12-25-2025 Vayigash

Due to a heavy travel schedule, we have missed several  Torah sections. We pick up the thread with this week’s  parashah called “Vayigash”. You will find VaYigash toward the end of the Book of Genesis in chapters 44:18- 47:27.  

This parashah deals with the great climax of the Joseph  stories, that of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers  and the reunification between Joseph and his father,  Jacob. The text is layered with meaning and filled with  questions. One could write whole books just about this  week’s parashah. 

The text tells us that after Joseph revealed himself to his  brothers, he sent them back to Canaan to tell Jacob that  he is alive and to bring Jacob to Egypt. In chapter 45:24  we read “Vayishlach et achiv vyelchu, vayamru alehem  ßal tirgzu baderech!” It is hard to hear the tones or  cadences of the Hebrew in a foreign tongue, but the verse  might be translated as: “So he sent his brothers back to  Canaan saying to them: ‘behave now, do not get into any  arguments along the way.'” 

This statement raises multiple questions. Clearly Joseph  did not trust his brothers, so why did he send all of them  back to the Land of Israel. In a like manner, there is a  certain irony in the fact that the younger brother, Joseph,  spoke to his older brothers as if they were children, telling  them not to fight. Reading the text carefully it would  appear that for the most part the brothers got along well  with each other; it was Joseph with whom they had had a  problem! Additionally, why did it take Joseph so long to  tell his father that he was alive? The trip from Egypt to  Israel even in those times could be done in about a week,  yet Joseph chose silence and allowed his father to suffer  by letting him believe that his favorite son was dead.  

Was Joseph playing the role of a petulant parent toward  his older brothers or was his statement meant as a  criticism or a warning, or both? Perhaps Joseph was  being a psychologist realizing that siblings often do  quarrel. Often we become angry at those whom we love  the most. Joseph seems to be warning his brothers to  remember their task is to save their father from the grips of a famine and not to be sidetracked by minor details, such  as meaningless anger.  

Perhaps the text is teaching not to get distracted by side  issues and not allow petty grievances to blind us to our  ultimate goals? Is this concept also valid in our modern  world where the media often transform small incidents into  major crises? As such, this part of the Joseph story has a  great deal to teach all of us including the world’s leaders.  How would you interpret this tale?