Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Vayigash - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

  And you are commanded (to say) 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 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]

There are many questions involved with the wagons described here. Why did Pharaoh command Yosef to take wagons? If Yosef followed Pharaoh's command to tell his brothers to take wagons in verse 19, why do we need 21 to tell us that Yosef gave them wagons? Later when Yaakov sees the wagons, he reads something into what he is looking at. What are the wagons alluding to?

Abarbanel and others note that the rolling stock, meaning chariots and wagons, that were manufactured in Egypt were of a much higher technology and quality than those of anywhere else, so Pharaoh had ordered that none could be relocated to any foreign land without his personal approval. Rashbam adds that the animals hitched to the wagons were in the same situation. Thus Yosef would not have sent wagons and animals for his father barring Pharaoh's directive. As Rashi explains, our verse tells that Yosef received permission. Rav Hirsch asks why Yosef would need permission at all as nobody in Egypt could question any order he gave, and relates that Yosef did not want to appear to be abusing his position of trust.

Radak gives a different reason for the requirement of Pharaoh's involvement here. Yosef had commanded that no grain be relocated out of Egypt, other than with his approval, to ensure there would be enough for Egypt through the famine. Pharaoh here overrode Yosef to ensure that he would send enough grain for Yaakov and family to make it to Egypt. Ramban is similar to this, that Pharaoh was afraid that Yosef would not supply his father with food without a direct order from the crown. Since the food did not actually belong to Yosef but to Pharaoh, the integrity of Yosef would not permit him to send it without Pharaoh's concurrence.

From verse 19 we know that Pharaoh commanded Yosef to send wagons with the brothers to collect their father and families. From verse 21 we see that Yosef did this and that the brothers implemented their part. We also see in 21 that Yosef sent food with them, which does not appear in 19.

When the caravan reached Yaakov, he looked at the wagons and knew that Yosef was the one who sent them. How? The Midrash tells us that the last bit of Torah Yaakov and Yosef learned together was the eglah arufah, the calf sacrificed when a body is discovered between two towns. The word for calf has the same root as the word for wagon. But there are other possible interpretations. Rav Soloveitchik relates back to the idea that wagons were under the strict control of Pharaoh, so when wagons showed up, Yaakov knew they were sent by someone close to the throne.

Another possible explanation stems from the words for wagon and calf. Yosef was known to be a seer of the future. The Jewish people were going to break their covenant and worship the golden calf in the future. By sending wagons here, Yosef may have either been predicting that, or may have been trying to associate the word with something good in hopes they would not later associate it with evil. It also sandwiches the stay in Egypt, the people went to Egypt with egel and returned to egel right after they departed Egypt in later times, thus providing closure on the exile there.