VAYIGASH

This week’s sedra is Vayigash and it starts off with the famous confrontation between Yehuda and the person he thought was the viceroy, virtually the ruler of Egypt, leading on to the revelation that it was in fact his own brother Yosef, as we know.

As usual, I have a few questions.

Firstly, why did Yosef play so long with his brothers? Why did he not reveal himself much earlier to them?

The second question is, his father, Yaacov, was obviously upset and we know he mourned for 22 years for him and Yosef, no doubt, sensed this because he kept on asking his brothers “how is your father?”, time after time. In that case, why was it, that not only did he keep them all in suspense, but he kept Shimon in Egypt and insisted that Binyomin should be brought to Egypt, knowing full well that this would cause his father even greater aggravation, more agmus nefesh?

Looking at the first verse in the posek, ויגש אליו יהודה ,you will find that Rashi comments on the words כי כמוך כפרעה , who can be compared to you, to Paroi, with four different explanations. I don’t think that this happens anywhere else. Surely there must be a very good reason for Rashi to have to give so many explanations?

I think, as usual, it is worth while exploring the whole story in depth.

In reality, one has to go back to Yaakov Avinu arriving at Horon and asking for the hand of Rochel בתך הקטנה , Rochel your younger daughter. Yaakov agreed to serve Lovon for seven years as equivalent to giving a dowry. We all know that his future father-in-law, Lovon, was a very deceitful person and that seven years later, he switched Leah in place of Rochel. Yaakov was such an upright gentleman that although this upset him, he ended up by having both Rochel & Leah for wives.

We also know that Hashem took pity on Leah and she began to have children in rapid succession. Firstly there was Reuvain, then there was Shimon followed by Levi and then Yehuda. After those first four children born to Yaakov, she stopped having children. Bilha and Zilpa, the two handmaidens, whom Rashi quotes as being also daughters of Lovon from a פילגש a concubine, then bore two children each, Don, Naftoli, Gad and Osher. It was only subsequently that Leah had two more sons Yissochor and Zevulun, and then, of course, she had Dina as well.

All this took place before Yosef was born.

The first four sons of Yaakov felt, not surprisingly, that they were the top, elite, boys. They had, however, different natures. Reuvain was sensitive but impetuous, not leadership material. Shimon and Levi were very strong characters and took the law into their own hands, to wit the story with Dina in Shechem. Yehuda was also a strong character but was leadership material.

When Yosef was finally born to Yaakov’s preferred wife, Rochel, this, no doubt, caused friction as the children grew up and this also was the reason for Yosef being friendly with the children of Bilha and Zilpa as the Torah clearly states in parshas Vayeishev.

In that sedra, Yosef had his famous dreams concerning the sheaves of wheat and also regarding the sun, the moon and the stars bowing down to him, as you will all recall. Yaacov also make him a כתונת פסים , a multicoloured coat.

It is, therefore, not surprising that his brothers were jealous of him and you will all recall that when Yaakov Avinu sent Yosef to see how his brothers were getting on with pasturing in Shechem, he was sighted from afar by his brothers. The Torah tells us ויאמרו איש אל אחיו One man said to his brother “Behold, our dreamer is coming”, we are told that these two were Shimon and Levi who had already tasted blood in the case of Shechem and this story took place in the vicinity of that very city Shechem and their attitude was, once again, to carry out such a deed. We also know that Reuvain, who was obviously sensitive, stopped this happening.

The continuation of the story there was that Yehuda said to his brothers “What will we get out of killing him, let us sell him on” and that is what happened.

It was due to this, that Yosef arrived in Egypt. We also can appreciate that Yosef realised that it was Shimon and Levi who were the prime movers in having action taken against him. Therefore, he decided when thinking about his tactics of how to deal with the whole matter when his ten brothers (except for Binyomin) first arrived in Egypt, to keep Shimon in custody in Egypt on the basis, that he, understandably, did not want Shimon and Levi to join forces again.

Incidentally, although Shimon and Levi were both very strong minded, we find that later on there was a complete difference in what happened to their tribes. From the Shevet of Levi came Moshe Rabbenu and Aharon Hacohen and all the Cohanim. Shimon does not figure anywhere of consequence.

If you look carefully at the names given to all the shevotim, you will find that in virtually every case, either Rochel or Leah gave the names, the one exception is Levi. In Vayeitzei is says על כן קרא שמו לוי , and therefore “he” called his name Levi. Rashi comments that Hashem sent the malach Gavriel who gave him that name. Gavriel is known as the malach of strength, Levi acquired this strength of character, no doubt, with the naming of him by Gavriel. The net upshot was that when the Yidden went to Mitzraim, the tribe of Levi did not become enslaved in the same way as the other shevotim. They had the strength of character not to become so assimilated and they used this strength of character in a good way which, therefore, bore fruit of having such great and illustrious people as Moshe Rabbenu, Aharon Hacohen, Pinchas etc.

Returning to the background of the story, before parsha Vayigash, as the Torah tells us clearly, Yosef recognised his ten brothers when they arrived to buy produce and they did not recognise him. He, therefore, took a decision to not reveal himself but to play out the matter with, I would suggest, two motives.

Firstly, to check whether this brothers had sincerely repented for having sold him into slavery. Secondly, to ensure that the dreams that he had related, came true. Because of this he could not reveal himself to them immediately so that the news would then have got back to Yaakov quickly, he had to play a long game.

Furthermore, another factor working against him revealing himself immediately was that only 21 years had gone by since he had been separated from his father and Yaakov Avinu had to atone for the 22 years that he was away from his father Yitzchok and there was still one more year to go. I believe that this was not Yosef’s motive, it was part of the whole scene and interwoven in the whole story.

We have all read in Mikkeitz how Yosef accused his brothers of being spies and they tried their best to persuade him that they were not. If you look at the posek immediately after Chamishi, which says
ויאמרו איש אל אחיו אבל אשמים אנחנו על אחינו אשר ראינו צרת נפשו בהתחננו אלינו ולא שמענו
Then one man said to his brother, indeed we are guilty concerning our brother as we saw his heartfelt anguish when he pleaded with us and we paid no heed.

And Reuvain then said “I told you all not to sin by doing anything to the child”, and Yosef was so affected by all this that he even turned aside and cried.

It, interestingly, uses the expression, איש אל אחיו one man to his brother and that is exactly the same expression as the Torah used when Yosef came to visit them in Shechem. I believe that the ones who spoke to one another were Shimon and Levi again. So Yosef had some good news in that it appeared to him that Reuvain, Shimon and Levi had all repented but what about Yehuda? Yehuda was, after all, the other leadership material (Yosef was also leadership material as we all realise, having become the viceroy of Egypt) he had to somehow manoeuvre the situation so that Yehuda would also have to show that he had really retracted and done תשובה and changed his previous attitude towards Yosef. In order to do that he decided that the best way would be to insist on having Binyomin come down to Mitzraim and then to so organise things, that Binyomin would be accused of a felony a גניבה.

Yosef would then see if Yehuda would stick up for the other son of Rochel, namely Binyomin and Yosef would then be able to make his own mind up as to whether he should then reveal himself to his brothers.

I believe that having given this background so far, we have, in fact, dealt with the two questions that I started with. They were, why did Yosef play so long with his brothers and why did he keep them all in suspense especially knowing that his father was upset and had mourned for 22 years for him.

Let us now turn to the beginning of Vayigash, Yehuda was faced with a grave problem, he had undertaken to bring back Binyomin to Yaakov and had stated clearly

אנכי אערבנו מידי תבקשנו אם לא הביאתיו אליך והצגתיו לפניך וחטאתי לך כל הימים

I will personally guarantee him and you can demand him from my own hand. If I do not bring him back to you and present him to you I will have sinned to you for all time.

Rashi comments that this means, even Olam Haboh. He was, in effect, stating that he was putting his chalek in Olam Haboh, his part in the world to come, on the line. When the silver goblet of Yosef was discovered in the sack of Binyomin, Yehuda knew that he had a major problem on his hands, he said so in fact at the end of last week’s sedra

מה נאמר לאדוני מה נדבר ומה נצטדק האלקים מצא את עון עבדך

What can we say to you our master, how can we speak and how can we justify ourselves. Hashem has uncovered the sin of your servants.

Yehuda then had to try and save the situation with the power of his oratory. Remember that this viceroy of Egypt had the power of life and death in his hands and there would have been no national or international outcry if he would just have killed all of them. Yehuda was well aware of the gravity of the situation. Nevertheless, he girded his loins and that is where the sedra Vayigash starts. Yehuda gathered together all his strength and went to speak personally to Yosef. He drew near to him, that is he did not speak from afar but man to man. He pleaded with him
Please my lord, בי אדני
may your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, ידבר נא עבדך דבר באזני אדני
and let not your anger flare up on your servant. ואל יחר אפך בעבדך

Then we have the strange words, כי כמוך כפרעה . You could translate this as Rashi starts off with “You are as important as Paroi in my eyes” but Rashi adds three further explanations. The first one is “I am warning you that you will have צרעת , commonly translated as leprosy, brought on you as Paroi had done to him, when my grandmother Soroh was taken into his palace. Furthermore, (another explanation is) in the same way as Paroi decrees but does not carry out, promises and does not fulfil, you act similarly. Is this the way to inspect Binyomin that you talked about? You are, in fact, wishing to take him into captivity as a slave. Finally, Rashi says, as the fourth explanation and he emphasises the words כי כמוך כפרעה , if you anger me, I will kill you and your master the king.

What you have here is the epitome of political double talk, treble talk or quadruple talk. The honeyed words with the threat of strong action underlying it. Yehuda was, in effect saying, please treat me nicely, otherwise who knows what the consequences are going to be for you and the whole of Egypt.

He then proceeded to give a very brief resumé of the whole story as it had happened and tried to touch Yosef’s heart cords and to make him sympathetic to the plight of this poor Binyomin who had been left as the one and only son alive of Yaakov’s favourite wife Rochel. Yehuda even offered to change places and become the slave in place of Binyomin. Yosef was, by now, convinced that Yehuda was sincere in his change of heart and his teshuva.

Yehuda succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Not only, of course, was Binyomin pardoned, but as we know, Yosef then revealed himself as being the brother who not only forgave them but comforted them, saying that Hashem had sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival and to save you לפליטה גדלה to a momentous deliverance.



In addition to all the nuances and politics contained in the whole story and especially in the first posek and parsha of Vayigash, I think that the explanation of the Vilna Goan on the טעמי המקרא that is the neginos, which the Baal Koreh reads and sings is very illuminating in this particular case. The first six words of the posek are ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדני , if you look at the נגינות , the trop on the words ויגש אליו יהודה you have קדמא ואזלא רביעי . The next few words are ויאמר בי אדני , on which there are זרקא מונח סגול and the Vilna Goan explains in his own inimitable style that these טעמי המקרא are themselves an explanation of the posek. Yehuda was, in fact, saying to Yosef (whom, we know from parshas Mikeitz knew exactly which brothers were older and younger) I was born number four of the sons and why am I the one who is coming to beseech you to let Binyomin free and take me in his place? It is because I guaranteed that he would come back to our father alive.

Therefore the trop קדמא ואזלא means, he stood up and went (to Yosef) and the next trop, on the word יהודה is רביעי , the fourth, in other words the fourth son. As I mentioned earlier on, he had told Yaakov Avinu that if he did not bring Binyomim back, Yehuda would forfeit his portion in Olam Haboh and therefore זרקא , I will be thrown out, he said, מונח סגול from being in the special nation of Am Yisroel. Indeed, a beautiful explanation.



I have had a different idea, which I think fits in perfectly with the posek.

If you look back just a few posukim, Yehuda had stated when the silver goblet was found in Binyomin’s sack, מה נאמר לאדני – האלקים מצא את עון עבדיך What can we say to our master, Elokim has found the sin of your servants. It does not say Hashem it says Elokim which is known as middas Hadin, the strict judge. Yehuda realised that this was not just a viceroy in Egypt being nasty, this came direct from הקב'ה . Now what does a Yid do who sees middos Hadin מתוחה עליו , Hashem’s stern judgement hovering over him. He beseeches Hashem that Yud Kay Vov Kay, namely Hashem of rachamim to intercede and overturn the middos hadin. This, I think, is encapsulated in the first posek of Vayigash.

I am going to give everyone here a copy of the first posek where I have highlighted the first letters of each word and also added in numerical numbers all with colour codes as you will see. I will explain it verbally as well, as follows:-

If you take the first six words ויגש אליו יהודה ויאמר בי אדני you will find that the first letters together add up in gemmatria to 26. We all know that alef equals 1, and vov for example equals 6. The gemmatria of the first letters of the first six words adds up to 26 and you will note that it does not say ויגש יהודה אל יוסף , the מפרשים , comment that he was not only talking to the viceroy of Egypt, Yehuda at the same time was praying and beseeching Hashem so that the expression אליו fits perfectly. These six words state that Yehuda drew near to him (it could be Hashem of course, as well) and he said please, the next word אדני can also be read as, my Lord, meaning Hashem. What did he ask, that Hashem should overturn the middas hadin.

If you go on to the next two words which are ידבר נא the first two letters add up in gemmatria to 60. 60 plus the original 26 for the first six words are 86 in total which is exactly the gemmatria of Elokim, alef lamed hay yud mem.

Now, we find that basically, Yehuda had three problems on his hands, one problem was concerning Yosef. This was in fact an old problem because it has been going on for over 20 years and his father had asked the brothers to try and see if they could locate Yosef. The second problem was Binyomin. He was now faced with Binyomin being kept as a slave by this viceroy and, on top of it all, of course, Yehuda had the problem with Yaakov, because he was going to be in great trouble with his father as I mentioned above. Let us proceed with the posek. After ידבר נא we have עבדך which has got an ayin at the beginning of the word, an ayin is 70. If you add this 70 to the 86 previously, all the roshe hatevos, first letters, then add up to 156 which is exactly the gemmatria of Yosef יוסף.

The first letters of the next two words דבר באזני total 6.

6 plus 156 is 162, and that is exactly the numerical value of Binyomin as it is written when he was born and Yaakov named him בנימין beis nun yud mem yud nun.

If you now go forward to the rest of the posek, the next words are אדני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך and the first letters of those words add up to another 20, add this to 162 and you have 182 and that is the exact gemmatria of the name Yaakov יעקב, yud ayin kuf beis. So we see a precise pattern. Yehuda had in mind when speaking to Yosef, the middos harachamim (Haviya) should overcome the middos hadin, (Elokim) in respect of Yosef, Binyomin and Yaakov.

But let us just go one stage further. If you go back to אדני ואל יחר אפך בעבדך דבר באזני Again the rosh hateves, the first letters add up to 26, and therefore you have Haviya again and the first letters of the last three words of the posek כי כמוך כפרעה , three times כ20 equals 60. If you add that 60 to the 26 I mentioned just before you again have a total of 86 which is again Elokim. So in fact, in the posek you have encrypted Haviya, Elokim, Yosef, Binyomin, Yaakov, Haviya, Elokim. A very neat sandwich giving the whole story.

This, together with the Vilna Goan’s explanation just amplifies the depth of the posek which I highlighted by mentioning that Rashi gives four explanations.

Truly our Torah is deep. Sometimes, we have the merit to find hidden depths in it.