The parsha (Torah portion) we read this shabbat is called Vayigash and means, “And he approached,” because our parsha starts with Yehuda (Judah) approaching Yoseph. If you recall from the previous week, Yehuda had promised to safely return Benyamin to Yaakov (Jacob) and then Yoseph’s chalice was found in Benyamin’s bag. The parsha ended with Yoseph telling the brothers that Benyamin was staying as a slave, while the rest of them were free to go.

This week’s parsha starts with Yehuda approaching Yoseph to ask him to free Benyamin. Yehuda basically tells Yoseph the whole story of how they came to Egypt twice and what it took for Yaakov to let Benyamin go and what it would mean if Yehuda did not return with him. Yehuda ends his missive by requesting to be taken in Benyamin’s place because he could not return to his father without Benyamin.

At this point, Yoseph tells all his guards to leave the room and then reveals himself to the brothers who, naturally, are speechless. He tells them not to be concerned about what they did to him because he knows that it was haShem’s (god) purpose that he should come to Egypt first to prepare a place for them during the famine. The brothers finally believe him, and when Pharaoh hears the news, he tells Yoseph to give his brothers wagons and go and collect their father and all their belongings and return and live in the best land in Egypt.

The brothers return to Yaakov and tell him the news: that Yoseph is still alive. At first he does not believe, but then he sees the wagons and he believes and they all pack up and leave. On the way, Yaakov stops at Baer Sheva and makes a sacrifice to haShem and haShem appears to him in a dream and tells him it is ok to go to Egypt, and they go on their way again.

Next, we get a listing of all the people who go with Yaakov to Egypt, and then they arrive and Yoseph goes out to meet them, and we have the emotional father-and-son reunion. Yoseph instructs them on what to say when they meet Pharaoh, and then he goes to tell Pharaoh his family has arrived. Five of the brothers meet with Pharaoh, followed by Yaakov meeting Pharaoh.

Next we read how Yoseph supported his brothers and father, and how the Egyptians used up their money, and then sold all their livestock, and finally themselves and their land in order to get food from Yoseph. The only people to still have land in Egypt, and not be slaves were the priests, who by law, were given food, and Yoseph’s family which acquired property and really, really grew. This is where the parsha ends.

You know, there are a lot of things that bother me in this parsha. Why do we have a census in the middle of the story? Why in the census is Yaakov put into the category of Leah’s children? Why did they not return to Cnaan when the famine ended? Why does Yaakov tell Pharaoh that his 130 years of life were mostly unpleasant? Why does Yoseph ask about, “My father,” and not, “Our father?” Where does Yaakov get the gifts he sent with the brothers (the peanuts and the almonds and the honey) if there is such a bad famine going on? Ok, that last one is from the previous parsha, sorry. 🙂

I bring that last one up because haShem has blessed Yaakov with success in all he does, just like Yoseph is successful. This actually leads up to my biggest question of that last few parshas: How could Yaakov not know what really happened to Yoseph?

The reason I ask this is because what do most parents do when they lose a child, especially the one they feel is most special and they love the most? They turn to god and ask, “How could this happen? How could you take him/her away from me?”

Can you imagine Yaakov not asking haShem? I can’t, especially considering that he has an actual, conscious relationship with haShem. I find it hard to believe he didn’t ask haShem how he could let Yoseph die?

If you recall, after the second of Yoseph’s dreams (a few parshas ago), the Torah told us that Yaakov reprimanded Yoseph, and that Yaakov also guarded the dream.

I imagine that now he must have remembered the dream and asked haShem how it could possibly be fulfilled if Yoseph was dead.

So, how could Yaakov not know that Yoseph was still alive?

The only answer I can think of is that haShem didn’t tell him.

What a cruel god we have to let Yaakov think that his favorite son was dead for all these years. Not only that, but if the famine was effecting him, which is what it appears if he had to send his sons to Egypt for food, he must really have felt abandoned by haShem.

And yet, what faith he had in haShem, to go to Baer Sheva and make a sacrifice to god as soon as he hears the good news about Yoseph.

I see shades of the story of Eyov (Job) here. And I see something more.

I see a real important lesson that we all need to learn: sometimes it is best if we don’t know what is going on and have to rely on faith in god that all is for the best. Sometimes, god will not tell us what is going on because it is best for us if we do not know.

How does this play out here? Well, let’s say, haShem did answer Yaakov’s questions and tell him that Yoseph was in Egypt. At the very least, Yaakov would have went, or sent his sons to Egypt to get Yoseph back. Yoseph would never have matured as he did; he would never have been able to solve Pharaoh’s dreams and the famine would have wiped out Egypt and quite possibly Yaakov and his family. If they had prospered in Cnaan, the neighboring tribes probably would have attacked them for food. Likewise the brothers (Yehuda in particular) would never have grown and matured and repented. And the children of Yisrael would never have lived and learned what they needed to in Egypt.

Now, I realize all this begs the question: what is so special about Egypt? Let Egypt get wiped out and let Yaakov take his family somewhere else. God could have made that happen. And the answer to this is that you are right. God could have made it so Yoseph and Yehuda and all the rest could have learned their lessons somewhere else besides Egypt.

Nevertheless, there is something unique to Egypt. There is something that Egypt and only Egypt needed by all these events and the ones that follow. What that is, we don’t know for haShem has chosen not to tell us. We just have to trust that haShem knows what he is doing and that our not knowing is for the best, just like Yaakov.

If you want to read what I wrote about this parsha last year, click here.

About the Author

Shmuel Shalom Cohen spent 10 years studying Torah in Jerusalem. Six years ago, he started Conscious Torah to help Jews connect to their tradition in ways they didn’t think possible. Shmuel also started, and is the executive directory of Jewish Events Willamette-valley, a non-profit whose mission is to build Jewish community, pride, and learning. In his free time, Shmuel likes walks in nature, playing music, writing poetry, and time with good friends.