2020/5780

After Yoseif’s dramatic reveal to his brothers, he invites them to move the family down to Egypt so he can care for them better. After a conversation with Hashem, Ya’akov finally agrees to move down to Egypt. The Torah (BeReishit Perek 46) lists all of Ya’akov’s family that went with him. Whenever a list of names such as this appears in the Torah, we readers must ask ourselves: why is this here? Numerous Midrashim, bothered by this section, suggest that it is to show the greatness of Hashem that the family of Ya’akov went down to Egypt with a family of seventy and a scant two-hundred and ten years later exited as a nation of six-hundred thousand. The idea here is an important one, but not sufficient to answer the question. To accomplish the task of the Midrash, we only need to know that there were seventy people, as the Torah tells us at the end of the section: “Kol HaNefesh LeVeit Ya’akov HaB’ah Mitzraymah Shivim,” “All the people of the house of Ya’akov that came to Egypt were seventy” (BeReishit 47:27). So, again, why do we need every single name? A closer look at the Pasuk just quoted raises another question. The literal translation leaves the reader perplexed. Leaving aside how the Torah arrives at the count of seventy, it is a little strange that the Torah uses the singular word ‘soul,’ instead of the plural ‘souls.’ After all, if there were seventy people, there should be seventy souls. Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan (the Chafeitz Chayim) deals with the issue in his Seifer, Shmirat HaLashon. His discussion centers around the interconnectedness of the Jewish people. He compares - based on numerous Ma’amarei Chazal - the Jewish people to one body. A person has a head, arms, legs, torso, etc. Each of these different body parts are just that, parts. The arm doesn’t consider itself separate from the other arm, the legs or the torso. All the parts consider themselves as part of a greater whole and function accordingly. That is why the Torah uses the singular tense: “Nefesh,” “One soul.” The Jewish people may have different physical bodies, but we must realize that we are connected on a deeper spiritual level. In essence, we are different parts of one greater soul, one entity, with one goal: the service of Hashem. The Torah is teaching us an important lesson about being part of the Jewish people and about thinking that we are part of a greater whole. However, sometimes this thought can be a little disheartening. After all, if all we are is one small part of the whole, how significant can one person possibly be!? The Torah lists off every single one of the children of Ya’akov to signify that, in fact, every person does matter to Hashem. Each one of Ya’akov’s children contributed something that affected the greater whole. Every single descendant of Ya’akov is significant enough to be listed in the Torah, because we all matter in our own way.