D'Var Torah: Parshat Vayigash
by Chana Radensky, 8G
Have you ever been really angry at your siblings? Have you ever gone stomping to your room thinking bad thoughts about your brother or sister? Of course you have, everybody has. The Torah is full of sibling rivalries, the first being that of Kayin and Hevel, and we know that didn’t end well. We also learn about Yitzchak and Yishmael, Yaakov and Eisav, and of course, the twelve brothers. Everyone knows this story, how the ten brothers sold their brother Yosef to the Egyptians, where he was given a very good position of power, how he threatened Benjamin, and the story continues…
Parasha Vayigash begins with Yehuda standing up to his brother Yosef on behalf of Binyamin, whom Yosef has just accused of stealing his goblet. Yehuda claims that Yaakov will die if he sees Benyamin is missing as well as Yosef. When he heard this, Yosef couldn’t keep his secret any longer, he says that famous line: "Ani Yosef, ha'od avi chai?" (perek alef, pasuk gimel). As the men look at their lost brother in shock, Yosef continues: “And now, you did not send me to Egypt, but it was all part of Hashem’s plan.” Rashi says here that Yosef said “and now” to show that he had completely forgiven his brothers, that he was ‘starting over’. And so, the brothers returned to Yaakov and quietly broke the news that Yosef was still alive, so as not to hurt him. Yaakov moved his entire household to Egypt. There he blessed all his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Of course, he also blessed Ephraim and Menashe, switching his hands with them.
So this is one of the few ‘sibling’ stories in the Torah that has a happy ending. So what do we learn from this long story? We learn that family sticks together. The story started out with eleven brothers, all together. It ended with twelve brothers. Yosef forgave his brothers. Yehuda stood up for Binyamin. Yaakov blessed all his children. There’s a lot of loving family-hood in this parsha. The loving in this parsha is so strong that it even affected other people. For example, Rashi says that when Yaakov blessed Paroh, the famine that was supposed to last seven years was shortened to just two years.