Netvort Vayigash 5773:                   Watch the Road

By Rabbi Joshua (Agitatingly known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In memory of the children and their protectors who were brutally murdered in Newton, Connecticut, last Friday. May God comfort all the mourners

Yosef, before sending his brothers back to Canaan to bring their father and the extended family down to Egypt, tells them “Do not become agitated on the way” (Bereishis 45:24). Rashi explains this to mean that they should not become involved in halachic discussion which would agitate them and delay their trip. Interestingly, when Yaakov sent the brothers down to Egypt to buy grain, he did not give them similar instructions. Why didn’t he? What is the difference between the two trips?

Rabbi Chaim, brother of the Maharal of Prague, in his Sefer HaChaim, says that Yaakov had no fear that his sons would discuss Torah on their journey because he did not have food, and, as the Mishnah in Avos (3:21) teaches, if there is no flour there is no Torah! Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried, in his Aperion, says that the brothers felt somewhat guilty for the twenty-two years that Yosef was separated from Yaakov and was unable to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring his father. Since Torah study is greater than honoring one’s parents, they felt that they could avoid punishment by discussing Torah on the road. Therefore, Yosef told them not to do so. This, of course, was not a consideration when Yaakov sent the brothers down to Egypt. I would like to suggest another answer based on variation of an intriguing comment made by Rabbi Yosef Salant in his Be’er Yosef.

When Yaakov and Yosef finally meet in Egypt, one of them falls on the neck of the other and cries (Bereishis 46:29). According to the Ramban, it was Yaakov who cried, because an old man seeing his son for the first time in twenty-two years is more apt to cry than the young son who has reached a high political position. Rashi, however, says that Yosef cried, while Yaakov was saying Shema. Many commentators, including the Malbim, the Be’er Yitzchak and the Sfas Emes say that this is symbolic, and means that Yaakov attained love of God as articulated in the Shema. The Be’er Yosef explains the symbolism differently. He says that Yaakov, fearing for Yosef’s spiritual level in decadent Egypt, meant to teach him the lessons of the Shema. I would like to suggest that the main teaching of Shema that Yaakov meant to give over to Yosef was its emphasis on the importance of Torah study. Although, as Rashi pointed out earlier, Yosef had hinted to Yaakov, through sending him wagons, that he still remembered the last words of Torah that passed between them before he was taken down to Egypt, Yaakov was concerned that Yosef, serving as viceroy in the alien society of Egypt, would not persist in his Torah studies. Therefore, he  was saying the Shema, to deliver the message that he needed to continue his dedication to Torah, despite all the responsibilities that devolved upon him.

Based on our variation of the Be’er Yosef’s comment, we can understand why Yaakov did not tell his sons to avoid getting involved in halachic discussions on their way down to Egypt to buy grain. Yaakov, in fact, wanted his sons to engage in Torah study as they approached Egypt, so they would plan strategies for dealing with the alien culture there with a Torah standard. Similarly, the Midrash, cited by Rashi, says that when Yaakov went down to Egypt with his family he sent Yehuda as a vanguard to set up a yeshiva from which instruction would be issued. Yaakov, as the forefather who personified Torah study, was actively concerned that the Torah traditions that he had received would be continued in Egypt, and imbued his children with this concern as well.