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Vayigash 2 "We have a father who is very old and the youngest is a child of his old age" (44:20). Here the Torah reveals to us the essence and strength of the Jewish people. Yehuda said that we have a father who is very old, he represents the past of the Jewish people, our history and traditions. Our existence as a people is based on continuing the ways of our ancestors, and by holding fast to the teachings passed down to us. The second half of Yehuda's statement, that we have a young brother, represents the future of the Jewish people. Our future is based on successfully transmitting our heritage to the next generation. We do this by providing them with a true Torah environment and education so that they will be imbued with a love for Torah and Judaism. The present is the link in the chain between the past and the future. No matter how much pressure we feel in the present, in the middle of the chain, it is incumbent upon us to make sure that this golden chain from past to future remains strong and firm. "And G-d sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the land and keep it alive for you by a great deliverance" (45:7). Yosef repeatedly points out to his brothers how visible Divine management has been. Here, His Providence is clear, while elsewhere it is not so apparent. Yet from this case we can learn the pattern. Because of a little silk that Yaakov embroidered on Yosef's coat, the contract that HaShem made with Avraham was fulfilled. In Canaan Yaakov's family could not have developed into a nation, since as they grew in numbers they would have scattered among the inhabitants. To become a nation without intermingling, they had to be "hosted" by a nation, like Egypt, that oppressed the Jews. In the same way, the fanatical bigotry which built the ghettos was the most effective means in G-d's hands to keep us afar from the lack of culture of the Middle Ages, and in confined circles to nurture our sense of family and communal life. To ensure for us a separate province in Egypt as the soil for our development, a youthful scion of the family had to proceed and become second only to Pharaoh. In addition, so that no Egyptian could reproach the Hebrew with "you have no business to be here, you were not born in these parts", all Egyptians had to leave the soil on which their cradles had stood and themselves become strangers on the land they tilled. In a similar way, foreign powers have already peopled almost the whole western world with strangers, silencing their ability to reject the Jews in their countries as unwelcome strangers. (Rabbi S.R. Hirsch) He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to direct him to Goshen (Gen. 46:28) Our Sages explain that Judah was dispatched to Egypt before everyone else "in order to establish a house of learning...that the tribes be able to study Torah (Hogim baTorah)." Jacob understood that their sojourn in as corrupt a place as Egypt would pose a threat to the spirituality of the Jewish people, and thus prepared the antidote before their arrival. The word "hogim" implies a study so deep and comprehensive that the Torah actually becomes part of the person. Moshiach is therefore described as a "hogeh baTorah," as the power to redeem the Jewish people from exile can only come from one whose entire existence is absolutely unified with the Torah itself. (Likutei Sichot 5750) Our Sages comment that the entire Jewish people is often referred to as "Joseph" in the merit of his having provided sustenance for them during the years of famine. "Providing sustenance," however, also has a spiritual connotation, and refers to Joseph's willingness to help his brothers even after he was wronged by them. This quality of doing good rather than taking revenge is the inheritance of all Jews, and is derived from our Patriarch Jacob. (Likutei Sichot Vol. 5) |
