פירוש על בראשית 46:5

וישאו בני ישראל, the reason why Yaakov’s children are referred to here for the first time as בני ישראל, “the Children of Israel, and not as “the sons of Yaakov,” is that from this moment on their task had become a twofold one, to do that on account of which their father had been accorded his additional name, title, “Israel.” From now on they faced challenges in their conduct vis-à-vis G’d as well as challenges in their conduct vis a vis their environment. This resulted from their becoming strangers in a land in which they had not been born and raised.

Yaakov rose. He forced himself to get up and go. The move was difficult for him because he knew that it marked the beginning of the exile.

וישאו בני ישראל את יעקב אביהם, “The children of Israel carried their father.” This was the occasion when they repaid him for the time at the Yabbok when he had carried all of them across the river. (Genesis 32,25)

Als er in der ungetrübt heiteren Stimmung aufbrach (Raw Hirsch on Genesis 46: 2), heißt es nicht ויקם; jetzt aber bedurfte er der Ermannung; darum: ויקם. Bedeutsam wechseln hier wieder die Namen. Die Familie war in der heitersten Stimmung, hatte keine Ahnung von der in der Ferne andämmernden trüben Zukunft, der sie entgegen zog. Den Vater aber erfüllte der Ernst der Galutherwartung, auf die er hingewiesen worden. Darum heißt es: die Söhne "Israels" führten ihren Vater "Jakob".

את יעקב אביהם. Now that Yaakov was on his way to his final destination while alive, one which would not be followed by more suffering, disappointment, and upheavals, he had a foretaste of what is historically the ultimate destiny of Yaakov as described by the prophet Jeremiah 31,6 for the eventual glorious future of the Jewish people. The prophet describes it as רנו ליעקב שמחה, “cry out in joy for Yaakov.”

That Pharaoh had sent. After Yaakov related to his sons what Hashem had told him, they noted that Pharaoh had also decreed that he be brought to Egypt and a king’s thoughts are determined by Hashem; see Mishlei 21:1.