Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller And you are commanded to them, do this, take for yourselves from the land of Egypt wagons for your small children and for your wives, transport your father and come. [Bereishit 45:19] The widely-told reason for the wagons was so Yaakov would know upon seeing them that it was really his son Yosef who sent them. The story goes that immediately before Yosef disappeared upon being sold by his brothers, he and his father were studying the laws of the calf whose neck is broken involving the death of someone between two towns. This reasoning seems to come from Chazal by way of Rashi. But our verse, as well as verse 46:5 tell us that this is not completely accurate. Clearly, Pharaoh was the one who sent the wagons, or at least commanded Yosef to send them. It was well known in the region at the time that wagons were not allowed out of Egypt without Pharaoh's express permission. So, unless Yosef had somehow put Pharaoh up to suggesting this, which is not indicated in the Torah, it was Pharaoh's idea and the above reason is not correct as given. So what is the meaning in verse 45:27 of, "he saw the wagons that Yosef had sent to transport him, then the spirit of their father Yaakov was revived"? There are two questions here, the verse says Yosef sent, and Yaakov's spirit was revived. Nachshoni says that it was the oxen, not the wagons, that were prohibited from going out of Egypt since Egypt was the primary supplier of stock animals and wanted to protect their business. Thus Yaakov saw the animals pulling the wagons and, knowing from his past that Yosef was destined to become a ruler, knew that they came from someone in a position of great power, likely Yosef. This argument also applies if in fact it was the wagons themselves. Whoever sent them was next to the king, which is reinforced by the brothers having told their father "all the words that Yosef" told them, to include this command from Pharaoh. So why does 45:27 say that Yosef sent the wagons? We could say that Yosef sent them in following Pharaoh's directive, but the Torah is telling us something more. Chazal tell us that there were idolatrous images on the wagons. The brothers did not want to bring those to their father, so Yehudah burned them. Yosef had another set of wagons built for the trip, thus we can say that Yosef sent them. Or we can say instead that Yosef sent his brothers with a detailed message to their father, to include the issue of the last halachah they were studying. The word wagon is nearly the same as the word calf. The last question is the revival of Yaakov's spirit. In the version of the story that attributes to Yosef the sending of the wagons, for the purposes of 'telling' his father he remembers his lessons, this would mean that Yaakov understood what Yosef was telling him. But we see that this story is not completely accurate. Most commentators say that when Yaakov was originally told of the disappearance of Yosef, he lost his prophetic vision capability, and that now he knows Yosef still lives, his prophecy returned, thus the verse means "spirit of prophecy". Some say similarly that he felt God's Presence return to guide him. Another opinion, which negates the need for the idolatrous wagon burning, is that Yaakov recognized now that he was already in exile, already caught in a web of idolatry all around him, and that God was telling him to go on to Egypt rather than to worry about leaving the land. Regardless who sent the wagons, Yaakov recognized that God had returned to him, Yosef was alive, and that it was time to relocate to Egypt.