary fear was that the pressures of exile would cause the Jewish people to abandon their heritage and to assimilate into Egyptian society, ending the independent collective Jewish identity. Therefore, G-d reassured him that they would become 'a great nation', and would not become assimilated."

Yaakov's entire life had been dedicated to the establishment of G-d's nation in this world. He knew that the only way to do this was to keep his people out of the clutches of the others out there. This move to Egypt would place them in a bad position, one that Yaakov feared would end the mission.

Our verse tells us that G-d knew this, as He knows all, and reassured Yaakov that this path was in fact the only way ahead that would preserve the people.

It is for us now to both ensure we act as the good example to the rest of the world, and to avoid being

swallowed up by that world.