Parashat VaYigash

The lights dim, the stage is cleared, Ya’akov and his family have moved down to Mitzrayim. The closing pasuk of Parashat VaYigash serves as a most fitting conclusion to the Torah’s account of the Bnei Ya’akov’s strife. It grants us a broader perspective of our parashiot’s events, allowing us to not only see the reconciliation between Yoseif and his brothers, but also to see the fulfillment of Hashem’s promise to Avraham Avinu – Geir YiHiyeh Zaracha BiEretz Lo Lahem – through that very strife and reconciliation. We begin VaYeishev Ya’akov BiEretz Cana’an, and we appropriately end VaYeishev Yisrael BiEretz Mitzrayim.

In his meticulous analysis of this final pasuk, the Ohr HaChaim explains the need for the Torah to tell us that Ya’akov dwelled in both Eretz Mitzrayim and in Eretz Goshen.

…[T]he reason behind Yeridas Mitzrayim was to raise the sparks of Kedusha that had [once] scattered. The pasuk states VaYeishev Yisrael BiEretz Mitzrayim, a reference to [Mitzrayim as] a place enclosed by rottenness. [The verse continues,] Bieretz Goshen, [a reference to] Hagashah, closure, for there all the sparks of Kedusha reunited…

Ohr HaChaim, Beraishis 47:27

Indeed, this pasuk is a fabulous ending to an exhausting story, and it beautifully sets the stage for the ensuing population explosion of the Jewish nation, which itself is foreshadowed in the parasha’s final words. The only problem, though, is that this pasuk stands alone. It is drastically disjointed from the rest of the Torah’s account of Yisrael’s settlement in Mitzrayim, which appears 13 pasukim earlier. Between these two accounts is a rather detailed – and much unexpected – description of Egypt’s transformation from a largely capitalistic society into a communist welfare. It is difficult enough to reason a purpose behind this seemingly unnecessary sidebar, but to place it front and center in the middle of our saga’s conclusion is simply uncalled for!

Somehow, this final pasuk is not only the conclusion to our 11 perek-long epic, but also to this short unrelated account of Mitzrayim’s years of famine. But how do the years of famine in any way connect to Ya’akov’s arrival in Mitzrayim? The Tosefta (Sotah, 10:3) teaches us that the famine ended as soon Ya’akov arrived in Mitzrayim, so once Ya’akov settles in Mitzrayim, how could there be any need for the Torah to take a chronological step in reverse and review the long past years of hardship? There must be something more basic to this parasha’s conclusion that we are overlooking, and judging from Rashi’s comments, there is something basic indeed about this pasuk.

VaYeishev Yisrael BiEretz Mitzrayim BiEretz Goshen VaYeiachazu Vah VaYifru VaYirbu Mi’od. (Beraishis, 47:27)

“And Yisael settled in Mitzrayim.” Where? “In Eretz Goshen,” which is part of Eretz Mitzrayim.

Rashi, Beraishis 47:27

Alas, Rashi’s comments are so basic, that they border on the immediately obvious! The Gur Aryeh tries to reason that Rashi must identify Goshen as part of Mitzrayim, lest we think the two lands listed in the pasuk are separate. But if Paroh awarded the land of Goshen to Yoseif’s family, and Paroh was the king of Mitzrayim, then obviously Goshen was not separate from Mitzrayim! Perhaps Rashi is coming to resolve some sort of contradiction within the pasukim, and indeed, there is a contradiction to be found. But as we’ll soon see, Rashi’s comments seem to do nothing to resolve the discrepancy.

In the parasha’s initial account of Ya’akov’s move to Mitzrayim, namely pasukim 11 and 12, we are told VaYosheiv Yoseif Es Aviv ViEs Echav VaYitein Lahem Achuzah BiEretz Mitzrayim BiMeitav HaAretz BiEretz Ramiseis Ka’Asheir Tzivah Paroh, that Yoseif located his family to the county of Ramiseis. Interestingly, pasuk 27 tells us Ya’akov settled in Goshen, but pasuk 11 tells us Yoseif placed him in Ramiseis, thus setting up a clear inconsistency between our parasha’s disjointed accounts of the same event. Surely, Rashi would be bothered by this, and surely he would offer an explanation; but unfortunately, it helps us none to know that Goshen is part of Eretz Mitzrayim.

Of course, there is a simple solution to our pasukim’s contradiction; one could propose that Goshen and Ramisies are two names for the same land. However, Rashi smashes all hopes of proposing this solution when he identifies Ramiseis as “Mei’Eretz Goshen Hi,” a territory within Eretz Goshen. In other words, Rashi explicitly claims that Ya’akov did not occupy the entire land of Goshen while the Torah itself, in pasuk 27, seems to claim the very opposite. Furthermore, we are left to wonder why Rashi needed to inform us of Ramiseis’ location; obviously, if Paroh instructed Yoseif to place his family in Goshen and the pasuk says that Yoseif acted Ka’Asheir Tzivah Paroh, we can safely assume that Yoseif placed his family within Goshen’s boundaries.

And the questions and contradictions don’t end there, for while pasuk 11 claims VaYosheiv Yoseif Es Aviv, that Yoseif placed his father in Goshen, pasuk 27 claims VaYeishev Yisrael, that Ya’akov settled on his own. In similar vein, pasuk 11 states VaYitein Lahem Achuzah, that Yoseif awarded his family a holding of land, whereas pasuk 27 argues VaYeiachazu Vah, that Ya’akov himself acquired his plot. The pasukim can’t seem to agree whether Yoseif took care of his father or whether Ya’akov Avinu took care of himself.

And so we must conclude that these pasukim are not describing the same events after all. Rather, there are two acquisitions, and there are two settlements, and they do not occur simultaneously. What occurs in between we’ll soon see.

Rashi takes close note of the Mitzrim’s appeal to Yoseif in the second year of the famine. They plead Lama Namus Li’Einecha… K’nei Osanu ViEs Admaseinu… ViSein Zera ViNichyeh ViLo Namus, give us seeds and we will plant. Rashi comments that although Yoseif said there would be five more years without plow or harvest, once Ya’akov arrived in Mitzrayim, the famine ended and they began to plant. We therefore see that Ya’akov had already arrived in Mitzrayim before the people asked Yoseif for seeds. Therefore, Yoseif’s placement of Ya’akov in Ramiseis must have preceded his acquisition of the Mitzrim’s land. When Ya’akov was first reunited with his son, Yoseif may have been Mishneh LaMelech, but he did not yet control all of Mitzrayim’s land, nor had he yet relocated his kingdom’s subjects, as is described in pasuk 21.

When Ya’akov first arrives in Mitzrayim, there is no land for him to acquire. First VaYosheiv Yoseif, Yoseif moves him to an unoccupied section of Goshen, namely Ramiseis. Then the Mitzrim beg Yoseif for seeds, and Yoseif obliges, but not before purchasing all their land in return for bread. Now Yoseif owns the land of Mitzrayim, and he shifts the population to wherever he pleases. Thus does Yoseif free the remainder of Goshen, place the real estate on the market, and “sell” it to his family, and thus does Ya’akov expand his plot across the rest of Goshen, VaYeiachazu Vah.

We now see exactly why Rashi must tell us Ramiseis is part of Goshen; to show us how Ya’akov later expands his territory. And we also see exactly why the final pasuk tells us Ya’akov lived in both Eretz Mitzrayim and Eretz Goshen. Aside from the land that Ya’akov was awarded by Paroh, his son’s clever scheme allowed him to purchase land that previously belonged to Mitzrim. When Rashi asks ViHeichan, where in Eretz Mitzrayim did Ya’akov live, Rashi doesn’t question where Ya’akov lived geographically; rather, Rashi identifies Goshen as the only geographic landmark in the pasuk. The mention of Eretz Mitzrayim is merely to show that Ya’akov took over another Mitzri’s land, symbolizing the dominance and growth of the Jewish people that the pasuk so clearly comes to identify. Rashi’s comment’s input is not so obvious after all.

Perhaps we can even explain one of the more perplexing aspects of Yoseif’s behavior towards his brothers in the previous parasha. One can reason that Yoseif returned the brothers’ money to their grain sacks in order to scare them, to make them worry that they’ll be arrested for theft upon their next visit to Mitzrayim. However, such an understanding cannot explain why Yoseif returned the money a second time, in pasuk 44:1. Yoseif’s officer was so busy arresting Binyamin for having stolen the G’viah, we almost entirely forget that each brother could have easily been arrested for having stolen his money back! What need was there to repeatedly return the family’s money, and what need was there to lie about it, claiming it a Matmon, a gift from G-d (Beraishis 43:23)?

Our parasha highlights the incredible importance for Ya’akov to possess his own money. Ya’akov uses this money to establish an Achuzah for himself, a hold on the land independent of the ruler’s good tidings, so that even when a new Paroh rises and enslaves the nation, he is in no way authorized to seize their land back. The money indeed was a “gift from G-d,” not in the sense that it magically appeared in the brothers’ sacks, but that it embodies the entire notion of Hashem setting the stage for the forthcoming Galus in Mitzrayim. Unfortunately, the Matmon was yet another one of Yoseif’s riddles the brothers failed to comprehend.

We now see how long Yoseif had planned his family’s arrival in Mitzrayim. Long before he acquired the Mitzrim’s land, he was already ensuring that Ya’akov would have the sufficient funds necessary to purchase a Mitzri’s Achuzah. When Ya’akov settles in Mitzrayim, it is merely another step in the events that lead towards Shibud Mitzrayim. But when Ya’akov aquires land in Mitzrayim, it is much more than an event. It is the culmination of Yoseif’s plans, and the fulfillment of HaKadosh Baruch Hu’s Matmon. It spurs the recognition that all the random bizarre events that brought Ya’akov down to Mitzrayim were not so random after all, and it lends an entirely new perspective on our previous three parashiot. Even Mitzrayim, a land once perceived as nothing but rottenness and lewdness, can become the potential spawning grounds for those sparks of Kedusha.

Good Shabbos.