Comentario citado sobre Génesis 45:9

A kabbalistic approach to our verse: The words: “I will go down with you,” are an allusion to the Presence of G’d, the שכינה, which would go down to Egypt with the Israelites. Our sages in Shabbat 89 and elsewhere say that G’d’s Presence descended with the Israelites. In order to hint at this, Onkelos translates the words as אנא אחות [a “physical” as opposed to a merely spiritual descent, in anthropomorphic terms, of course. Ed.], instead of as אנא אתגלי which is his usual translation for the word ירד, such as in Exodus 19,11 when applied to G’d. This is especially remarkable considering the care Onkelos takes not to apply anthropomorphic terms to G’d or His activities.
The reason the Torah writes מצרימה instead of למצרים, i.e. concluding with the letter ה, and also writing the word עלה in a form ending with the letter ה, is to provide tangible proof that G’d’s Presence, i.e. “ה,” will accompany the Israelites to Egypt. The letter ה, the last letter in the Ineffable Name, is the attribute which provided sustenance for Egypt during the years of famine.
Joseph already hinted at this attribute when he told the Egyptians in 47,23 הא לכם זרע, “here is seed for you.” In the following verse Joseph speaks of the חמישית, “fifth” or “hand” which G’d used to enact retribution from the Egyptians for abusing the Israelites during their exile there. This “hand” of G’d was in evidence when the livestock of the Egyptians was struck in Exodus 9,3, and it was the attribute the Israelites witnessed at the sea 14,31. It is also the attribute which Ezekiel mentioned when he described G’d’s anger during the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple (Ezekiel 16,43). We also find the words לא אחמול, “I shall not display pity,” five times in connection with that destruction (commencing in Ezekiel 5,11) after having described such scenes as parents eating the flesh of their children and children eating the flesh of their parents, to illustrate this lack of G’d’s pity for the state His people were in at that time.
We find that Daniel 2,43 refers to this attribute when he speaks about iron not blending with earthenware. Daniel mentions five different categories of materials which cannot form a blend, an alloy. This word הא occurs a total of three times in the Bible, once in the Torah, once in the Books of Prophets (Ezekiel 16,43), and once in the Hagiographa (Daniel 3,25). The message is that this attribute of G’d will accompany the Israelites through all the various exiles. The very word עמך, “with you,” which G’d uses to describe Himself as accompanying Yaakov to Egypt, is also associated with צרה, distress, sorrow, trouble, as we know from עמו אנכי בצרה, Psalms 91,15 “I am with him when it is in trouble.” In our verse the choice of that word then is a double-entendre. It means that even when the Israelites were exiled to Babylon the שכינה was with them also. Our sages base this on Isaiah 43,14: “for your sake I send (the redeemer) to Babylon.” We have a similar situation regarding the exile under the Edomites, (the present exile). Isaiah 63,1 describes the redeemer as coming from Edom, his clothing full of blood, etc., an allusion to G’d taking His vengeance on our oppressors. The word זה in that verse is a reference to G’d Himself being that redeemer. The word זה referred to our redeemer, i.e. G’d, already when the Israelites had crossed the sea and watched the Egyptians drown. At that time they broke out in a song of thanksgiving adulating G’d by saying זה א-לי ואנוהו “this is my G’d and I want to enshrine Him.” The word זה, of course, also ends with this letter ה, the attribute we have been discussing. Interestingly enough, even Joseph phrased his invitation to his father to come to him in Egypt in a word ending with the letter ה, when he said (45,9) רדה אלי אל תעמוד, “come down to me, do not delay.” He added the letter ה instead of saying רד אלי, which would have been quite sufficient. He meant to convey his confidence that the attribute of G’d represented by the letter ה would accompany his father and his family. Keeping all this in mind, the phenomenal increase of the Jewish people from 70 souls to over 600,000 arms-bearing men at the time of the Exodus (only 210 years later) becomes much less surprising. Clearly the Presence of G’d’s benevolent שכינה must be credited for this. (the author had referred to the addition of the latter ה in Avraham’s name in Genesis 17,5 as supplying the element which would enable his descendants to multiply prolifically). This element came into its own while the Jewish people were in Egypt and actually was also a prime factor in their eventual enslavement (compare Exodus 1,7-13). Once they had attained the required number of 600.000 men over 20 years of age they qualified for G’d revealing Himself to them openly at Mount Sinai.

AND JOSEPH REMEMBERED THE DREAMS WHICH HE DREAMED OF THEM. [That is, he remembered the dreams which he dreamed] concerning them, and now knew that they had been fulfilled, for they had bowed down to him. This is the language of Rashi.
In my opinion, the matter is the reverse. Scripture states that when Joseph saw his brothers bowing down to him, he remembered all the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them and he knew that in this instance, not one of the dreams had been fulfilled. He knew that it was inherent in their interpretation that according to the first dream, at first all his brothers would bow down to him, as it says, And, behold, we were binding sheaves,¹³¹Above, 37:7. for “we” refers to all eleven of his brothers. The second time, in accordance with the second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars¹³²Ibid., Verse 9. would bow down to him. Now since he did not see Benjamin with them, he conceived of the strategy of devising a charge against them so that they would also bring his brother Benjamin to him, in order to first fulfill the first dream. It is for this reason that he did not wish to tell them at this time, I am Joseph your brother,¹³³Further, 45:4. and to say, Hasten and go up to my father,¹³⁴Ibid., 45:9. and send wagons, as he did to them the second time,¹³⁵Ibid., Verse 19. for in that case his father would undoubtedly have come at once. It was only after fulfillment of the first dream that he told them, I am Joseph your brother,¹³³Further, 45:4. etc., in order to fulfill the second dream. Were it not for this consideration, Joseph would indeed be regarded as having committed a great sin: bringing anguish to his father, leaving him for many days in the position of being bereft and mourning for Simeon and him. Even if it was his intention to cause his brothers minor anguish, how did he not have compassion for his elderly father? But he assigned each to its proper time¹³⁶Ecclesiastes 3:11. in order to fulfill the dreams, knowing that they would truly be fulfilled. Also, the second matter, which he effected against them in connection with the goblet,¹³⁷In which he accused Benjamin of stealing the goblet. (Further, 44:17). is not to be interpreted as if his intention was to cause them anguish, but rather because he suspected that they might hate Benjamin as a result of their jealousy of him on account of his father’s love for him, just as they were jealous of Joseph. Perhaps Benjamin had sensed that they had harmed Joseph, thus causing a quarrel and hatred to erupt between him and his brothers. Therefore, Joseph did not wish Benjamin to travel with them until he had tested their love for him, lest they harm him.
It is to this matter that our Rabbis in Bereshith Rabbah¹³⁸93:9. referred when they said: “Rabbi Chiya the son of Rabbi Abba said, ‘When you read the entire plea which Judah made in the presence of his brothers, until you reach the verse, Then Joseph could not refrain himself,¹³⁹Further, 45:1. [you can see that] there was in it an attempt to win the sympathy of Joseph, the sympathy of his brothers, and the sympathy of Benjamin. Joseph’s sympathy [would be gained since Joseph would think], ‘See how he is ready to give his life for Rachel’s children, etc.’”
Similarly I say that all these acts of Joseph are accounted for by his wisdom in the interpretation of the dreams. Otherwise, one should wonder: After Joseph stayed in Egypt for many years and became chief and overseer in the house of a great lord in Egypt, how was it possible that he did not send a single letter to his father to inform him of his whereabouts and comfort him, as Egypt is only about a six-day journey from Hebron? Even if it were a year’s journey, out of respect to his father, he should have notified him, in which case even if the ransom of his person would be ever so costly, he would have redeemed him. But it was because Joseph saw that the bowing down of his brothers, as well as his father and all his family, could not possibly be accomplished in their homeland, and he was hoping that it would be effected in Egypt when he saw his great success there. This was all the more so after he heard Pharaoh’s dream, from which it became clear to him that all of them were destined to come there, and all his dreams would be fulfilled.

AND THOU SHALT DWELL IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN. Joseph knew that his father would not want to stay in that part of the land of Egypt where the royal palace was. Therefore he now informed him that he will settle him in the land of Goshen. The meaning of the expression, Thou and thy children, is that it is connected with the previous verse: Come down unto me…³⁸Verse 9 here. thou and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast.