Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5785

Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5785

Rabbi Hal Miller

  The sons of Israel did so, and Yosef gave them wagons by Pharaoh's word, and he

  gave them provisions for the journey. [Bereishit 45:21]

In verse 45:27, Yaakov sees "the wagons that Yosef sent to transport him" and,

according to Bereishit Rabbah [94:3] and many who cite it, Yaakov recognized it as a

message from Yosef because the last sugiya they had studied together before Yosef's

fateful trip was the eglat ha'arufah, the calf sacrificed when a murder victim is found

between two cities and nobody knows anything about it. Since the words for wagon

and calf are virtually identical, this was to be a sign to Yaakov.

But in verse 45:19 it was Pharaoh who commanded that they take wagons to transport

Yaakov and the rest of the family, and we know from the history books that only Pharaoh

had the authority to allow wagons to be used for anything other than his own personal

needs. How, then, did Yaakov see the wagons and rejoice? Perhaps it was because he

saw that the wagons were laden with food? Perhaps because Yaakov knew that, as Rav

Soloveitchik explains, the wagons were of the most advanced design and clearly from

Pharaoh, thus whoever sent them had royal permission so the story the brothers told

made sense.

Commentators give many reasons for Yaakov rejoicing, although most fall into one of two

categories, either the wording of verse 27 ("and they related to him all the words of

Yosef") or the wording of our verse 21 ("and Yosef gave them wagons").

What "words of Yosef" did the brothers relate to Yaakov? The Torah does not tell us

specifically. Bereishit Rabbah above gave the well-known answer about what Yosef and

Yaakov had last been studying together. Sforno asks what these words are, and points

to verse 45:6, "and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor

harvest", which Yaakov knew could only have been predicted by Yosef. Rashbam says

that the words were a description of Yosef's actions and feelings during the reunion with

his brothers and Yaakov recognized Yosef in those descriptions.

Our verse tells that "Yosef gave them wagons". At first glance, this seems to contradict

the wording of verse 19, "take for yourselves from the land of Egypt wagons" which was

the phrase Pharaoh commanded Yosef to say to his brothers. If they were to "take" for

themselves, why would Yosef need to "give" to them? Could Yosef have just been assisting

them to find good ones as if not all of them were good? Rashi explains that Yaakov

understood that Yosef himself did the sending, not Pharaoh. Nachshoni tells us that there

were two sets of wagons, one sent by Pharaoh and a second sent by Yosef. The first set

had idolatrious images carved in them, which Yehudah tried to burn out, but the second set

did not have them at all, thus had to have been sent by someone who knew Yaakov would

not travel in the idol ones.

Rav Soloveitchik sees a different dichotomy. Yaakov was trying to determine whether

Yosef the man was still alive, but also whether Yosef his disciple still existed. Hearing that

Yosef was still alive was important, but seeing an indication that Yosef remained Torah

true was Yaakov's real reason to rejoice.