Komentarz do Rodzaju 45:36

ולא יכל יוסף להתאפק לכל הנצבים AND JOSEPH COULD NOT REFRAIN HIMSELF BEFORE ALL THEM THAT STOOD — He could not bear that the Egyptians should stand by him witnessing how his brothers would be put to shame when he made himself known to them.

THEN JOSEPH COULD NOT ‘L’HITHAPEIK’ (REFRAIN HIMSELF) BEFORE ALL THEM THAT STOOD BY HIM. He could not bear that the Egyptians should stand by him witnessing how his brothers would be put to shame when he makes himself known to them. This is the language of Rashi. But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that l’hithapeik means “to bear.” The expression Before all them that stood by him, means until all that stood by him would go out, and so it was necessary that he call out that they be removed. Onkelos, however, translated l’hithapeik as meaning “to strengthen himself.” Similarly: ‘Va’ethapak” (And I forced myself) and offered the burnt-offering.³³I Samuel 13:12. Every other form of hithapkuth in every place is likewise an expression of strengthening.
The correct interpretation in my opinion is that there were present many people of Pharaoh’s house and other Egyptians, pleading with Joseph to pardon Benjamin, for their compassions were deeply stirred by Judah’s pleas, and Joseph could not overcome them all. He then called forth to his servants, “Let every strange man go out from me, because I will speak to them.” And when they had gone out, he wept aloud; and the Egyptians heard, and the people of the house of Pharaoh,³⁴Verse 2 here. who had been expelled from his presence, for they were still in the outer court.
It is possible that the expression, ‘hanitzavim’ (them that stood) by him, means his servants who stood before him, just as: The servant ‘hanitzav’ (that was set) over the reapers;³⁵Ruth 3:6. ‘sarei hanitzavim’ (chief officers);³⁶I Kings 5:30. ‘L’hithyatzeiv’ (To present themselves) before the Eternal.³⁷Job 1:6. And the meaning of Vayikra (and he called) is that he raised his voice with anger and said to his servants, “Cause every man to go out from before me, except these men.” And the reason for the removal is that he expelled them from there so that they should not hear when he mentions the matter of the sale to his brothers because it would be a source of distress to them and also to himself, for the servants of Pharaoh and the Egyptians will say of them: “These are treacheous people who must not live in our land, nor tread in our palaces. They have acted treacherously against their brother, and also dealt treacherously with their father. What will they do to the king and his people?” They would also no longer believe in Joseph.

ולא יכול יוסף להתאפק, up until now Joseph had practiced restraint in every one of his actions and words to the brothers. As we know from 43,31 “he restrained himself and ordered the meal to be served.”

להתאפק לכל הנצבים עליו, he did not have the patience at this stage to deal with the private concerns of all the people who were awaiting to receive an audience and were already lining up in that house.

ולא יכול יוסף להתאפק, Joseph could no longer contain himself, etc. He could not wait until all those present would leave of their own accord, but he called out loudly that everyone other than the brothers be removed from his presence immediately. The Torah adds the words ולא עמד איש אתו, that no one remained with him, to underline the speed with which his servants left his presence.

ולא יכול, the repeated references by Yehudah to the mental anguish experienced by his aged father proved too much for Joseph to maintain his composure. It kindled his sense of compassion also towards his brothers so that he could not restrain himself from weeping. In order not to make a public spectacle of himself in front of people whom it did not directly concern, he ordered הוציאו כל איש מעלי, “remove everybody from my presence! The ones present not only left themselves but mad sure that no one entered until invited. Joseph had said after all, כל איש, “everybody!”

ולא יכול יוסף להתאפק לכל הנצבים, “and Joseph could no longer restrain himself in the presence of all the courtiers around him.” According to Rashi what bothered Joseph was that all the Egyptians would become privy to matters which were private between him and his brothers. He did not want to shame his brothers publicly when he would reveal himself to them, and unavoidably their part in his having been brought to Egypt in the first place would come to light. Nachmanides makes the point that whenever the expression התאפקות occurs it denotes the strength of character of the person so described. The people surrounding Joseph had been so moved by Yehudah’s words that they appealed to Joseph to respond by releasing him. The pressure became so great that even steadfast Joseph could no longer withstand it. He therefore ordered everybody out of the hall in order to continue the dialogue with the brothers (Yehudah) in private. A soon as the Egyptians who had been present left the hall, Joseph broke out in tears, and weeping, something which the Egyptians now outside could not help overhearing. The meaning of the word ויקרא in our verse is not a simple ”reading” or instruction, without the subject raising his voice especially, but Joseph raised his voice angrily in ordering all the Egyptians surrounding him out into the courtyard.

He could not bear that the Egyptians standing by him... The verse means that Yoseif could not bear his brothers’ humiliation in front of all the people, so he said the people must leave. [Rashi knows this] because otherwise, why did he have them leave?

Bisher hatte er, der großen Menschenmasse willen, die zum Einkauf um ihn standen, an sich halten können. Es ging nicht länger.

לכל הנצבים עליו, in the presence of all those surrounding him; he now could no longer restrain his emotions. He called to all his personal servants even to leave the building. This is the plain meaning of the text.

בהתודע יוסף, when Joseph revealed himself. The letter ב before התודע means "on account of" (his revealing himself). In order for the brothers to accept Joseph's claim that he was their brother, the matter of his sale had to be aired. Joseph wanted to spare his brothers the embarassment of becoming known as people who had sold their brother, hence he had to clear everyone out of the room. When the Torah mentions immediately afterwards that Joseph wept loudly when he revealed himself and all of Egypt heard about it, this is a clear indication that Joseph was not concerned that he could be overheard. He was only concerned that his brothers' part in all this should not be overheard.

(3) HE CRIED OUT. To his servants.

(4) HAVE ALL WITHDRAW. My attendants from the house. This is the basic plain meaning.

וישמע בית פרעה AND THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH HEARD IT — The house of Pharaoh means his servants and the members of his household. בית here does not mean an actual house (so that the words would mean “and one heard it in the house of Pharaoh; cf. 5:16), but it is similar to (1 Kings 12:21) בית ישראל “the house of Israel”, or בית יהודה the house of Judah”, meaning the people of Judah. old French maisniede English all the inmates of a house.

וישמעו מצרים, the people of the capital. Subsequently, the people in Pharaoh’s palace also heard the news.

וישמעו מצרים, the Egyptians who had left the house heard the sound of weeping, and the matter spread like a wildfire until it came to the attention of Pharaoh’s servants that Joseph was crying.

Here, the reference is not to a literal house... Otherwise, it would not be vocalized וַיִשְמַע, but rather וַיִשָמַע, [so it would mean, “It was heard in the house of Pharaoh”]. (Maharshal)

ויתן את קלו, gab sie frei, hielt sie nicht mehr zurück. "Es hörte es Ägypten es hörte es das Königshaus!" Es ist dies an sich ein Zeichen seiner hohen Stellung, das ganze Land, der ganze Hof nimmt Teil an einem Vorgang, von dem man noch nichts weiter weiß, als dass er in lautes Weinen ausgebrochen. Überhaupt aber tritt in der ganzen Erzählung das Weinen häufig hervor. Wohl kann man auch Tränen heucheln; aber so ein rechtes Weinen, נתן קול das ist ein Siegel des Gemütes, ein Siegel der Aufrichtigkeit.

נבהלו מפניו [FOR] THEY WERE AMAZED AT HIS PRESENCE — out of shame.

העוד אבי חי?, “how could he have survived so many years of worry over my fate?”

ויאמר, After Joseph had finished weeping he told his brothers אני יוסף.

העוד אבי חי?, “is my father still alive?” Even though he had asked them the same question already in 43,27 and the brothers had answered in the affirmative, his question now concerned the state of his health, not the mere fact that Yaakov was still alive. The word חי therefore has to be equated with בריא, healthy. It is also possible that he did not really ask this question in order to receive additional information, but merely to have an opening to speak to the brothers, instead of as until now, about “your father,” but about “my father,” i.e. their common father. This was a ploy to establish close personal contact with his brothers.

העוד אבי חי, lebt mein Vater wirklich noch?

ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אותו, “and his brothers were unable to answer him;” Rabbi Joseph Kara, explains this line as follows: the brothers on the one hand believed him when he said that his name was Joseph; however they could not believe that he was the Joseph whom they had sold into slavery, and that in the interval he had risen to such an exalted position, ruler over mighty Egypt. (Compare how Joseph is described in Psalms 105,17-18)

כי נבהלו מפניו, “for they were frightened of him.” They were afraid of what he might do to them as reprisals for what they had done to him.

They were dumbfounded, remembering that they had sold him and now being utterly ashamed, unable to face him.

גשו נא אלי STEP NEAR TO ME, I PRAY YOU — He saw that they recoiled and he said to himself “Now my brothers feel ashamed”. He therefore called to them and showed them that he was circumcised. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

Yosef said "גשו נא אלי"-"come close to me". He showed them that he was circumcised. By doing this he wanted to show them his righteousness - that even though he was among people who were indulged with forbidden marriages, he didn't do the same. We find that it says in Tehillim "שישראל נגאלו ממצרים בזכות ד' דברים"- "that Bnei Yisrael got redeemed from Mitzrayim in the merit of 4 things" (1) they didn't change their clothes (2) they didn't change their names (3) they didn't speak Loshon Hara (4) they didn't intermarry. So too, here, Yosef let his brothers know in which merits they would be taken out of the future Galus and he is hinting to them that he is complete in all of those 4 matters. He didn't change his name, as he said: "I am Yosef". He didn't change his language, as he spoke to them in Loshon Hakodesh. He didn't intermarry, as he showed them that he was circumcised. He didn't speak Loshon Hara, as he said "come close to me "- because he didn't want Benyamin to hear about the selling and he didn't tell his father anything either. Yosef is also hinting to them that because of their sin of selling him, their children will be strangers. Like it says: "and now dont be sad", meaning, specifically NOW because in the future you will be sad. Therefore Yosef is also hinting to them about the Geula and the things that will bring the Geula. Some say that he is hinting to the ten killed leaders, that in the future they will be sad over the selling.

גשו נא אלי, so that not all the people hearing me cry can see that it is I who is crying.

ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו גשו נא אלי, Joseph said to his brothers: "please come closer to me." The reason he asked them to come close was so that when he would mention the fact that they had sold him he could whisper. Only after they had come closer did he say: "I am your brother Joseph whom you sold, etc." Joseph was careful to say all this in a whisper although he had sent everybody outside. He was familiar with the proverb that walls have ears.

גשו נא אלי, seeing his brothers in a state of shock, Joseph called to them and encouraged them to come closer and to stop being afraid of him. According to Bereshit Rabbah 93,8 he showed them that he was circumcised in order that they should believe him when he claimed to be their brother. Everything else he told them is quite clear and does not require further explanation.

גשו נא אלי, “please come closer to me.” He now changed his demeanour and spoke to them as an equal, in a friendly manner. It is also possible that he did not want to remind them aloud of the fact that they had sold him, and therefore he made them approach him closely so that he could whisper to them. He did not want the people in the courtyard to overhear this part of their conversation. According to Rashi, the reason he wanted them to approach him closely was to show them that he was circumcised, just like them, to prove that he was who he had just said that he was. I do not think this would have proved anything as all the male descendants of Yishmael were also in the habit of performing circumcision on themselves, albeit at the age of 13. Moreover, according to the Midrash, the Egyptians had adopted the rite of circumcision at the advice of Joseph.

And showed them that he was circumcised. You might ask: How does Rashi know that he said “Come near to me” because he wanted to show them the circumcision? Perhaps he saw them moving back, so he said, “Come near.” The answer is: Rashi infers this because it is written גשו אלי rather than קרבו אלי, and גשו means coming close. Why did they have to come so near to him? Perforce, because he showed them the circumcision. We need not ask: How does Rashi know that he saw them recoiling backwards? Perhaps he said “come close” only to show them the circumcision. For [the answer is:] If so, why did he say, “Please?” It is understandable if he saw them recoiling backwards, and he said “please” in order to speak to them tenderly so they would not feel ashamed. But if they stayed in place, why did he say “please” to them, using an expression of pleading?

גשו נא אלי, ויגשו, “please come physically closer to me; they did so.” Seeing that prior to this Joseph had ordered everybody in the hall with them to leave the hall, (45,1) and the Egyptians outside now trying very hard to listen to what went on inside, Joseph now tried to put more physical distance between them and himself and the brothers. He did not mind them to hear him ask the brothers: “is my father still alive?” He did not want them to hear the words: “you have sold me,” however, in order not to embarrass them publicly, and because he intended to settle Yaakov’s whole family in Egypt. If his employees had heard him refer to this, they would have objected to such wicked people settling in Egypt. They would conclude that if these people had been capable of selling their own brother, how much worse would they deal with Egyptian neighbours that were not related to them by blood? This is why he asked them to step closer so that the balance of the conversation could be conducted in whispers. An alternate interpretation: first Joseph told his brothers that he was their brother; next he asked if his father was still alive; He did not want to raise the subject of their having sold him in the presence of his brother Binyamin who had been unaware of that. He knew that this would greatly embarrass his brothers, and that Binyamin upon hearing of this would surely report it to their father. He therefore motioned the brothers to move over so that he could continue the conversation where Binyamin could not overhear it. [This editor cannot believe that Binyamin was in the same hall, as surely he had been taken into custody after the goblet had been found in his sack. He only released him in verse 13 when he instructed the brothers to return forthwith to the land of Canaan. Ed.]

גשו נא אלי “please come closer to me.” He told them about the subject of how he had been sold, in a whisper, so that bystanders could not hear him. A different exegesis of these words: they were asked to approach him as they could do so; he, Joseph, being only one, could not come closer to some of them without at the same time distancing himself from some others. Besides, he was not concerned about his dignity but more about theirs. According to Rashi, he asked them to come near, so that he could show them, and them only, that he had been circumcised. There was no chance that this could have been misinterpreted as causing the brothers to believe that he was a Yishmaelite, who also perform the rite of circumcision on themselves, as they only performed this rite at the age of 13, as had their forefather Yishmael, and who leave a membrane around the glans untouched as distinct from the Hebrews who through being circumcised at an early age remove it when the fact that it has been removed remains clearly visible. Even though, according to Rashi, the Egyptians at that time also had been circumcised by a decree from Joseph, but this was done primarily by the poor who needed to purchase grain from him, but since Joseph was wealthy, the only reason why he was circumcised would be because he was a Hebrew. Another exegesis, since the brothers did not know that the Egyptians had been circumcised by Joseph, this mark would identify him as a Hebrew beyond doubt.

אשר מכרתם, the one whom you have sold! By mentioning this episode you will realise that I can be none other than your brother Joseph, for who else knows about this? The people who bought me as a slave had no idea that I was the sellers’ brother.

אני יוסף אחיכם, "I am your brother Joseph." The reason he repeated the fact that he was Joseph a second time was that he felt there were two reasons why the brothers had not yet responded to him. 1) They were afraid of him and could not answer him just as a thief cannot answer when he is found out suddenly. 2) They simply did not believe him when he claimed to be Joseph. He said: "I am Joseph your brother, does my father still live, etc.?" in order to dispel their fear of him. He stressed the word your brother in that sentence. In the next sentence, after he had formed the impression that they did not believe him, he stressed the words your brother whom you have sold, indicating that even at the time they had sold him he had not ceased feeling like a brother towards them. He added the words "whom you have sold to Egypt" as proof that it was he, Joseph, for not even a prophet could have knowledge of that fact except he himself (compare Yalkut Shimoni 142).

למחיה FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE — i.e. that I may be to you for a preservation of life.

כי למחיה שלחני, G’d has orchestrated all that has happened between us for your own good so that by my providing sustenance in Egypt you will benefit therefrom.

ועתה אל תעצבו, "and now do not be sad, etc." We must first understand what Joseph meant when he said: "and now;" what did he want to exclude? Why did he tell the brothers neither to be sad nor to be angry? Besides, psychologically speaking, the feeling of sadness is the opposite of the feeling of anger. A sad person is humble whereas an angry person is arrogant, selfrighteous. Why would Joseph ask the brothers to be neither?

אל תעצבו, lasset den Gedanken an die Art und Weise, wie ich hierhergekommen, euch nicht die Freude über mein Hiersein, das doch ein Glück ist, trüben, rauben. עצב ist ja das Gefühl eines gezwungenen Entsagens und Verzichtens. Ihr könnt euch ruhig dem freudigen Gefühle des Glückes hingeben. — 1/בעיגיפם אל יחר, sonst immer חרה ל־, kommt in dieser Verbindung — חרה ein Gemütszustand, עינים ein Verstandesurteil — nur verneinend hier und oben Kap.31, 35 vor, und spricht in beiden Fällen aus, dass das, was dem Gemüte חרה ist, durch Einsicht des Verstandes, בעינים, in einem anderen Lichte erscheinen möge. Eurem Gefühle kann ich nicht auferlegen, dass es euch nicht leid sein soll; denn Unrecht ist Unrecht, und das Gefühl ist ein berechtigtes. Allein euer Verstand soll auch dieses Bewusstsein mildern, dadurch, "dass ihr es mit anderen Augen ansehen" lernt, so wie er es ja schon längst anders anzuschauen gewöhnt war. Möglich, dass auch das בי nicht: dass, sondern: "denn" bedeutet: denn ihr habt mich ja hierher verkauft! Ihr seid ja die mittelbare Ursache der großen glücklichen Stellung, in welcher ihr mich jetzt hier findet.

We must assume that Joseph meant that he was well aware that at present the brothers were saddened by the fact that they had sold him as they had indicated at the time they said to each other: "but we are guilty, etc." We also know from Bereshit Rabbah 91,3 that the brothers were prepared to pay a very substantial ransom to buy Joseph's freedom when they found him in Egypt. Taking this into consideration Joseph told the brothers: "do not be sad now seeing that you have located the subject of your search." He hinted that he was aware that they felt positive towards him and had been sincerely saddened by what they had done to him.

He added that they should not become angry at themselves for having set in motion all the developments which had led to this reunion. He supported his argument by saying that actually what the brothers had done had resulted in their now being able to rely on him to see them through the famine, and not become impoverished, etc.

כי זה שנתים הרעב means FOR THESE TWO YEARS OF FAMINE have passed of the years of famine that are to come in the land.

FOR THESE TWO YEARS HATH THE FAMINE BEEN IN THE LAND. The reason why he mentioned to them what had transpired, which they themselves also knew, was to state that a land which has gone through two years of famine, in which the people had consumed all which they possessed, resulting in exceedingly high prices, and which was destined to experience five more years of famine, could offer them no sustenance whatsoever — had G-d not dispatched me before you.

כי זה שנתים הרעב, “for these two years of famine, etc.” He reminded them of the years of famine that had already passed, and that they had already consumed all their reserves although there were five more years of famine in store for the country. How could they have hoped to survive the next five years if G’d in His providence had not sent Joseph ahead of them to Egypt in order to be able to provide for his family?

להחיות לבם לפלטה גדלה ist schwer zu verstehen. Das Objekt von החיה wird nie mit ל ausgedrückt. Ob es heißt: das Land für euch zu eurer großen Rettung zu erhalten? Der Zweck dieser großen Gottesveranstaltung waret ihr.

לאב A FATHER — he made me his colleague and he bestowed on me the dignity of “Father of the king.”

כי האלוקים, “only G’d.”

ועתה לא אתם שלחתם, now that you have seen G’d’s purpose a purpose that could not have been achieved without all the various stages preceding it, it is no more than reasonable to suppose that also the further distant causes which led up to all this were part of G’d’s plan.

ועתה, לא אתם שלחתם אותי הנה, "Now, you did not send me here, etc." Joseph explained why he told the brothers not to worry that he still hated them for what they had done to him and how cruelly they had treated him. He implied that it was true that at the time he certainly had not understood why they could have harboured so much resentment against him; he had had reason to hate them for that; ועתה, now, things had become clear.

לאב, die Grundbedeutung von אב rad. אבה, einwilligen, ist ja: derjenige, dem das Veto zusteht, ohne dessen Einwilligung ein anderer nichts tun darf; somit hier: Ratgeber.

לאב לפרעה, as an adviser to the king.

Having reflected on all that had transpired since the brothers had sold him, Joseph had realised that it had been part of an overall design orchestrated by G'd. The brothers had merely been G'd's agents, though they did not realise it at the time. It would not be appropriate for him to continue to feel hatred towards them.

ולאדון לכל ביתו, in charge of the entire palace.

Perhaps this consideration enabled the brothers to face their father who would now have to become aware that it was the brothers who had caused him to mourn the loss of Joseph all these years. In view of the outcome, the brothers did not even need to feel shame when they faced their father. It is quite unlikely that once Jacob had become aware that Joseph was the ruler in Egypt that he should not have made every effort to find out how Joseph came to be in Egypt and what happened to cause his striped coat to become blood-drenched at the time. The only argument that would reconcile Jacob and his sons with what had happened was that it had become evident that G'd's plan had been executed step by step. There was no point in second-guessing why and how G'd had brought all this about. Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 86,1 have already said that Jacob had originally been meant to descend to Egypt in chains, but that the sale of Joseph enabled him to arrive in Egypt in style, i.e. riding in Pharaoh's chariot.

ומושל בכל ארץ מצרים, and absolute ruler in the whole land of Egypt concerning national and international affairs.

ועלו אל אבי AND GO UP TO MY FATHER — he said “go up” because the land of Israel is situated higher than all the neighbouring countries (Kiddushin 69a).

מהרו, so that he will not worry and agonise any longer.

רדה אלי, “come down to me!” he did not say: רד “come down”, which has the the numerical value of 204, but said רדה is the numerical value of 209, to indicate that the 210 years decreed for the Israelites stay in Egypt had already started i.e. we are already within the 210 years decreed for the Israelites stay in Egypt so that the exile would not be lengthened by Yaakov and family resettling in Egypt without delay. There are only 209 of these years left.

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.

וישבת בארץ גושן, “and you can reside on the province of Goshen.” Joseph knew full well that his father would not want to reside in Egypt proper, in the capital; this is why he assigned to province of Goshen to his family.

והיית קרוב אלי, “and you will be close to me.” The land of Goshen is close to the capital of Egypt. Joseph was well aware that his father would not want to reside in the capital; this is why he arranged for him to live in Goshen.
Concerning the words: וכלכלתי אותך שם... פן תורש, “I will provide for you there. so that you will not become impoverished,” (verse 11) the meaning of these words is: “if you remain in Canaan you will surely become impoverished during the next five years of famine.” Joseph implied that he would not be able to look after his family economically while they were in the land of Canaan as he would be suspected of sending them grain in order to trade in it on the local market and to profiteer through their connection to him. Furthermore, they would suspect that the export of such grain supplies to his family were only a prelude to his own return there. On the other hand, if they would all come to Egypt everyone would know that he had no reason to return to Canaan and that he was not amassing a secret fortune in order to enable him to leave the country.

פן תורש — The Targum renders this by דלמא תתמסכן LEST THOU BE IMPOVERISHED, for the verb is of the same root as we find in (1 Samuel 2:7) “The Lord maketh poor (מוריש) and maketh rich”.

LEST THOU COME TO POVERTY, THOU, AND THY HOUSEHOLD. Joseph said this by way of respect for his father. To his brothers he said, For G-d did send me before you to preserve life,³⁹Verse 5 here. and to give you a remnant,⁴⁰Verse 7 here. but to his father he did not want to say so. Instead, he said, “that if you will delay in the land of Canaan you will be impoverished for I could not send you much food from the royal storehouse as they will suspect me of selling it there in order to accumulate treasures of money and then return to my land and to my birthplace. But when you come here, and they will know that you are my father and brothers, the king will give me permission to sustain you.”

פן תורש, so that you will not be driven from the land due to the famine. The root ירש of which the word תורש is a derivative occurs in the sense of disposing, expelling in Deut. 9,3 והורשתם ואבדתם מהר, “you will expel them and destroy them quickly.” It also occurs in a slightly different form in Deut. 7,23 פן תוקש בו, “so that you will not be trapped by it.” There the root is יקש. [as long as two of the root letters match there is a strong conceptual linkage between the two roots. Ed.]

פן תורש, on account of the dearth of grazing land in the land of Canaan. (compare 47,4 “there is no grazing land for our flocks.”)

Lest you become impoverished. Leaving the Holy Land was preferable to becoming impoverished in his Torah knowledge through the vicissitudes of famine.

פן תורש אתה וביתך, “lest both you and your family will become impoverished.” When he had uttered the same concern to his brothers directly, he had phrased it more crassly, warning them of the imminent danger of dying from the famine. When speaking to his father, he used more diplomatic, inoffensive wording.” (compare verse 7 “in order to keep you alive.”)

From the same root as מוריש ומעשיר. But it is not from the root of destruction and expulsion, as in אכנו בדבר ואורישנו (Bamidbar 14:12). That cannot be the meaning, as Yoseif had [enough] to feed all the people during the seven years of famine.

בלבל ,אבלבל, verdoppelt von בלל: umfassen. Verwandt mit גלל: rollen, etwas um seinen Mittelpunkt drehen, daher: Kügel, Hirnschädel, Rad. Davon בלל: eine Peripherie um einen Mittelpunkt bilden, d. h. einen Gegenstand das ganze Ausmaß der ihm innewohnenden Kraft als seinen Inhalt allseitig finden lassen. Daher auch בל, der ganze Inbegriff, ganz, alles. Daher בלבל: etwas ganz umfassen, seinem ganzen Inhalte nach ganz in sich aufnehmen. מי יבלבל יום באו: wer kann die Bedeutung des Tages seines Kommens ganz umfassen, ganz in sich aufnehmen, oder: ihm seine ganze Peripherie zuerkennen, d. h. das ganze Ausmaß seiner Wirkungen bestimmen. Daher aber auch, wie hier, jemandes Angelegenheiten ganz in sich aufnehmen, oder jemandem den ganzen Umfang des ihm Gehörigen gewähren, d. h.: ihn versorgen.

Wiederholt weist Josef die Brüder darauf hin, wie diese ganze Kette von Ereignissen offenbar sich als Gottesfügung darstellt und in der Tat führt uns wohl kaum eine andere Geschichte in gleichem Maße die Weise der göttlichen Providenz vor Augen. Sie ist der lebendigste Kommentar jenes großartigen Spruches salomonischer Weisheit: רב מחולל בל ושובר בסיל ושובר עוברים Proo. 26, 9. "Der große Weltenmeister) erzeugt aus dem kleinsten Anfang alles; wie physisch, so auch sozial, lässt er alles aus kleinsten Keimen werden. Er ist es, der alles zu kreißender Geburt führt und hat als solcher Toren, und hat als solcher Verbrecher in seinem Dienste". Ohne es zu wissen und zu wollen, dient Ihm auch die Torheit und die Sünde. In dieser Geschichte liegen die Fäden offen, in anderen nicht; aber an dieser lernen wir die Gänge Gottes.

An den "zwei Loth Seide", wie die Weisen es ausdrücken, die Jakob an Josefs Rockverbrämung spendete, ging der ברית בין הבתרים in Erfüllung. In Kanaan wäre die Jakobsfamilie schwerlich ein Volk geworden. Wie sie heranwuchs, hätte sie sich unter die Bevölkerung zerstreut. Um zum Volke zu werden, ohne sich zu vermischen, dazu musste sie in die Mitte einer Nation kommen, der das ganze jüdische Wesen national widerstand, und dies war Mizrajim. So war später der Fanatismus, der die Ghetti baute, das wirksamste Mittel in Gottes Hand, um uns von aller Unkultur des Mittelalters fern zu halten und im engen Umkreis Familiensinn und Familienglück und Gemeindesinn bei uns zu pflegen. Um uns in Mizrajim eine gesonderte Provinz zum Boden der Entwicklung zu sichern, musste ein Sprössling voran und "Vater" des Pharao und Gebieter des Landes werden; und damit kein Ägypter dem Jwri vorwerfen könnte, ihr gehört nicht hierher, ihr seid hier nicht geboren, mussten alle Ägypter die Scholle, wo ihre Wiege gestanden, verlassen und selber Fremdlinge auf dem Boden werden, den sie fortan bebauten.

So hatte auch bereits die wunderbare, ohnehin so folgenreiche Strömung der Völkerwanderung Europa fast überall mit Fremdlingen bevölkert, als der Jakobsstamm seine große Wanderung in die Zerstreuung unter die europäische Menschheit antrat, und dem Verweisungsdekrete germanischer Unduldsamkeit: "Ihr gehört nach Palästina hin!" stellt die Geschichte unerbittlich die Gegenfrage entgegen: "Hat denn deines Urahns Wiege hier gestanden?"

Und endlich war das erste wie das letzte Galut aus קנאה und שנאת חנם entsprungen, und durch sie der harte Schicksalstiegel motiviert, in dem sie alle geschmolzen und in der Schule des herbsten Unglückes zum Gefühle der Gleichheit und Brüderlichkeit geläutert wurden. —

והנה עיניכם ראות AND, BEHOLD, YOUR EYES SEE my glory, and that I am your brother, and further כי פי המדבר אליכם THAT IT IS MY MOUTH THAT SPEAKETH TO YOU in the Holy Language) (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

THAT IT IS MY MOUTH THAT SPEAKETH UNTO YOU. I.e., in the Holy Language. This is the opinion of the commentators,⁴¹Rashi, Ibn Ezra and R’dak. and it is also the translation of Onkelos. It is possible that Joseph said so to them for plausibility and in order to be conciliatory, for the fact that a person in Egypt speaks the Holy Language is not proof that he is Joseph. It is my opinion that the Holy Language was the language of Canaan for Abraham did not bring it there from Ur of the Chaldees or Haran, as they spoke Aramaic there, as is attested to by “the heap.”⁴²Above, 31:47. In Aramaic, Laban named it Yegar-sahaduth (the heap of witness). Thus it is clear that Aramaic was the spoken language in Abraham’s birthplace. Now it was not the language of one man alone; rather, it was the language of the entire land of Canaan, and many people in Egypt knew it, since Canaan was nearby. We would particularly expect knowledge of languages in the case of a ruler for it is usual for kings and rulers to be linguistic. It is just as you see in the case of Nebuchadnezzar who said in the Holy Language, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream,⁴³Daniel 2:3. because there were the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and Chaldeans,⁴⁴Ibid., Verse 2. people of many languages, as well as from Israel, and they all would understand him. They, however, answered him in Aramaic, as it says, Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in Aramaic,⁴⁵Ibid., Verse 4. as they were close to him, and sat first in the kingdom,⁴⁶Esther 1:14. and they had the permission to speak to the king. Moreover, just as Joseph came from Canaan to Egypt, many others also came. Besides, the brothers had greater proof that he was Joseph when he mentioned his name and the circumstance of the sale, saying, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.⁴⁷Verse 4 here.
The correct interpretation in my opinion is that Joseph is saying: “And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that I, the ruler and lord of all Egypt, am the one telling you with my mouth that I am your brother, and command you to bring down my father to me in order to sustain him. This being so, you will tell my father of all the glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen⁴⁸Verse 13 here. with your eyes, and you will hurry and bring him down to me for the words I have spoken are true, and I have the power to deliver him and to keep him alive in the famine.”⁴⁹See Psalms 33:19. This is analogous to saying, “for I have spoken my word.” In the Gemara of Tractate Megillah,⁵⁰16b. the Rabbis have said: “As my mouth, so is my heart,” [meaning: “Just as I indicate no hatred against you in my speech, so is my heart free of hatred against you].”

כי פי המדבר אליהם, whereas up until now Joseph had addressed them through his interpreter, now he demonstrated that he had a complete mastery of the Hebrew tongue. The principal message Joseph wanted his brothers to take back to their father was that they had not only heard from others about Joseph, etc., but seen with their own eyes, heard with their own ears that he was unmistakably their long lost brother. His command of the Hebrew language would prove this better than anything he might have heard from a third party. Therefore he instructed them

ועיני אחי בנימין, who had been unaware that Joseph had been sold.

והנה עיניכם, you can recognise my features with your own eyes. You can also identify me by my speaking Hebrew.

כי פי המדבר אליכם, “that it is I who am talking to you.” He emphasized that as of now he was addressing them directly, in Hebrew, not through an interpreter, as he had been doing up until he had revealed himself. Nachmanides writes that the fact that Joseph suddenly admitted being able to speak Hebrew would not prove that he was their long lost brother. The fact that he mentioned his real name to them, plus the details of how he had been sold were far more potent arguments to establish his true identity in their eyes. Personally, (still Nachmanides writing) I believe that the true interpretation of what Joseph is saying in our verse is: “your own eyes as well as the eyes of my brother Binyamin are living testimony to my august position here in Egypt, and in my capacity of your brother and the de facto ruler of Egypt, I command you to move to Egypt and to join me here. The only reason I command you to tell our father of my position here and the esteem in which I am held, is to persuade you to come here so that I can provide for you during the remaining years of the famine. If I did not entertain feelings of love and fondness towards you, there would be absolutely no reason for me to speak to you in this fashion.”

I have no animosity toward my brother Binyomin... Question: How does this connect to, “‘That I speak to you’ in the Holy Language”? (Nachalas Yaakov)

ועיני אחי בנימין, “and the eyes of my brother Binyamin;” if you do not wish to reveal the fact that I had been sold on account of the oath to that effect that you have sworn, my brother Binyamin was not present at that time, nor has had any knowledge of it, he can reveal the details to my father. Another explanation for the relevance of what Binyamin saw at that time: Binyamin had much more reason to have assumed that I must be dead, seeing that he was not present and had not subsequently become aware of my having been sold, and he therefore needs convincing more than you do. Besides up until now when I only communicated with you through an interpreter, you could have doubted this. Now that you hear me speak in Hebrew, you should no longer doubt that I am who I claim to be.

ועיני אחי בנימין [YOUR EYES] AND THE EYES OF MY BROTHER BENJAMIN — he mentions them separately and alike to imply: just as I harbour no hatred against Benjamin, my brother, for he was no party to selling me, so is my heart free from hatred against you (Megillah 16b).

כי פי המדבר אליכם, without the need of an interpreter. At the time when I had been sold, no one spoke our language except our family. The buyers were Ishmaelites and Midianites, each with their own language

כי פי המדבר אליכם, for I am speaking to you without the services of an interpreter. I used his services only in order to conceal my true identity from you.

והגדתם את כל כבודי במצרים ואת כל אשר ראיתם. The reason why he included mention of the honour he enjoyed in Egypt was to convince his father that he had no cause to worry if he moved to Egypt as a new immigrant, an alien; his son Joseph had the power to ensure that he would be treated with the respect and deference due him.

ומהרתם והורדתם את אבי הנה, in order to afford him the joy to see all this with his own eyes.

את כל כבודי, “all the honour I enjoy;” he assured Yaakov that he had the wish and the power to make life comfortable for him in Egypt.

ויפל על צוארי בנימן אחיו ויבך AND HE FELL UPON HIS BROTHER BENJAMIN’S NECK AND WEPT — for the Temples which were to be in Benjamin’s territory and which would ultimately be laid in ruins (Genesis Rabbah 93:12).

ויפול, seeing that Joseph and Binyamin were full brothers the bond between them was stronger. They cried one after another.

He fell on his necks: On both sides of his neck, he fell on one side of his neck and then on the other side out of great love. 

For the two Temples which were destined to be... [According to Re’m, Rashi knows that it alludes to two] because it is written צוארֵי (plural) rather than צואריו. And [Rashi knows that it alludes to the Temple because] it says in Shir Hashirim (7:5), “Your neck (צוארך) is like an ivory tower.” Just as there, צוארך refers to the Temple, so too here, צוארי refers to the Temple.

על צוארי (he embraced him) around his neck; both sides of his neck. Seeing he embraced him from both sides, the word for “neck” appears in the plural mode.

ובנימין בכה על צואריו AND BENJAMIN WEPT ON HIS NECK — for the Tabernacle of Shiloh which was to be in Joseph’s territory and which would ultimately be laid in ruins (Genesis Rabbah 93:12).

For the Tabernacle of Shiloh... You might ask: Perhaps this phrase follows its plain meaning, [and Binyomin’s crying was not over the Tabernacle’s destruction]? Rashi’s explanation about Yoseif’s crying is understandable because there it is written צוארֵי, the plural form, rather than צואריו. But here it is written צואריו. Perhaps it follows its plain meaning. Nachalas Yaakov answers: Re’m explained at length [citing Midrash Rabbah 92:12. See] there. Also Matnos Kehunah [on that Midrash] writes that [Chazal’s interpretation is because] צואריו is singular. However, they both overlooked the Gemara in Megillah 16b which also states [as the Midrash Rabbah:] “How many necks did Binyomin have?!” [thus implying that the interpretation is based on the switch between צוארֵי and צואריו]. However, Rashi explains that this line should be deleted from the Gemara’s text because it is normal for Scripture to refer to צואר in the plural form. Accordingly, Re’m’s efforts were in vain [because Rashi states that Scripture’s switching between plural and singular of צואר is not a basis of expounding the word]. Rather, it seems that the [following] change in wording is the basis for the exposition. Regarding the [other] brothers it is merely written that Yoseif wept upon them. But with Binyomin it mentions צואר (neck). Therefore צואר is to be expounded: it hints to the Temple, which is called צוארך, as mentioned above. The reason that two Temples are mentioned for Binyomin and one for Yoseif is because in fact it was so, not because this was learned from plural and singular forms [of the word צואר].

ואחרי כן AND AFTER THAT — after they saw that he wept and realized that he was peaceably inclined towards them, דברו אחיו אתו HIS BRETHREN SPAKE WITH HIM — For at first they felt abashed before him.

ויבך עליהם, He cried over them, etc. After the brothers observed Joseph crying over them they were able to respond to him and they said to him whatever was on their minds. After all, everything that Joseph had said to them up to that point might have been designed only to alleviate the brothers' feeling ashamed of their conduct. It was only after he kissed them and wept over the years they had been separate that the brothers recognised Joseph's truly good character and that he was a true brother that they were able to speak to him naturally. Whereas Joseph's original burst of weeping could have been attributed to his reunion with Benjamin, the latest burst of weeping definitely concerned his reunion with all of them.

ויבך עליהם, but the brothers did not cry being too ashamed to do so ואחרי כן דברו אחיו אתו, seeing that he had wept and kissed them they knew that he did not harbour a grudge against them and they now asked him about what had happened to him during all the years since he had left his father’s house.

And he kissed all his brothers and cried on them and after that etc.... That he saw them terrified when they saw that the dreams came true per his prophesy. And that (they thought) after this maybe Joseph interprets the dream of eleven starts bowing to him as a permanent state, that hashem decreed them all his slaves (in perpetuity). After this they could not speak to him face to face. But he showed them by kissing them and crying as one brother does over another. They understood that he interpreted his dreams as having already been fulfilled and that he no longer believed he was their master, God Forbid. And now they spoke to him.

והקל נשמע בית פרעה AND THE FAME THEREOF WAS HEARD IN PHARAOH’S HOUSE — It is the same as בבית, in the house of Pharaoh and here it denotes the actual house (cp. 45:2).

JOSEPH’s BRETHREN ARE COME. The intent thereof is that Joseph told the house of Pharaoh that he had honorable brothers in the land of the Hebrews, for he had been stolen away from there,⁵¹See above, 40:15. and now the Egyptians heard that Joseph’s brothers had come as he said.

This was good in the eyes of Pharaoh. He reasoned that if Yoseif’s family settled there he would have more of a stake in the country’s welfare and would perform his duties more diligently.

והקול נשמע בית פרעה, the report reached Pharaoh's palace, etc. Inasmuch as the Torah (verse 2) had already reported Joseph as crying out aloud, the Torah now had to report that the reason for Joseph's strange behaviour had become clear. Pharaoh and his servants now realised that a great reunion had taken place.

וייטב, the Egyptians were very relieved to see that Joseph was the member of a distinguished family. Avraham’s family was an internationally known family.

באו אחי יוסף, “Joseph’s brothers have arrived;” he had always told Pharaoh that he had a number of brothers who occupied distinguished positions in the land of Canaan, and that he had been kidnapped from there. Now, when the people in Pharaoh’s entourage heard about the arrival of Joseph’s brothers, they rejoiced, as it confirmed Joseph’s status prior to his appointment, something that had been somewhat clouded up until now.

The same as בבית פרעה — in Pharaoh’s house, and here it is meant literally. You might ask: Why is v. 2 different? There, Rashi said that וישמע בית פרעה does not mean a house literally, but the people of the house. But this is not a question. There, it could not mean a house literally, because it is written וַיִשְמַע, in the active form, [meaning: “Pharaoh’s house heard.”] This cannot be [understood literally. If it meant there as it does here] it would have said וַיִשָמַע, in the passive form, conveying that it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, as it is written here: “The news was heard (נשמע) in Pharaoh’s house.” (R. Meir Stern)

Dass auch Pharaos Diener sich mit Josefs Freude und mit dem Umstand freuten, dass er durch das Band der Familie nun dauernd dem Lande erhalten blieb, zeugt für Josefs hohe Sittlichkeit, die ihm selbst im Kreise der Staatsdienerschaft keine Neider aufkommen ließ.

AND IT PLEASED PHARAOH WELL, AND HIS SERVANTS. For it was a disgrace to them to be ruled by a stranger, a servant [of whom it is said], out of prison he came forth to be king,⁵²Ecclesiastes 4:14. and now when his honorable brothers came to him, and it became known that Joseph was worthy to stand before kings,⁵³See Proverbs 22:29. they all rejoiced in the matter.

וייטב בעיני פרעה ובעיני עבדיו, and both Pharaoh and his servants were pleased about this. Whereas up until now they had felt embarassed that a former slave ruled over them, the brothers' arrival made it clear that Joseph had never been a slave.

טענו את בעירכם LADE YOUR BEASTS — with grain.

אמור אל אחיך זאת עשו, this is what should be your purpose to take your father and your families, etc.

זאת עשו, "Do this, etc." Whereas you do not require permission for most of what you are about to do, you do need Pharaoh's permission to take the wagons for transporting your families. When the Torah describes Pharaoh as telling Joseph to present the wagons to be used as something Pharaoh had "commanded, etc." this is only a figure of speech for a courteous invitation by Pharaoh that the brothers' families should avail themselves of these facilities on their journey to Egypt.

טענו את בעירכם, the word טען is an expression for “loading;” we find it used in this sense in Sanhedrin 32 אחת טעונה ואחת שאינה טעונה, “one which was loaded whereas the other was not loaded.” My grandfather of blessed memory explained the word טען as related to Isaiah 14,19 מטועני חרב, meaning that something had been stabbed, pierced. Accordingly, Joseph urged his brothers to spur on their beasts of burden by means of the דרבן, a spur or goad in order that the good news of his survival should reach his father sooner. Rabbi Saadyah gaon also translated the word in this fashion into Arabic.

טענו את בעירכם, “load your beasts.” Rabbi Joseph Kimchi claims that this must not be understood as a command by Pharaoh that the brothers should load their beasts, after all, had he not himself specifically provided the brothers with wheeled transportation, wagons which could transport much more at a time than their beasts? What Pharaoh meant was that the brothers should prod the beasts pulling the wagons to proceed with all possible speed. The expression טענו occurs in connection with people who have their swords girded around their waist in Isaiah

With grain. Accordingly, טענו is a transitive verb with an auxiliary object. I.e., they should load the beast with grain. [Rashi says this] so we will not think it means they should load the beasts themselves, i.e., that they should feed the beasts. [Rashi knows it does not mean this] because if it did, what difference does it make [that Pharaoh said this? Scripture would have omitted it]. (Re’m)

טען: mit etwas belasten. מטעניחרב (Jesaias 14, 19): auf Schwerter Gespießte. Davon rabbinisch: טענה, die Belastung, die klägerische Behauptung. Verstärkt ist es: טחן, durch Last zermalmen, zermahlen.

בעירכם, a collective term [seeing that surely each brother had an animal of his own to ride on and to carry the grain. Ed.] Other examples of the collective term being used where a plural seemed indicated are Samuel II 10,5 עד יצמח זקנכם “until your beard (sing.) grows back.” [David had addressed several people, each of whose beard had been shaved off on one side of his face. Ed.] Joshua 1,3 is another such construction where we read כף רגלכם, “the sole of your feet,” instead of “the soles of your feet.” There are many other similar examples in Scripture.

The command עשו may also express something stronger than permission; Pharaoh had realised that what had been happening was Divinely decreed, that over and beyond the fact that Pharaoh was pleased to assist the migration of Jacob's family, he saw in all this a decree by G'd.

בעיר ,בעירכם, Tier, von בער, das zugleich: brennen, Tier und den Toren bedeutet. Wir haben für Weisheit kaum so viele Namen als für Torheit, vielleicht, weil die Narrheit mannigfaltiger und buntscheckiger ist: סכל ,אויל ,פתי ,כסיל ,בער. Unter den verschiedenen Bedeutungen des בער ist wohl jedenfalls "Brennen" die ursprüngliche. Denn lautverwandt damit heißt באר: aus der Dunkelheit ans Licht treten, daher בְאֵר: der lebendige Brunnen, Wasser aus der Tiefe, und בַאֵר: klar machen, בהר: leuchten, gesteigert: בער brennen. Jemanden zum Glanz, zur Auszeichnung herborheben: בחר erwählen.

In welcher Beziehung heißt das Tier: חיה ?בעיר heißt es, insofern es das Leben repräsentiert im Gegensatz zur Pflanzenwelt, בהמה bezeichnet die dem Menschen sich als במה (rad. בהם :בום) als "Piedestal" seiner Menschengröße unterordnende Tierart; (vergl. auch die Verwandtschaft von בהם mit פעם, auf etwas anschlagen, auftreten, stoßen; Schritt und Amboss). בעיר heißt das Tier nach seinem instinktiven Charakter. Wir haben die Betrachtung des Begriffes חטא, dessen Verwandtschaft mit חתה, und demgemäß הטא "als ein absichtsloses Hinausfallen aus dem "göttlichen Feuer sowie כפרה als ein Wiederhingeben an das אשדת als לחם אשה ד׳, zu erkennen geglaubt. (Siehe zu Kap.39. B. 9.) Ist dies kein Traum, so würde die im Menschen waltende göttliche Kraft, der der Mensch sich frei hingeben soll und sich ihr daher auch muss ent- ziehen können, sich als "Feuer" darstellen. Es gibt aber auch lebendige Wesen, die sich dem göttlichen Willen nicht entziehen können, in welchen jede Regung und jede Tätigkeit ein willenloses Produkt des in sie gehauchten göttlichen Feuers ist, deren Lebenstätigkeit somit ein "Brennen" ist. So lange diese Feuerkraft in ihnen lebt, können sie sich ihr nicht entziehen, und בעיר wäre somit die prägnanteste Bezeichnung des Tieres nach seiner unfreien, instinktiven Natur. So wird 2. B. M. 22, 4 jede naturgemäße, das fremde Eigentum gefährdende Tätigkeit des Tieres, שן ורגל, hinsichtlich deren es מועד מתחלתו ist, für deren Leitung und Wahrung daher die Intelligenz des Eigentümers volle Verantwortung trägt, charakteristisch durch בער und das Tier als בעיר bezeichnet.

Unter den bunten Charakteren der Torheit bezeichnet פתי (von פתה offen stehen) den Arglosen, Unerfahrenen, den äußeren Einflüssen und Vorspiegelungen Preis- gegebenen; אוז) אויל, wovon אולַ׳, verwandt mit אפל ,אבל, Verdunklung des physischen oder geistigen Lichtes), denjenigen, der gar keine feste Ansicht hat, alles unklar anschaut und immer zwischen Zweifeln hin- und herschwankt; כסיל, verwandt mit גזל, der eine unberechtigte Ansicht sich gewaltsam bildet und mit Gewalt behauptet. Es ist der Lendennarr (כסלים), der sich wie ein Athlet auf seine Lenden steift und stämmt, der eine Ansicht, in die er sich einmal festgerannt hat, festhält und keiner Belehrung zugänglich ist.

Eigentümlich ist סכל, offenbar ja verwandt mit שֵׂכֶל, seinem scheinbaren Gegensatz. Beiden liegt der Begriff סגל, die innigste Aneignung, zu Grunde. שֵׂכֶל ist jene geistige Kraft, durch welche der Mensch sich die Welt geistig aneignet, die Anschauungen in Begriffe und Urteile umwandelt und festhält; sie ist das Subjektive, das die objektive Welt in sich aufnimmt, eine Tätigkeit, die דעת bezeichnet. Der סָכָל hat diese subjektive Kraft; allein er bleibt bei ihr stehen, er bildet subjektive Vorstellungen, Begriffe und Urteile, ohne ihnen die objektive Wirklichkeit zu Grunde zu legen, und ohne sie an der Wirklichkeit zu berichtigen. סכל ist somit die missbräuchliche Anwendung des שכל. (Ähnlich wie סבא das missbräuchliche בער — .(שבע endlich ist derjenige, dem es wirklich an der Anlage fehlt, der ein instinktives Leben lebt und kaum sich über das Tier erhebt.

את טוב אוץ מצרים THE BEST OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — viz., the district of Goshen. He prophesied without knowing what he was prophesying when he said “I shall give you the best of the land of Egypt”, for ultimately they were to make it like the depths of the sea in which there are no fish (i.e. that they would carry away the best of the land when they would leave Egypt) (Berakhot 9b).

ואכלו את חלב הארץ , “and you will eat the fat of the land.” Pharaoh prophesied without being aware that he prophesied. The same applies to verse 20 where Pharaoh said “the best of the whole land of Egypt is yours.” These remarks were allusions to what the Jewish people would do to the Egyptians at the time of the Exodus. We read there (Exodus 12,36) “they emptied out all of Egypt.”

It would ... like the depths of the sea which contains no fish. Explanation: There are no fish in the water’s depths; rather, they swim above.

חֵלֶב verwandt mit חָלָב. Mittelbegriff: חלף, in einem anderen Kreis, Zustand, Bestimmung etc. übergehen. חָלָב: was der Organismus für die Reproduktion eines anderen Wesens ausgeschieden; חֵלֶב: was er an vorläufig überflüssigen Sästen für die künftige eigene Reproduktion ausgeschieden. Es ist daher nicht das mit dem Fleische organisch verwachsene Fett, sondern das als תותב קרום ונקלף besonders abgelagerte, gleichsam ein zurückgelegtes Kapital, ein Zehrpfennig des Tieres für künftige Not. Daher zugleich bildlicher Ausdruck für das Wertvollste, wie hier.

חלב הארץ THE FAT OF THE LAND — The word חלב always denotes the best part of a thing.

ואתה צויתה NOW THOU ART COMMANDED — supply the words by me (lit, by my mouth) to say unto them

NOW THOU ART COMMANDED, THIS DO YE. Pharaoh stated the matter in the form of a directive to him because his knowledge of Joseph’s integrity assured him that he would not stretch forth a hand to take from the king’s fortune, and having him, he gave no concern to anything.⁵⁴Above, 39:6. Therefore Pharaoh thought that perhaps Joseph would not want to send his father anything. Hence he said to him, “I command you that you do this in any case.”

ואתה צויתה, now I personally command you to take carriages and the animals to pull them, etc. This was an exceptional concession as it was forbidden to export a carriage without the express permission of Pharaoh. The Talmud Bechorot 28 Neither cows nor female pigs were allowed to leave Egypt unless their respective wombs had first been removed. [This was an Egyptian method of preserving their monopoly over the raising of such animals. Ed.]

ואתה צויתה, tell them that you have actually been commanded to bring them here as residents.

ואתה צויתה you have been commanded by me to tell them: זאת עשו, this is what you are to do, etc. My grandfather of blessed memory explained that Joseph commanded that that no carriages loaded with grain should depart from his house so as not to make Egypt short of food in the future. Upon hearing this, Pharaoh said that the standing orders prohibiting the export of grain in carriages notwithstanding, tell your brothers to commandeer carriages and load them with grain so that after arrival at your homes these same carriages can serve to carry their wives and children on their journey to Egypt.

ואתה צוית, “and you, Joseph, consider yourself commanded, etc.” The reason Pharaoh used such imperial language was that he was aware that Joseph would never take any liberties with property which was not legally his own; he was afraid that Joseph would not want to send anything to his father which belonged to the Egyptian state. By instructing him to take these wagons he would remove any doubt in Joseph’s mind that he was exceeding his authority in allocating these carriages as vehicles to transport his family.

ואתה ציויתה זאת עשו, “and you are under orders to do the following.” Pharaoh was well aware of Joseph’s modesty and loyalty and the fact that he would not send anything to his father and his brothers unless he had been given express instructions. This is why Pharaoh had to order him to do all this.

Through me to tell them. Rashi is answering the question: Why is it not written who commanded him this? A further question: Why does is it then written זאת עשו, in the plural form? It should say זאת עשה, [in the singular form] since before too it spoke in the singular form: ואתה צויתה. Therefore Rashi explains: “You are commanded through me, [Pharaoh,] to tell them.”

ואתה צֻוֵתָ, ein sehr feiner Zug des ägyptischen Herrschers. Josef war ja mächtig, aber je größer ein rechtlicher Mensch ist, umsomehr nimmt er sich in acht, dass man ihm nicht etwas als Missbrauch seiner Macht zur Last legen könne.

קחו לכם מארץ מצרים עגלות, “take along for yourselves carriages from the land of Egypt;” these were meant to transport their wives and children, ונשאתם את אביכם, “and carry your father on your shoulders, and proceed to come here.” The fact that they did so is attested to by what we read in Genesis 46,3: וישאו בני ישראל את יעקב אביהם, ואת טפם ונשיהם בעגלות, “the Children of Israel carried their father; and their children and wives they transported in carriages.”

זאת עשו THIS DO YE — Thus tell them: that it is done with my permission.

קחו לכם מארץ מצרים עגלות, when your father will see carriages all prepared to transport him and his family to Egypt he will have fewer excuses to object to the journey and the upheaval involved in the journey. We know that this was a powerful argument as Yaakov, when seeing the carriages is reported as saying: “I will go down and see my son.” (verse 27-28).

ועיניכם אל תחוס על כליכם, do not delay as the resulting damage to your livestock will become greater. the longer you delay.

ועינכם אל תחוס, it is the custom of the Holy Tongue to use the verb חוס, to take pity, in connection with the eyes, although we would expect that it should be used in connection with the heart, seeing it describes an emotion of the heart.

ועיניכם אל תחוס על כליכם, “do not begrudge any chattels you leave behind.” He knew how frugally his father lived, and how he would not let anything go to waste. This is why he instructed his brothers to ignore such considerations when it came to their moving their belongings to Egypt.

אל תחֺס. Das Cholem wiese zunächst auf eine Radix חסס hin, verwandt mit dem rabbinischen חשש, Rücksicht auf etwas nehmen, Bedenken gegen etwas tragen.

ועיניכם אל תחוס על כליכם, “and do not concern yourselves with your chattels;” Joseph knew that his father had been reluctant to abandon any chattels, from the time he crossed the river Yabok at night to retrieve anything he had left behind. (Genesis 32,23-25) Attributed to Rabbi Yaakov.

ויעשו כן. They did in accordance with what Joseph had told them to do. They loaded their beasts and they were quick about it in order to get started on the way home to Canaan.

עגלות על פי פרעה, “wagons, at the command of Pharaoh.” Joseph sent his father a sign seeing that when he had parted from him he had studied with him the subject of how a murdered person whose murderer is not known is to be expiated. One of the needs to obtain forgiveness for possible indirect involvement in such a murder is the killing of an עגלה, a calf which had not yet been used to perform any work (compare Deut. 21.) [The Hebrew word for wagon עגלה is the same as for “calf.” This is why the sending of wagons was symbolic. Ed.] This explains also why Yaakov’s spirits revived as soon as he saw the wagons (verse 27).

על פי פרעה, these words prove what my father wrote that without Pharaoh’s express permission it was not possible for these carriages to be removed beyond Egypt’s borders.

לאיש, to each of them separately, individually.

לכלם נתן לאיש חליפות שמלות, “he gave each one of them a change of clothes.” This was in replacement for his having been the cause of their rending their garments.

ולבנימין נתן שלש מאות כסף, “and he gave Binyamin three hundred pieces of silver.” The number 300 is related to the indebtedness of the brothers. When ten brothers sold a slave they each have to pay 30 shekel ransom. This is the value of the life of a slave who has been killed [gored by an ox or otherwise] and the compensation payable by the killer according to Exodus 21,31. When a Jewish master sells his slave to a Gentile he may be required to pay punitive compensation of up to ten times the value of the slave, i.e. three hundred shekel silver (Gittin 44).

לכלם נתן לאיש “to all of them he gave,” i.e. to each: the letter ל preceding the word: איש is vocalised with the vowel patach.” [Not so in all our editions. Ed.]

ולבנימין נתן שלוש מאות כסף, “and to Binyamin he gave 300 pieces of silver;” seeing that the penalty for someone who sells his slave to a gentile outside the land of Israel is subject to a fine of up to 10 times the value of the slave in question, Binyamin was entitled to be 300 pieces of silver better off than his brothers, seeing that an average slave is worth 30 pieces of silver. Although Joseph assessed his brothers a penalty of 300 pieces of silver each, all of which should have gone to Binyamin, he gave Binyamin only 300 pieces of silver.

חמש חליפות שמלות, “five changes of clothing.” He hinted to him that eventually Mordechai would be descended from him who would be distinguished with five garments as mentioned in Esther 8,15.

חליפות שמלות, “changes of clothes;” shirts, pants, the undergarments people change frequently. In other words: garments that are worn directly on the skin. Alternate explanation: outer garments. The reason why Joseph gave them these garments as presents was that he had been the cause that made them tear up their clothing when they found out that the goblet had been found in Binyamin’s bag. They had been deeply embarrassed to be walking around in torn garments. ולבנימין, “and to Binyamin;” seeing that he had not participated in his sale, he gave him three hundred silver pieces. As a result of this each of the other ten brothers had been treated as worth a slave, (according to the Torah, 30 pieces of silver. Compare Talmud Gittin 44, where it is stated that if someone sells his slave to a gentile he is penalised ten times his value.) Three hundred silver pieces are ten times the value of an ablebodied slave.

וחמש חליפות שמלות, “and five changes of clothes.” (new outfits). One outfit matching what he had given to the other brothers. The other four were gifts (as opposed to compensation), one outfit each from himself, his two sons and his wife.

וחמש חליפות שמלות, “and five sets of garments.” One on account of the garments that he had caused him to tear, the second one because he was his full brother, son of his mother. The third set as compensation for having made him, appear like a thief. The last two sets as the penalty a thief has to pay, i.e. twice the value of the goods he has stolen. An alternate explanation: The gift Binyamin received was worth five times as much as that given to his brothers.

שלח כזאת HE SENT AFTER THIS MANNER — according to this amount. And what was the amount? עשרה חמרים וגו׳ ten asses etc (i.e. as much as ten asses could carry).

AND TO HIS FATHER HE SENT ‘KAZOTH’ (IN LIKE MANNER). I.e., according to this amount. And what was the amount? Ten asses, etc. This is the language of Rashi. It is not correct that kazoth should refer to the amount [for if it refers to cheshbon (amount), it should have said kazeh in the masculine, and not kazoth in the feminine]. But it is possible that Scripture says, in like manner, meaning “according to this gift,” [with the word minchah matching the feminine gender of kazoth] The purport thereof is, “and to his father he sent this gift: ten asses, etc.,” [with the word kazoth being understood as if it were written zoth], and the letter kaph in the word kazoth is considered redundant. However, it is the way of the Sacred Language to express it in this way, just as, And she spoke to him, [saying]: ‘ka’dvarim ha’eileh’ (after the manner of these things) did thy servant do to me.⁵⁵Ibid., Verses 17 and 19. It may be that Scripture is saying: “and to his father he sent provision (tzeidah), [which is also in the feminine gender], which was like this provision which he gave to his brothers.” But the intent of the expression is not to make them equal, but only to say that just as he gave them provision for the road when they went to Canaan, so did he send his father corn and bread and sustenance for his journey towards Egypt. And this is the correct interpretation. Scripture mentions asses and she-asses to inform us that he sent him both the provisions and the animals that carried them, and it was customary to send males and females, as his father had done.⁵⁶Ibid., 32:16.

כזאת, “as follows:”

ולאביו שלח כזאת, similar to the gifts given to Binyamin. In addition he sent ten donkeys and ten she-asses. In the plural mode the letter ו indicating who else is included appears at the end [the last word in the sequence. Ed.} Examples of such constructions are: .Exodus 1,2 יששכר זבולון ובנימין.

ולאביו שלח כזאת, To his father he sent the following: The reason the Torah added the word זאת instead of merely enumerating the list of provisions and gifts which appear in this verse is to tell us that what is described as מטוב מצרים, Egypt's best [produce], something which the Torah had not identified, referred to the quality of the various items listed. The verse therefore says: "Of all the items listed forthwith Joseph sent his father of the best quality available in Egypt." Our sages in Megillah 16 describe the words מטוב מצרים as referring to wine which had been aged for a long time. Bereshit Rabbah 94,2 identifies טוב מצרים as some kind of special white beans, a medication with anti-depression properties. If that were so, the verse should have written בזאת, instead of זאת and has to be understood as if the word עשרה חמורים had a conjunctive letter ו at the beginning.

ולאביו שלח כזאת, changes of clothes, similar to what he had already given to the brothers. In addition he sent עשרה חמורים

ולאביו שלח כזאת, “and to his father he sent the following:” Rashi explains that the word כזאת here is short for כחשבון הזאת: “the following amounts.” What did these “amounts consist of?” 10 donkey loads, etc., etc. Nachmanides feels that the word כזאת refers to the food for the extended family of Yaakov, which would sustain them on the journey to Egypt. He had, after all, provided his brothers with rations to sustain them on their homeward trip, also. (verse 21). The Torah mentions to Joseph’s credit that he did not only give them the supplies in question but also the means of transporting them, i.e. donkeys and she asses. According to Ibn Ezra the word כזאת refers to the quality of the new clothes Joseph handed out, i.e. the best quality available in Egypt. Some commentators claim that Joseph did not send Binyamin back with the other brothers, and they prove their point by the fact that he sent only ten donkeys to his father and not eleven. In other words, Joseph gave each of the ten brothers a donkey that would be led by him; if Binyamin had also returned to Canaan he would have had to give them eleven donkeys. Some say that this is no proof as Joseph simply did not want to burden Binyamin with the task of leading a donkey all the way back to Canaan.

.ולאביו שלח כזאת “and to his father he sent the following:” The word מנחה, “gift” is missing here. The meaning of the verse is that Joseph sent his father a gift consisting of the items mentioned in our verse. He sent both male and female donkeys just as Yaakov had done when he sent a number of gifts to Esau [though Yaakov had sent twice as many female donkeys as males. Ed.]

Aged wine from which old people derive pleasure. Maharshal writes: [Rashi knows this] because it is not written what was the good thing that Yoseif sent him, implying it was not something notable. So why did he send it to him? Because for Yaakov it was good. Therefore Rashi explains it was aged wine which is generally not so notable, but it was noteworthy to Yaakov because old people derive pleasure from it.

Ten male donkeys. See Rashi. The donkeys were a hint that in selling him the ten brothers were like mere beasts of burden, fulfilling someone else’s purposes uncomprehendingly. That is, Hashem had used them to bring about this salvation.

שלח כזאת “he sent a corresponding amount;” he sent his father ten sets of garments of the best quality available in Egypt ten donkeys, ten sheasses, for his ten brothers. Each one was to lead two animals. Even though Binyamin would also travel with them, he did not want to burden him with this.

מטוב מצרים OF THE BEST THINGS OF EGYPT — We find it stated in the Talmud (Megillah 16b) that he sent him old wine which old people like very much. The Midrash states that he sent him split beans. (Genesis Rabbah 94:2).

עשרה חמורים, one each for his ten brothers. Even though Binyamin was also returning with them, he did not want to bother him [to have to look after the beast and its load. Ed.]

בר ולחם ומזון, “grain, bread, and food.” The word בר includes the five major cereals fit to bake into bread. The word לחם in this instance refers to kitniyot, pulses. The word מזון, refers to dried fruit such as figs, dates, raisins, etc. Whereas every kind of בר is suitable raw material to make into bread, the same does not apply to the term לחם. Similarly, whenever we encounter the word לחם, it is definitely a kind of food, whereas the word מזון does not necessarily refer to something which can be converted into bread.

ועשר אתונות נושאות בר, as well as ten she-asses carrying grain and bread, etc. The reason the Torah repeats the word לאביו, for his father, a second time is to tell us that it was not a separate consignment. The Torah meant that apart from the load carried by these she-asses, i.e. the grain and the bread, there were special delicacies for Jacob only. Joseph instructed his brothers that these items were meant only for his father.

בר, ten donkeys loaded with grain, fodder for the animals. ולחם, not literally bread, but the kind of grain for human consumption used to make into flour and bake into bread. The word לחם applies to food generally, not only food made from cereals. It includes even delicacies such as dates, etc.

בר ולחם CORN AND BREAD — understand this as the Targum renders it.

ומזון means things that are eaten together with bread.

אל תרגזו בדרך BE NOT AGITATED BY THE WAY — Do not busy yourselves with Halachic discussions lest the road become unsteady for you (i.e. lest you lose your way). Another explanation is: Do not take very long steps and enter the town where you will stay over night while the sun is still shining (Taanit 10b). According to the plain sense of the verse, however, it must be explained thus: Because they felt ashamed he feared that they might quarrel on the way about his having been sold, arguing one with another. One would say: “It was through you he was sold”. Another: “It was you who made slanderous statements about him and caused us to hate him”.

DO NOT ‘TIRG’ZU’ BY THE WAY. Rogez is an expression of trembling and movement, and is usually applied when the trembling is a result of fear, as for example, a heart ‘ragaz’ (that is trembling);⁵⁷Deuteronomy 28:65. ‘V’ragzu’ (and they shall tremble), and be in anguish;⁵⁸Ibid., 2:25. And where I stand ‘ergaz’ (I tremble);⁵⁹Habakkuk 3:16. And drink thy water ‘b’ragzah’ (with trembling) and with anxiety.⁶⁰Ezekiel 12:18. Therefore, the correct interpretation of this verse is, in my opinion, that Joseph said to them, “Do not fear by the way,” and the purport thereof is that since they were carrying corn and bread and sustenance⁶¹Verse 23 here. and the best of Egypt in the days of the famine, they might fear lest robbers attack them while they travelled on their journey to Canaan, and the moreso when they return to Egypt with all their possessions, and thus they will not hasten the matter.⁶²See II Chronicles 24:15. Therefore he told them that they should go quickly and hurry to come there, as it is said, Hasten ye, and go up to my father,³⁸Verse 9 here. and they should have no fear at all on the way as his name is upon them. Since he is the ruler of the entire land of Egypt, and the lives of the peoples of those countries are in his hand, and all are fearful of his awe, they will travel and arrive in peace.

וישלח את אחיו, every expression denoting accompaniment (sending something along) is made clear by means of the dagesh, whereas when the word means merely “sending” it is in the “weak” construction without the dagesh. [The author speaks of the use of the root שלח, which may mean “to send,” or to “send with.” When it means the latter, this is noticeable through the dagesh in the letter ל. Ed.] In our verse it means the latter.

וישלח את אחיו, he gave them permission to leave, as when the angel had said to Yaakov (after the wrestling match) שלחני כי עלה השחר, “let me go for dawn has risen.” (32,27) and שלחוני ואלכה לאדוני “let me go, that I may go back to my lord.” (24:56).

וישלח את אחיו, He sent off his brothers, etc. This means that Joseph sent everybody home, including Benjamin. Benjamin's testimony would convince Jacob most of all; this is why Joseph had already stressed previously (45,12) that Benjamin was a witness that he was Joseph. Now that Yehudah had fulfilled the conditions of his guarantee it is clear that if his bones rattled in his coffin during the years Israel travelled in the desert this was only because he failed to have his vow annulled, as pointed out in Megillah 11.

אל תרגזו בדרך, do not quarrel with one another on the journey concerning your having sold me, blaming each other for the decision taken at the time.

אל תרגזו בדרך, “do not engage in recriminations while on the journey.” He told them not to be concerned over the fact that they, as opposed to everyone else, traveled in style, equipped with luxuries at a time when the rest of the population had to make do with a very austere lifestyle due to the famine. He assured them that potential robbers and men of violence would be in awe of him when they found out that they traveled under Joseph’s special protection.

וישלח את אחיו וילכו “he sent off his brothers and they went on their way.” All his brothers, Reuven, Shimon and the rest, including Binyamin so that Yehudah kept his promise to his father. Why then did the sages (Sotah 7) say that Yehudah was punished for his guarantee so that the bones in his coffin rattled during all the 40 years the Israelites wandered through the desert? The reason is that his vow and its fulfilment depended on the goodwill of others. It is sinful to make such promises unless the factors relating to fulfilment of the promise are all under the control of the person making the promise. Yehudah had known from the outset that it would depend on the ruler of Egypt if he could make good on his guarantee.
Our sages (Makkot 11) used this incident to formulate a halachah concerning conditional excommunication, saying that the threat of excommunication even if conditional, requires a retroactive annulment even if in the meantime the party who had been threatened with such excommunication had fulfilled the conditions imposed upon him. This explains why Yehudah qualified for punishment for having guaranteed Binyamin’s safe return.

Do not become involved in halachic discussion... Meaning: halachic discussion requires more delving into, and your attention will thus be diverted from travelling. As a result the road will lead you astray, i.e., you will get lost (Rashi, Taanis 10b). Yoseif warned them only against involvement and delving. But he did not warn them against reciting Torah teachings, since our Rabbis of blessed memory say (ibid): “Two who were walking on the road and there were no words of Torah between them...”

רגז ,אל תרגזו בדרך ist überwiegend nicht eine zürnende, sondern eine fürchtende innere Bewegung. Daher wohl: Leget eure Reise guten Mutes zurück und machet euch für alle Zukunft keine Sorgen!

אל תרגזו בדרך, “do not fear any danger on the way,” as I have complete control of the region. The root רגז is used here in the same sense as in Psalms 4,5: רגזו ואל תחטאו, “tremble and do not sin anymore.” We also encounter it in this sense in Deuteronomy 28,65: לב רגז which the Targum renders as “a fearful heart.”

וישלח את אחיו, “he sent off his brothers;” [the following refers to the difference between vayishlach and vayeshalach. Ed] the former means “to send something along,” whereas the latter means simply: “to send someone, or something.” In order to identify which is which, the former has a dot, dagesh in the letter ל. (based on Rash’bam)

אל תרגזו, do not be nervous about robbers that you might encounter on the route. I have no hostile neighbours on any of my borders. This is also the meaning of the word רגזו in Psalms 4,5. The verse there implies that you should be worried not to commit a sin against G’d. If you are, you will not have to worry about any man-made hazards. The meaning of the same root in Deuteronomy 28,65 is also the same, i.e. as a result of your sinful conduct G’d burdened you with a heart which is constantly worried about all kinds of disaster that may befall you. This is part of the punishment you will experience for not having worried about ignoring G’d’s commandments previous to the retribution. Chabakuk 3,7 as well as Isaiah 32,11 make similar points. On the other hand, the same root used in Job 9,6 or when it appears in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Ezra refers to a state of anger. The word טרנבלד (old French for trembling) is the translation of כעס for anytime that word appears in the 24 books of the Bible.

An alternate explanation. Do not take very large steps... Maharshal writes that Rashi’s first explanation follows one opinion in Taanis 10b, and Rashi’s alternate explanation follows the Baraisa there. Rashi also explains, “And arrive at your evening destination while there is still daylight.” The Baraisa itself offered these two explanations [of “large steps” and “daylight”] because it understands תרגזו בדרך to mean overly intensive walking, but it did not know whether it means taking large steps or walking a long time, i.e., until nightfall. Thus it offered both explanations: one pertaining to taking large steps, and one pertaining to arriving at their destination while there is still daylight. An overly intense person takes large steps, and the Rabbis taught (ibid), “Large steps remove one-fivehundredth of a person’s eyesight.”

אל תרגזו בדרך, “do not worry of dangers on the way;” Joseph reassured the brothers that although they would migrate with great herds and flocks, something that would draw attention to them all over, his status in the region was such that no one would dare to attack them as they were his brothers. We have encountered the meaning of “nervousness” as being רגז, also in Deuteronomy, 28,65, לב רגז. An alternate exegesis: even though I have loaded you with great wealth in a time of famine when everyone else suffers from possessing very little, you have no reason to be nervous about its implications.

וכי הוא משל — the word וכי is used here in the sense of אשר “that”: AND THAT HE WAS RULER.

‘VAYAPHAG’ HIS HEART. His heart passed away and ceased to believe; his heart took no notice of their words. The word vayaphag has the same meaning as the Mishnaic expression: “The fragrance of all spices m’phigin (escape).”⁶³Beitza 14a. Similar is the verse, Without any ‘haphugoth’ (intermission).⁶⁴Lamentations 3:49. The verse, And his scent is not ‘namar,’⁶⁵Jeremiah 48:11. is rendered in the Targum: “and his scent is not pag (passing away).” This is the language of Rashi. But it is not correct, for phugah is an expression of cessation and abolition, just as : give thyself no ‘phugath’ (respite).⁶⁶Lamentations 2:18. So also, Mine eye is poured out, and ceaseth not, without any ‘haphugoth,’⁶⁴Lamentations 3:49. meaning “mine eye pours out tears steadily without cessation or intermission.” And so likewise, “m’phigin (their fragrance)”⁶³Beitza 14a. means that the spices scatter the fragrance and it is voided. So also, Therefore the law is ‘taphug,’⁶⁷Habakkuk 1:4. that is, voided and ceased. In this verse also, ‘vayaphag’ his heart [thus means that the beat of] his heart was suspended and his breathing ceased, for the movement of the heart ceased and he was as dead. This condition is known when joy suddenly comes upon one, and it is mentioned in the books of medicines that old or feeble persons cannot withstand the shock, for many of them faint when joy comes to them very suddenly. The heart widens and opens suddenly, and its natural heat goes out and scatters throughout the outer parts of the body, and the heart thus ceases to function because of its coolness. Thus the patriarch fell as dead. Scripture says, for he believed them not, in order to relate that he remained in that condition a great part of the day, and he lay so without movement because he did not believe them.
Concerning such fainting it is known that people shout to the fainting person and accustom him to that joyful event gradually until he accepts it with a tranquil spirit. And this is the meaning of the verse, And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them, and when he saw the wagons [which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived],⁶⁸Verse 27 here. for they shouted into his ears the words of Joseph and brought the wagons before him. Then did his spirit return to him, and his breathing began and he was revived. It is this which Scripture says, And the spirit of Jacob their father revived. Now Onkelos translated: “The Divine Presence, [which had departed from him when he was in mourning], again rested upon him.” Onkelos added this because the thing is true, and he expounded this interpretation from the word ruach (spirit), since Scripture does not say, “and Jacob their father revived,” [but rather, and the spirit of Jacob their father revived]. He thus explained the verse here as being analogous to these verses: The spirit of the Eternal G-d is upon me;⁶⁹Isaiah 61:1. And now the Eternal G-d hath sent me and His spirit;⁷⁰Ibid., 48:16. A man in whom is spirit.⁷¹Numbers 27:18.

וכי הוא מושל, do not be afraid to come to him.

ויפג לבות, he passed out. His heart stopped beating briefly, something common when people have a fainting spell. This occurred at the moment Joseph’s name was mentioned by the brothers.

ויגדו לו לאמור. They told him, saying, etc.. The word ויגדו indicates the difficulty the brothers had telling their father what had transpired in Egypt. What was good news for their father involved a confession of the evil the brothers had perpetrated and how they had caused their father unnecessary anguish. It is also possible that the use of the word ויגדו [especially the missing letter י ] alluded to the ensuing exile of the Jewish people and the hard times their descendants would experience there eventually. We do indeed find that Jacob was afraid to travel to Egypt until reassured by G'd in a dream (46,3).

וכי הוא, and in addition to this he is מושל, the first word עוד in our verse performs a dual function, also applying to the portion relating to Joseph being a ruler.

ויפג לבו, “his heart stopped beating;” according to Rashi this means that his heart refused to accept this as true. According to Nachmanides the word is similar to the word ביטול, as in Lamentations 2,18 אל תתני פוגת לך, “give yourself no respite.” The word פוג always means that something active suddenly ceases to be so and becomes inert, like dead. Yaakov’s heart became cold and his blood circulation stopped. This is a well known phenomenon when someone suddenly receives unexpected good news and is overwhelmed by it. Yaakov fainted and lay on the floor as if dead. The Torah reports that it took Yaakov a long time to recover from his shock and to believe what the brothers had told him. The standard remedy used to bring someone who fainted at the receipt of good news to recover from his fainting spell, is to dance around him and make noise and display joy and elation. When the brothers repeated their conversation with Joseph, and when upon opening his eyes he beheld the carriages Joseph had sent, he began to believe them and to react accordingly.

ויפג לבו, “his heard went numb.” The word ויפג is related to Lamentations 3,49 מאין הפוגות, “without respite.” The meaning is that Yaakov’s tears went on flowing without interruption. The meaning of the expression here is: “his heart stopped beating, he became like dead.” It is not unusual for someone to faint when he is the recipient of unexpected good news. The physiological explanation is a sudden expansion of the arteries of the heart which causes the heat inside the heart to suddenly dissipate and to cover the outside of the body. As a result, the heart itself is left cold, or at least too cold to perform its task. This causes fainting. These phenomena are more common among the elderly and among people with a weak constitution.
The Talmud in Ketuvot 62, when discussing the frequency or otherwise of marital relations between Torah scholars and their wives, reports that after an absence of twelve years from his home, the wife of Rabbi Chanina ben Chachinai suddenly saw (according to Rashi thought she saw) her husband standing in the doorway. Her heart gave such a leap that she died from the shock. Her husband was stunned that this should be the reward of a pious woman who had enabled him to study Torah all these years. He prayed for her revival and she was restored to life.

That he is ruler. [Rashi knows this] because כי can mean אם, and אם can mean אשר (that). (Maharshal)

ויפג לכו. Aus der Analogie von מאין הפוגות (Klagel. 3, 49), Auf- hören wird das ויפג לבו gewöhnlich auch als: sein Herz stand stille, ging ihm aus, er ward ohnmächtig, natürlich vor Freude, verstanden, und findet man eine Bestätigung dieser Auffassung in dem dann folgenden ותחי רוח יעקב, das man als: "er kam wieder zu sich" erklärt. Es wäre auch an sich ganz natürlich, dass ein Greis von solcher Freude überwältigt worden, wenn nur nicht dabei stände: כי לא האמין להם! Wenn er ihnen nicht glaubte, so konnte er doch vor Freude nicht ohnmächtig werden. Es muss demnach das פוג anders zu fassen sein. פוג heißt: eine Bewegung, die zum Stillstand kommt, aufhört. ויפג לבו scheint daher: "sein Sinn wurde stutzig" zu bedeuten, sein Herz stand zweifelnd stille, denn er glaubte ihnen nicht; er konnte sich nicht so rasch in die ihm gewordene Nachricht hineinfinden.

ויפג לבו, “Yaakov’s heart was standing still, stopped beating; (as in Lamentations 2,18, פוגת לך) he could not even react as he refused to believe the brothers. He only reacted after seeing the carriages that Joseph had sent along. An alternate exegesis: the words: ויפג לבו, mean that he reacted joyfully, seeing that in the Talmud we see it used in this sense in tractate Yuma, folio 19, אישי כהן גדול עמוד והפג אחת על הרצפה, “my lord the High Priest, arise and demonstrate joy,” (according to Rashi there). [According to this the High Priest rejected the implication that he was going to sleep as ridiculous; Ed.] In our case, Yaakov considered the claims by his sons as ridiculous, not worth even thinking about. The latter explanation is supported by Onkelos, who writes: פיגו.

ויפג לבו AND JACOB’S HEART CONTINUED COLD — his heart passed away (נחלף) and ceased to believe — his heart took no notice of their words. The word ויפג has the same meaning as (Beitzah 14a) “all spices let their taste pass away (מפיגין)” (i.e. lose their taste) in Mishnaic Hebrew. Similar is (Lamentations 3:49) “without (הפגות) intermission”. The words (Jeremiah 48:11) “and his scent is not changed (נמר)” is rendered in the Targum by “and his scent has not את כל דברי יוסף.

ויפג לבו, his heart missed a beat, as he did not believe them. The meaning of the word is similar to Lamentations 2,18 אל תתני פוגת לך, “give yourself no respite.” [respite means stopping in that context. Ed.] The words וריחו לא נמר in Jeremiah 48,11 have also been translated as ”his bouquet has remained unspoiled,” [i.e. has never been disturbed, has remained inert, stationary. Ed.]

כי לא האמין להם. so that he had no chance to believe them. Therefore, ותחי רוח יעקב, once his spirit revived he never fainted again so that he was able to believe them. It had been the sudden joy that had been the cause of his fainting. Spirit has a habit of contracting when one suffers worry, etc., whereas it expands when one experiences joy, sometimes even beyond the boundaries of one’s body so that the body faints.

ויפג לבו, it became weak. The very mention of Joseph provoked such a reaction from Yaakov.

His heart was not swayed by their words... [Rashi is answering the question:] Why did Yaakov not believe that Yoseif was alive? He himself had suspected them of selling him! Rashi answers: They said Yoseif was the ruler, and it is implausible that a foreigner would become the ruler, especially in Egypt where a slave may not rule. [Yaakov reasoned:] since this [i.e., that Yoseif is a ruler] is not so, that [i.e., Yoseif is alive] is also not so. Therefore [Rashi says], “His heart was not swayed by their words, [i.e., all of their words].” (Nachalas Yaakov)

The reason the Torah uses the expression לאמור is to tell us that the brothers were astute in the manner they conveyed the good news to their father. It is well known that sudden good news may shock a person and cause cardiac arrest. The brothers therefore led up to what they had to say in stages; first they mentioned that they were the bearers of good tidings, ויגדו לו לאמור; after Jacob had been thus prepared they told him that Joseph was still alive. At that point this news was not liable to endanger Jacob's life.

כי לא האמין להם, he did not believe them as he could not fathom why they would make such a statement. Presumably, the brothers rushed in with the information, not having shown Yaakov any supporting evidence yet, such as the ten donkeys’ loads of food, the carriages etc. Once when the brothers elaborated and showed Yaakov what they had brought with them from Egypt, especially the carriages, he did believe them.

It is also possible that we should read the verse thus: ויגדו לו לאמר עוד, "they told him saying: furthermore," etc. They said: "Not only have we all returned safely but we still have more to say." Once they had conditioned Jacob's mind they informed him that Joseph was still alive. Having said this they added a little later that Joseph had achieved a position of great stature in Egypt.

I have been troubled by the fact that Joseph did not communicate with his father during all these years. Did he not realise that his father must have been in terrible anguish concerning what had happened to him? While it is true that as long as Joseph was a slave he may not have been able to communicate with his father, nonetheless during the nine years since his appointment as viceroy surely he could have done so? Why did he not at least write his father a letter to temper his father's pain and to stop him from mourning him? Not only this, why did he not at least send a message to his father during the year of famine when there was a constant stream of travellers between Egypt and Canaan? Who had given Joseph permission not to tell his father that he was alive after the brothers arrived in Egypt the first time?

Whereas we can understand why Jacob had to suffer twenty two years in order that G'd's plan could be executed, this is all well and good from G'd's point of view. Since Joseph was not aware of G'd's plans, who gave him the right to let his father suffer longer than necessary?

We have good reason to believe that Joseph had perfectly good reasons for preferring not to communicate with his father until he did. No doubt he would have liked to communicate with his father ever since he came to Egypt until he was appointed as viceroy.

Even assuming that an opportunity had presented itself prior to his sudden and dramatic promotion, he was afraid that as soon as his brothers would hear about his whereabouts they would try and murder him so that he could not testify against them. The brothers would therefore have a vested interest in disposing of Joseph if they heard that he was still alive somewhere.

It is also possible that as soon as Jacob would receive such a communication he would curse the brothers for what they had done to Joseph; as a result the brothers would die and he would indirectly be responsible for their deaths.

Once Joseph had been released from prison and become viceroy he no longer had to fear for his life if a letter from him would be intercepted or the brothers would attempt to kill him to prevent their father from learning the truth. On the other hand, he considered a statement by our sages in Baba Metzia 59 that it is preferable to be burned in a fiery oven than to cause a fellow human being to go pale with shame. Joseph was concerned for his brothers' dignity as human beings, something they would lose if their father would find out at that point what the brothers had done to his favourite child. He decided therefore that the anguish of one man, i.e. his father, was preferable to discrediting his brothers.

Besides, Joseph may well have felt that the brothers still wanted him out of this world and would confer how to bring this about. When Bereshit Rabbah 91 described the brothers as taking a great deal of money to Egypt in order to ransom Joseph, this merely means that they hoped to succeed in order to demonstrate that they were sorry for what they had done. Only then would they no longer feel threatened by him and plan to dispose of him.

Joseph, of course, was unaware that the brothers had undergone a change of heart until he had personally tested them in the presence of Benjamin. Only after that experience did Joseph realise that he was no longer in danger from his brothers. Until all the pieces of the puzzle came together at the time Joseph decided to reveal himself to his brothers it would have been premature to risk identifying himself. Until Joseph was able to put the brothers at ease by attributing all that had happened to G'd's planning, he would have been risking his life by revealing himself. You will recall that Yehudah had resorted to a confrontational stance when he found out that Joseph had included innocent Reuben in his treatment of the brothers. Tanchuma item 5 on our Parshah even reports the brothers as planning to kill Joseph [not in his capacity as Joseph, of course, but in his capacity of a ruler who had framed Benjamin, Ed.], and that it had taken an angel to save Joseph from their hands. Considering all the foregoing Joseph can hardly be faulted for allowing events to run their course without informing his father prematurely.

.(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.

רב ENOUGH or MUCH — Much joy and pleasure is still in store for me, since my son Joseph is yet alive.

רב; my heart has stood still long enough during all the years I did not think that Joseph was still alive now I am definitely convinced

רב...אלכה ואראנה, I will go and see him, but will not remain there as he has said.

רב, I enjoy much goodness seeing that my son Joseph is alive.

Yisrael said. He is referred to as “Yisrael” once more, indicating a return to a more elevated spiritual state.My son Yoseif still lives. He saw prophetically that Yoseif had withstood his challenges and remained righteous. I will go. Only for a visit — Yaakov had no intention of transferring his family to Egypt despite the famine.

רב, עוד יוסף בני חי, “it is much; my son Joseph is still alive!” Seeing that at first he did not want to believe them, he asked after the original owners of the עגלות, only to be told that just as a ship is steered by a captain, so the owner of these carriages, i.e. Joseph, is still very much alive. [who else but the “captain,” i.e. Joseph, could have sent all this to Yaakov? Ed]

ויאמר ישראל, “Yisrael said.” As long as his prophetic spirit had not been restored to him, the Torah referred to him only as Yaakov. Now that he had regained this additional spiritual dimension he is once more referred to as Yisrael. We have 18 instances from here until the end of the Book of Genesis where Yaakov is referred to as ישראל, such as 46,1; 46,5; 46,8; 46,29; to name but a few. The reason that G’d called him “Yaakov” in 46,2 whereas the Torah (G’d Himself) had referred to him as ישראל in the same verse was because the journey to Egypt was a voluntary exile on the part of Yaakov and it was not appropriate that the name Yisrael which denotes authority, victory, etc., should be applied to someone who exiles himself and subordinates himself to a human ruler. Once G’d had called him by the name Yaakov, it is not surprising to see that the Torah reverts to use of that name (compare 46,5, 46,6, 46,8, 46,19, 46,26, 46,27, etc.).
When the Torah (46,5) nonetheless speaks of וישאו בני ישראל את יעקב אביהם, “the sons of Israel carried their father Yaakov, etc.,” the message of the Torah is that Yaakov’s descent to Egypt involved both his names, i.e. although at this stage he had become an exile, ultimately, -through the exile experience in Egypt- he (his people) would be redeemed there and would emerge as more deserving of the name בני ישראל than before. This is the reason that in the verse mentioned the sons of Yaakov are referred to as בני ישראל rather than as the בני יעקב. The Torah could have simply written that “Yaakov’s sons carried him, etc.” We have this concept repeated at the beginning of the Book of Exodus where the Torah speaks of: “these are the children of Israel who came down to Egypt.” The same verse goes on naming them as “Yaakov and his sons.” These are the very ones who in the future would be called “the children of Israel.”

wieder ישראל, während bisher, — mit einer einzigen Ausnahme, wo er sich zu einem Entschlusse erhob und Herr über Zweifel geworden, wo also auch eine, wenngleich nur momentane Ermannung des Geistes zu bezeichnen war — immer nur יעקב gestanden. So hieß es oben Kap.35, 20 im Schmerz über Rahels Tod: ויצב Es ist zu :רב — .ויסע ישראל :nach der Ermannung aber sofort Raw Hirsch on Genesis 45: 22 ,יעקב וגו׳ viel! Der Glanz, in dem er Josef wiederfinden sollte, ist eine Zugabe. Es ist genug, dass er überhaupt noch lebt.

רב, עוד יוסף בני חי, he addressed the driver of the carriages asking if his son Joseph is indeed still alive? (The word רב meaning “captain, driver” appears in this sense in Jonah, 1,6.) An alternate interpretation: Yaakov’s children kept on telling their father about Joseph’s position in Egypt, until their father got tired of listening to this and tried to stop them by saying: רב, “enough,” I now know that my son Joseph is still alive. He added that if this was really true, he would make the journey to Egypt in order to see him once more before he would die.

רב, עוד יוסף בני חי, “it is plenty;” Yaakov meant that when the brothers told him that Joseph was alive, and that he was a ruler in Egypt, the second part of the sentence was unnecessary, as long as he knew that Joseph was alive. He was totally unconcerned with Joseph’s standing politically.

עוד יוסף בני חי, all the commentaries of others which are convoluted are way off. I, though a junior, say that the meaning of the line רב עוד יוסף בני חי וכי הו מושל בארץ מצרים is: “enough! I am satisfied to have heard that my son Joseph is still alive. The fact that he is ruler in Egypt is totally irrelevant to my joy. I would be perfectly happy without that additional information. I am going to see him before I die, ruler or no ruler.”