Vayigash

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In this weeks parsha, Vayigash, the story of Joseph which began in the parsha two weeks ago, reaches its climax and begins to wind down to its end which is in next weeks parsha.

 

It is twenty years since Joseph has seen his brothers, who in his youth, threw him into a pit and then sold him into slavery, because of their intense jealousy of him and their father's favoritism of him.

 

Joseph has come a long way, and now is the head of Pharaoh’s court. There is a famine in the land of Canan, and his brothers, who live in Canaan, come to Egypt to ask for help, for there is grain in Egypt, due to Joseph’s leadership. The brothers bow down to Joseph, just as was predicted in Joseph’s dream , long before.

 

Jospeh recognizes his brothers but hides his identity from them. Just before he is about to reveal his identity to them, he becomes so overcome with emotion, that “his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians could hear and so the news reached pharaoh’s place”.

 

Joseph says to his brothers,

 

Please come forward to me. I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt. Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you.

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כִּי־זֶ֛ה שְׁנָתַ֥יִם הָרָעָ֖ב בְּקֶ֣רֶב הָאָ֑רֶץ וְעוֹד֙ חָמֵ֣שׁ שָׁנִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר אֵין־חָרִ֖ישׁ וְקָצִּֽיר׃

It is now two years that there has been famine in the land, and there are still five years to come in which there shall be no yield from tilling.

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וַיִּשְׁלָחֵ֤נִי אֱלֹהִים֙ לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם לָשׂ֥וּם לָכֶ֛ם שְׁאֵרִ֖ית בָּאָ֑רֶץ וּלְהַחֲי֣וֹת לָכֶ֔ם לִפְלֵיטָ֖ה גְּדֹלָֽה׃

God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.

 

 

Joseph speaks to his brothers gently, with respect. He does not show anger or want revenge, though his brothers treated him so badly so long ago. And not only that but he saves their lives, giving them food and shelter, saying “the best of all the land of Egypt shall be ours”.

 

This behavior shows Joseph’s strong character and his ability to forgive. When Joseph was a young boy, and would impulsively tell his dreams to his brothers, dreams in which they would bow down to him, little did he know what path his life would take to reach that point.

 

In this parsha, Joseph shows that he has matured, he is no longer the naïve and perhaps somewhat arrogant boy he was in the parsha from two weeks ago. His brothers have also changed, and learned their lesson, having suffered with guilt and pain over what they did many years before. Back at the beginning of Genesis, when we read of the story of Cain, who murdered his brother Abel, also because of jealousy, we read the famous words of Cain when God asks him where his brother is – “Am I my brothers keeper?

 

In this weeks parsha, we hear echoes of those words in Joseph’s actions with his brothers. But this time, the answer is “yes I am”.