Dear Friends;
I hope that you’ll enjoy the following Parsha summary followed by a Dvar Torah;
” Parsha in a Nutshell “
Judah approaches Joseph to plead for the release of Benjamin, offering himself as a slave to the Egyptian ruler instead of Benjamin. Upon witnessing his brothers’ loyalty and the love for one another, Joseph reveals his identity to them. “I am Joseph,” he declares. “Is my father still alive?”
The brothers are overcome by shame and remorse, but Joseph comforts them. “It was not you who sent me here,” he says to them, “but G-d. It has all been ordained from Above to save us, and the entire region, from famine.”
The brothers rush back to Canaan to tell their father the good news of Joseph being alive. Jacob comes to Egypt with his sons and their families — seventy souls in all — and is reunited with his beloved son after 22 years. On his way to Egypt he receives the Divine promise: “Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.”
Joseph gathers the wealth of Egypt by selling food and seed during the famine. Pharaoh gives Jacob’s family the fertile county of Goshen to settle, and the children of Israel prosper in their Egyptian exile.
” Dvar Torah “
The most dramatic reunion in the Bible, and probably in the history of mankind, is recorded in this week’s parsha. Jacob reunites with his beloved son, Joseph! After twenty two years of living in misery and sorrow, thinking that his favorite son is dead, Jacob is suddenly informed, “Od Yosef Chai”, Joseph is still alive. Although, he was hesitant at the beginning to believe such an unimaginable news, but after seeing all the chariots and the entourage for his honor, he embraced the wonderful news and he said “my son Joseph is still alive. I shall go and see him before I die”. So he rushed down to Egypt to meet Joseph face to face. The scene of their meeting is probably the most dramatic scene you can ever imagine. Everyone would love to know in detail what was their reaction at that time. What was their inner feelings, their facial expressions, their emotional reactions and their exchange of words? How long did they embrace? How loud did they cry? Who said the first word? What did they say to each other after 22 years? Everyone is so anxious to see how does the Torah describe this dramatic scene!
Yet, strangely enough, the Torah doesn’t talk much about this dramatic scene. It just says that at the time of their meeting, Jacob apparently remained silent while Joseph wept on his shoulder. Rashi, explains that Jacob was reciting the “Shema” at the time. He explains that in all the years of their separation, Jacob was in a depressed mood and the Divine Spirit had departed from him and he was therefore unable to communicate with G-d. Now that he saw Joseph in front of his eyes, alive and well, the joy of the moment allowed the Holy Spirit to return to him once again and he used the opportunity to communicate and to thank Hashem.
But even if we accept Rashi’s commentary, it still doesn’t justify Jacob’s lack of emotions. Surely, he could have recited the Shema, and at the same time, he could have shown some signs of joy on his face, or even let a few drops of tears run down his cheeks. I’m having a hard time controlling my tears just writing about this! How could Jacob show no signs of affection?!
What is more mind boggling, is that Jacob never reveals any emotions later on either. He never asked any questions regarding Joseph’s disappearance from Joseph or his brothers?! So many unanswered questions! How did Joseph end up as ruler of all Egypt? Why didn’t Joseph come and visit his father when he was in power? And above all, how did Joseph disappear in the first place? Jacob’s lack of curiosity raises a bigger question. Was Jacob, G-d forbid, a heartless person who didn’t care about his children??
Well, once again, Rabbi Frand quoting Sforno, gives a beautiful explanation which really touched my heart. He says that Jacob was well aware of the tensions that existed between Joseph and his brothers. He also realizes that his sons mislead him when they showed him Joseph’s bloody gown. And being a prophet, he probably knew what exactly had happened between Joseph and his brothers, since later on, on his deathbed he says to Joseph: ” I know, my son, I know.” But he chose to be silent, since he saw that his sons are all reunited again, and that was all that mattered to Jacob; to see his children living in peace and harmony together! He didn’t show any emotions to Joseph, because any sign of emotions would have revealed the painful years that Jacob had to go through, which Joseph would have blamed his brothers for. He knew very well that asking any questions will only rip open a scab on a wound that has to healed slowly and carefully. He realized that sometimes you have to let go of the past in order to build a better future. He knew that his children are going to be the heads of the Jewish nation, and the secret to Jewish survival is “UNITY”. So he didn’t ask any questions, since any question would have ended up blaming one party or the other, and would have created friction or separation between them again. He didn’t want to play the “blame game”, but rather, he wanted to play along with their “unity”!
Yes my friends, unity is so important that we have to do anything in our power to preserve it. Accordingly, for the sake of unity, sometimes you have to hide your emotions. For the sake of unity, sometimes you have to keep quiet. And for the sake of unity, not every family secret needs to be publicly revealed nor every family feud needs to be brought up, again and again.
Everyone makes mistakes in their lives, but if we are not willing to forgive and forget, then relationships can be very fragile. Family relationships are based on forgiveness. The Torah commands us not to hold a grudge, because holding a grudge will create separation and that’s not what Hashem wants from us. He wants us to get along with one another, even with those who have done us wrong. He wants us to forgive in order to be together. If Joseph could find it in his heart to forgive his brothers and if Jacob can let go of 22 years of misery and suffering for the sake of unity, then why can’t we??
Nothing gives more pleasure than to see your children live in peace and harmony together. David HaMelech with all his power, unfortunately, couldn’t get his children to get along, and longed for the day to see them being united. So, all he could do was to inspire the future generations by putting down his dream onto the paper: “הִנֵּה מַה טוֹב וּמַה נָּעִים שֶׁבֶת אָחִים גַּם יַחַד”…….. “Behold, how pleasant and how charming it is, when the brothers live together (in peace)!”
Shabbat Shalom & Regards;
Martin