Commento su Genesi 45:27

.(פג ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH — As evidence that it was Joseph who was sending this message he had informed them of the religious subject he had been studying with his father at the time when he left him, viz., the section of the Heifer (עגלה) that had its neck broken (Deuteronomy 21:6). It is to this that Scripture refers in the words “And he saw (i.e comprehended the meaning of) the עגלות (here to be taken in sense of Heifer) which Joseph had sent — and it does not state “which Pharaoh had sent” (as one would expect if עגלות meant wagons) (Genesis Rabbah 94:3).

AND THEY TOLD HIM ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH. It is my opinion, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, that it was never told to Jacob throughout his entire lifetime that the brothers had sold Joseph. Rather he thought that Joseph had strayed in the field, and those who found him took him and sold him into Egypt. The brothers did not want to tell him of their sin, being afraid for their lives lest he be wroth and curse them as he did to Reuben, Simeon and Levi,⁷²Further, 49: 3-7. while Joseph in his good ethical conduct did not want to tell him. It is for this reason that it is said, And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying: Thy father did command before he died, etc.⁷³Ibid., 50:16. And had Jacob known of this matter, it would have been proper for them to plead before their father at the time of his death to command Joseph by word of his mouth, for he would have granted his father’s request and not rebelled against his word, and they would not have been in danger, nor would they need to feign words out of their own hearts.⁷⁴See Nehemiah 6:8.

את כל דברי יוסף. All the other things Joseph had spoken to them about which have already been recorded in the Torah earlier, such as that he wept while embracing them so that they recognized beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was their brother. את העגלות אשר שלח יוסף, at the instigation of Pharaoh himself.

They told him all the words. They informed him that there would be another five years of famine in order that he would not faint from excessive joy.

ותחי רוח, his spirit which had been as dead from shock, now revived. Our sages (compare Rashi) have said that the “spirit” mentioned in our verse which was revived in Yaakov was the spirit of prophetic insights which had departed from him 22 years ago when Joseph had been sold. We have an ancient tradition, amply documented in history, that in the absence of joy in one’s life a person cannot enjoy such a spirit of prophecy. On the way to Egypt, at Beer Sheva, the prophetic spirit of Yaakov (Yisrael) did indeed become manifest again (46,2)

וירא את העגלות, “he saw the carriages, etc.” then he believed the brothers as he told himself that no one else but a ruler would have been able to send these carriages out of Egypt, and all these precious gifts of food, etc. in the midst of a famine, except if it had been with the full consent of the government. Once he felt joy in his life once more, the holy spirit that had been absent since Joseph’s disappearance overcame him again According to the Midrash which understands the gift of carriages as a reminder by Joseph to his father that after all these years he had not forgotten that the last subject in which his father had instructed him had been the subject known as עגלה ערופה, the heifer which is killed by the judges of the Supreme Court in expiation of any indirect guilt in a unresolved murder on holy soil, we must understand our verse in terms of the two principles known as יש אם למקרא, ויש אם למסורה, that (normally) the unusual spelling of a word draws attention to a double meaning intended by the author. No one would argue that the carriages had not been sent for transporting Yaakov and family. But these “carriages” had an additional significance. This is why the Torah, instead of describing them as having been sent by Pharaoh, describes them as having been sent by Joseph, a slight but significant inaccuracy. It was to alert Yaakov that his son had not forgotten, in spite of his position at the Egyptian court, what had been the last lesson his father had taught him before he had sent him on the errand to see how his brothers were doing in Shechem. [in this instance it is not the spelling but the change in the description of the sender of the carriages. Joseph had actually sent heifers, עגלות, also, a double entendre of the word עגלות. Clearly, these had not been intended to pull the carriages. Ed.] Some commentators believe that the brothers did not transport grain in carriages but on their donkeys, [in small quantities. Ed] for if they had transported wagon-loads of grain, it would have looked as if they were depleting Egypt of its reserves of grain. In order to do this, special permission from Pharaoh himself was needed.

וידברו אליו את כל דברי יוסף אשר דבר אליהם, “they told him all the words Joseph had said to them.” According to Nachmanides what they told Yaakov was as follows: “Your son Joseph has said: ‘G’d appointed me as ruler over the whole land of Egypt, etc. etc. G’d has sent me to be the provider of my whole family, etc.’,” When they told Yaakov all this they failed to mention that Joseph had added the words “you who have sold me to Egypt.” Yaakov was never told of this. He was left under the impression that Joseph had lost his way at the time he tried to locate his brothers at or near Dothan, and that the members of some caravan who had found him had kidnapped him and sold him to Egypt. The brothers on their part did not tell their father about their part in the sale of Joseph as they did not want to incriminate themselves. In addition, they were afraid that if they would tell their father about their share in Joseph’s disappearance he would curse them as he did on his deathbed when he referred to the sins of Reuven, Shimon and Levi.
Joseph, in his humility and dedication to maintaining peaceful relations with his brothers, never told his father either. This leaves us with the problem of why the brothers claimed after Yaakov’s funeral that the latter had asked them to tell Joseph to forgive them (Genesis 50,14). Actually, these words were proof that Yaakov had never known about who had sold Joseph. Had he known about it surely the brothers would have begged their father to intercede with Joseph while he was still alive and to beg Joseph personally to forgive his brothers. Surely Joseph would not have refused such a request by his father.

He gave them as a sign — the subject that he was studying... Rashi is answering the question: “They told him all the words of Yoseif” is written after, “For he could not believe them.” This implies that they came to speak to him [after his initial disbelief] and to prove to him that it was true. What proof did they bring? Perforce, “He gave them a sign... the topic of עגלה ערופה.” I.e., the word העגלות that is written in the verse should be read as הrֶגְלות (the heifers). You might ask: How did Yaakov decide to teach him the subject of עגלה ערופה when they parted? The answer is: When Yoseif left, Yaakov escorted him until the depths of Chevron, as Rashi explained on the verse (37:14), “And he sent Yoseif from the depths of Chevron.” Yoseif said to him, “You should go back.” Yaakov answered, “I am not permitted to go back. A person must escort his fellow [on the way], as it is written in the section of עגלה ערופה (Devarim 21:7): ‘Our hands have not spilled this blood,’ [which means:] ‘We did not dismiss him without escort,’” as Rashi explains there. Consequently, he taught him the subject of עגלה ערופה. When the verse says וירא את העגלות, the word וירא means “understood.” When they told him about the subject of עגלה ערופה, he then understood that [what they had said] was true.

Als sie ihm aber alles ausführlich erzählten, wie sich Josef benommen etc. und er auch die königlichen Wagen sah, da lebte der Geist ihres Vaters Jakob auf, da erhob er sich aus der zwanzigjährigen Trauer, da שרתה עליו שכינה wieder, und darum steht auch sofort

וידברו אליו את כל דברי יוסף, “they said to him all the words Joseph had spoken. According to Rashi, Joseph conveyed to his father a code word that would convince him that only he could have known this. It concerned the subject matter that his father and he had been discussing when he accompanied him part of the way on his fateful journey. It dealt with someone being found dead on the road, someone whom no one knew and who had nothing on him that could identify him. This subject is discussed in chapter 21.of the Book of Deuteronomy. The hint was contained in the translation of the word וישלחהו, “he sent him off,” which the Targum renders in Genesis 12,20 when Pharaoh sent Avraham home as ואלויאו, “he gave him safe conduct.” Joseph had at the time told his father to go home, to which Yaakov had replied that it was a virtuous act to accompany someone departing some distance. He acquainted him at the time with the paragraph quoted from Deuteronomy chapter 21. He even pointed out the fact that failing to accompany a departing guest some distance, could make such a person liable to have to swear a sacred oath that he had not been negligent in this respect. The subject is discussed in the Talmud tractate Sotah chapter nine at length, where it is presumed that the word עגלות was supposed to refer to the heifer that would be the animal offered as atonement for this sin of negligence by the townspeople closest to the murdered person. Other commentators believe that what Yaakov and Joseph had been discussing was the subject of a carriage being pulled by a heifer (compare Sotah, folio 46.) In either event, it seems very forced to see in the carriages Joseph had sent to carry Yaakov’s family a reference to the word עגלה, heifer. It is more plausible that the hint had to do with the carriages used by the Jewish people to transport the parts of the Tabernacle that could not be carried on the shoulders of the Levites. (Compare Numbers 7,3)

את כל דברי יוסף, “all that Joseph had said.” According to Rash,i the reference is to Joseph having sent the carriages, not to Pharaoh having sent them. Only before the arrival of the family in Egypt, were these carriages attributed to the generosity of Pharaoh. (46,5.)

ותחי רוח יעקב THE SPIRIT OF JACOB [THEIR FATHER] REVIVED — The Shechinah that had departed from him, rested again upon him (cf. Onkelos).

ותחי רוח יעקב, seeing that he had remembered that Joseph’s final destiny was to become a ruler. Knowing that the kind of carriages sent by Joseph were not permitted to leave Egypt, he realized that only someone in the position of ruler over the country could have authorized such a departure from Egyptian statues.

ותחי רוח יעקב, he recovered from his fainting spell now that the joy had been tempered by a worrisome element.

ותחי רוח יעקב אביהם, “the spirit of their father Yaakov revived.” Onkelos renders this as ושרת רוח נבואה על יעקב אבוהון, “a prophetic spirit came to rest on their father Yaakov.” The reason Onkelos added this dimension to the meaning of the word is clearly that the Torah could have simply written: “their father Yaakov revived.”

The Divine Presence, which had left him, rested on him. I.e., “spirit” refers to prophecy, as it is written (Divrei Hayamim I 12:18): “The spirit (רוח) clothed Amasai.”

וירא את העגלות....ותחי רוח יעקב אביהם, “when he saw the carriages, their father Yaakov’s spirits revived.” He was aware that previously the Egyptian ruler had absolutely forbidden that any carriages leave the boundaries of Egypt [in order not to enable horses to be exported from Egypt. Ed.] Now Pharaoh had relented and instructed Joseph to bring his family to Egypt by means of carriages. This turnaround convinced Yaakov that he and his family would be welcome in Egypt. He realised that such a command could only have been given by Pharaoh himself. [He had attributed antisemitic feeling in Egypt as dating back to when his grandmother had almost been raped there, had G–d not interfered. (Compare Genesis chapter 12 and the derogatory term used by Potiphar’s wife about the ‘Hebrew’ slave in Genesis 39,18. Ed.]

.אשר שלח יוסף, “that Joseph had sent.” Yaakov reasoned that if the sender had not been my son, no one else would have gone to the trouble to send me carriages to be riding in on my journey . Rashi adds that the consonants in the word עגלה have a dual meaning; they can mean eglah, “a heifer,” or they can mean agalah, “carriage.” Joseph wished to remind his father that the last subject that they had discussed together were the laws pertaining to the heifer that is thrown off a cliff to atone for a murder committed by persons unknown. (Deuteronomy chapter 21) If you were to ask how these carriages were a memorable symbol of their discussion? When the Torah reports Yaakov as having accompanied Joseph part of the descent from the mountain on which Chevron is situated, Joseph is reported to have said to him that he should go back. In other words, there could not have been a connection to the subject of the eglah arufah, where our sages assume that the murdered person had not been accompanied, or he would have become the object of murder. His father had then told him that the subject of accompanying a departing guest would rank highly in the Torah in the future. The reason that Joseph reminded him of that was that it was something to which no one else could have been privy. The almost unbelievable text in Deuteronomy has the Supreme Court members proclaiming that it was not they who had murdered the unknown victim. Who could have dared to accuse them of having done so? No one could have dreamt up such a paragraph in the Torah! Joseph made use of the play on words: eglah/agalah. A different explanation: Joseph had placed heifers on the carriages, which would remind his father of their last conversation in case he had forgotten. Concerning the carriages being once described as Pharaoh’s, and once as Joseph’s: it was forbidden to export cows unless their wombs had been removed so that they could not multiply in other countries. (Talmud, Bechorot, 28). In this instance, an exception was made and express permission from Pharaoh was granted. When the carriages were described as having been sent by Pharaoh, the meaning is that Pharaoh had given his permission, but the animals were owned by Joseph.

ותחי רוח יעקב, “the holy spirit which had departed from Yaakov since Joseph’s disappearance now returned to him.” (Compare Midrash Hagadol 47,47.) As a result, although Joseph was only four or five days’ journey away from them they had no clue where he was for 22 years.