Yehudah approaches Yosef pleading on behalf of Benyamin. He eloquently
points out the special love Yaakov has for Benyamin since he was the
only remaining son from Rochel. So strong is the connection that if
anything happened to Benyamin, Yaakov would die. Also, Yehudah had
personally guaranteed Benyamin’s safety and return. If anything
happens to him, Yehudah would face a permanent shame and ban in his
family. Yehudah implores Yosef to let him remain instead of Benyamin.
Yosef can no longer restrain himself and breaks down. He cries, “I
am Yosef! Is my father really still alive?” All of the brothers
now embrace each other and weep. Yosef tells not to feel sad since
it was for this purpose that Hashem caused them to send him to Egypt.
Since the famine in Cannan is very severe, Yosef tells his brothers
to bring their father and the whole family to settle in the land of
Goshen. There, Yosef would be able to take care of them.
Pharoah agrees that Yaakov and the whole family can settle in Goshen
He orders Yosef to take wagons from Egypt and bring Yaakov and whatever
he needs. Yosef gives his brothers gifts for his father and food for
the journey. When they return to Canaan, Yaakov cannot believe that
Yosef is still alive.
Yaakov descends to Egypt but first stops in Be’er Sheva to offer
sacrifices to Hashem. Hashem tells time not fear going to Egypt since
Hashem would be with him. Yaakov brings seventy people with him and
begins the long journey of exile to Egypt. Finally, Yaakov sees Yosef
and the two embrace. Yaakov is now happy and ready to die if Hashem
wills it.
Yosef wants Yaakov to meet Pharoah, but informs him that he should
not tell Pharoah that they are shepherds (because this is an abomination
to the Egyptians). He should tell Pharoah that they are simple herdsmen.
Yaakov meets Pharoah and offers him a blessing. The famine increases
in severity, but the Children of Israel prosper and multiply in Goshen.
And Pharoah said unto Yaakov: How many are the days of the years of your life? And Yaakov said unto Pharoah: The days of the years of my sojournings are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings. |
These verses seem very awkward. Why didn’t Pharoah simply ask
Yaakov how old he was? You will recall that the Torah described Sarah’s
life as “one hundred years and twenty years and seven years”.
The sages derived a midrashic meaning for this breakdown. With Yaakov,
we learn that he lived every day to the fullest. By asking “How
old are you?” or “How many years have you lived?”,
we are implicitly discarding all of the days in between. Nobody thinks
that if they are forty years old, they are approximately 14,600 days
old. Yaakov also remained steadfast in his belief that he was always
wandering, always moving (“years of my sojournings”) from
place to place. Only with the redemption from Egypt would the Israelites
finally put down roots. The lesson for us is that we must live each
day to the fullest; with meaning and purpose. The Torah gives us a
blueprint as to how to accomplish this.
If we recall that the word for “sojourn” is 
,
this has the same gematria as the 613 mitzvot of the Torah. Thus,
we could interpret Yaakov’s answer that Yaakov was constantly
learning Torah (according to the Midrash). We see this in another
verse from our parsha.
 And Yehudah he sent before him, unto Yosef, to show the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. |
The Midrash writes: “What is implied by l’horot? Said
Rabbi Nehemiah: To prepare an academy for him there where he would
teach Torah and where the tribal ancestors would read the Torah. The
proof of this lies in the fact that when Yosef departed from him,
Yaakov knew what subject he was studying when he left him, because
he used to go over his studies with him…This teaches you that
wherever he went, he studied the Torah, just as did his forebears,
though the Torah had not yet been given. For surely it is written,
Because that Avraham hearkened to My voice, and kept…My laws-torot…”
I recently heard two stories that illustrate this ideal of Torah study
under different conditions. The first story takes place in 1942 in
the Warsaw Ghetto. A diarist writes that once he walked into a shoe
repair shop. A group of scholars and lay people were assembled in
the room mending shoes. From first appearances, they seemed to be
doing the menial tasks of pulling out nails from old shoes. When the
man came closer, he realized that they were actually engaged in a
deep discussion of Talmud. Amazingly, they had no fear of death!
The second story involves a Chassidic Rebbe who met one of his Chassidim
on the street rushing to the market. He wanted the man to come to
the house of study to learn Torah. “Sorry rebbe, I can’t.
I must go to the market to earn a living”. The Rebbe implored
the man to take some time out anyway. “I can’t, I must
provide for my children. How can I stop to learn Torah now?”
Many years later, The Rebbe met another man on the street also in
a big hurry. As always, the Rebbe stops the man and asks him to accompany
him to learn Torah. “Sorry Rebbe, I can’t. I must go to
the market to earn a living”. The Rebbe pauses and looks at
the man. “I recognize you. I had a similar encounter with your
father many years ago. He told me he was too busy to study Torah because
he had to earn a living for his children. Now, I meet his son who
tells me the exact same thing. Ribbono shel olam (Master of the World),
when will I meet the one human being, for whom all of the generations
labored so assiduously!”
We learn from this what it says in Pirke Avot, “Do not say,
When I have free time I will study. Perhaps you will never have free
time!” If in the midst of the Holocust devoted Jews found time
to study Torah, certainly we can all devoted some time in our busy
lives to study Torah. Our lives are too stressful not to take time
out for reflection and introspection. That’s what Shabbos is
for. Take time out, on a Friday night, to sit down with your family
and read Torah, or a Jewish book. Quality family time can do wonders
to lower the stress at the end of the week.
