5784/2023

In Parashat VaYigash, Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers and his father Yaakov ultimately comes down to Egypt. Why did Yaakov go  to גלות? Also, why did Yosef put his family in ארץ גשן once they arrived? 

The Ramban writes that Yosef took a long time to show his face to his brothers because he was waiting for all eleven brothers to come to him so his dream of eleven stalks of grain bowing down to him could be fulfilled. Once all of his brothers came down, he revealed himself to them to prove that Hashem’s plan came true and show the later generations that Hashem’s plans will always come true. Yosef tries to calm his brothers by telling them that this is all Hashem’s plan. Rav Asher Weiss comments that the reason Yosef takes so long to reveal himself is that he is trying his best to push his brothers into repenting for selling him. When he puts the goblet into Binyamin’s sack, Binyamin puts the blame on himself and makes it seem like he really did take it. He started getting the memo that his true brother was trying to express. Yosef kept on pushing them to repent to the point where he couldn’t push them anymore and he just started crying and started to feel their pain. He finally admitted that he was Yosef, which ended their pain and suffering. Our pain should be like this in these dark times, and ultimately, Hashem will reveal His plans, and we all will rejoice.

Hashem told Avraham that his offspring would go through terrible times and then will come out of them as a great nation. Hashem said that this was the right time for that suffering to happen, so he told Yaakov Avinu ׳׳אַל⁠־תִּירָא֙ מֵרְדָ֣ה מִצְרַ֔יְמָה כִּֽי⁠־לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל׳׳ “Don’t be afraid to go down to Egypt because I will make you a great nation” (BeReishit 46:3). Yaakov’s גלות to Egypt is the beginning of the גלות that Hashem told Avraham would yield the nation of Klal Yisrael 

Once Yaakov hears that Yosef is alive he hurries to go see Yosef before he dies. He is troubled, however, because he doesn’t want to leave ארץ ישראל. Therefore, Hashem made sure that he left. Yaakov planned on only visiting Yosef and returning to ארץ ישראל in the near future. However, he ends up staying in Egypt for a much longer period and only returns to ארץ ישראל for burial. Paroh instructs Yosef to settle his father in ‘the fat of the land.’ גשן was the best place for the family, as the ground was very suitable for animal grazing. The Ramban says that Yosef put his father in ארץ גשן because he knew that Yaakov would not want to be involved with Egypt’s political workings. Also, it is possible that Yosef knew it would be hard for Yaakov to leave ארץ ישראל, so he placed him in גשן because it was part of the land Hashem promised to Avraham Avinu. 

However, we also know that Yaakov was preparing for when כלל ישראל would leave מצרים, as the מדרש says, he planted trees used for the משכן. 

Yaakov saw that going down to Egypt would be the start of גלות, so he offered a קרבן where his father and grandfather davened. He feared that the גלות would be very severe, so he tried his best to make it better for his children. 

Yaakov didn’t want to leave ארץ הקדש and start the גלות. He wanted to stay the close to the שכינה. For us, we should follow Yaakov Avinu and be upset when we go/are in גלות, as it is not where we are meant to be.