Parshat Vayechi: Return from Exile, Return to Relationship

(14) After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. (15) When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong that we did him!” (16) So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before his death your father left this instruction: (17) So shall you say to Joseph, ‘Forgive, I urge you, the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly.’ Therefore, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph was in tears as they spoke to him. (18) His brothers went to him themselves, flung themselves before him, and said, “We are prepared to be your slaves.” (19) But Joseph said to them, “Have no fear! Am I a substitute for God? (20) Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.

And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, etc. (Gen. 50:15). What did they see that frightened them? As they were returning from the burial of their father, they saw their brother go to the pit into which they had hurled him, in order to bless it. He blessed the pit with the benediction “Blessed be the place where He performed a miracle for me,” just as any man is required to pronounce a blessing at the place where a miracle had been performed in his behalf. When they beheld this they cried out: Now that our father is dead, Joseph will hate us and will fully requite us for all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying: Thy father did command … “So shall ye say unto Joseph: Forgive”...

It seems that the Torah has the brothers express a subconscious desire for Joseph to pay them back for all they had done to him. If Joseph were to do that now and the brothers would experience a similar agony to that which they had subjected him to, they would no longer have to worry about paying for their sin against him at the end of the exile...

"And Joseph returned to Egypt" (Genesis 50:14) [...they said, "What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong that we did him?" (Genesis 50:15)] - Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Yitzchak [disagreed on the interpretation]: Rabbi Levi said: "He did not invite them to dine [with him]" Rabbi Tanchuma said: "He intended nothing other than for the sake of Heaven [by his actions] in that [he thought] 'in the past, father seated me above Judah and he is [to be the ancestor of] a king and above Reuvein who is the firstborn. And now, is it not reasonable that I should sit above them?' But they did not say such, but rather "What if Joseph still bears a grudge (Genesis 50:14)"...It was taught: Rabban Shimon Gamliel says, "Peace is great, as even the tribes [i.e. brothers] spoke invented words in order to bring peace between Joseph and the tribes. This is what is written (in Genesis 50:16), 'And they commanded to Joseph saying... [Your father commanded before his death]'. And where did he command? We do not find that he commanded!" "Such you shall say to Joseph..." (Genesis 50:17) He said: "Thus my brothers suspect me." "And his brothers also went" (Genesis 50:18) They said to him: "You wanted one [i.e. Benjamin] to be yours for a slave - here, all of us are yours for slaves!"

(1) ויחי יעקב AND JACOB LIVED — Why is this section (Sidra) totally closed (the only parsha that begins in the middle of a masoretic paragraph)? Because, comprising as it does an account of the death of Jacob, as soon as our father Jacob departed this life the hearts and eyes of Israel were closed (their eyes became dim and their hearts troubled) because of the misery of the bondage which they then began to impose upon them. Another reason is: because he (Jacob) wished to reveal to his sons the date of the End of Days (i.e. when Israel’s exile would finally end), but the vision was closed (concealed) from him (Bereshit Rabbah 96:1).

The midrash teaches that this parsha’s closed nature is due to the death of Yaakov which causes the closing of the eyes and hearts of the Jewish people, prior to him being able to tell his children about the end of the exile… Indeed the main part of the exile did not begin with the death of Yaakov, but rather with the closing of the eye to wisdom, which preceded his death. This is because before there is physical exile, there is spiritual exile (of the soul) for the body is dependent upon the soul. This spiritual exile came with the death of Yaakov avinu. Yaakov was at a spiritual level to understand that ultimately the time in Egypt would be for the good, as he understood that the root of exile is redemption. This is what it means that he wanted to tell them of the end and was sealed. The fundamental teaching he was trying to give his children was not literally about the timing of the liberation from exile, but there would be an ending to the exile. [The brothers’ inability to grasp] this needed knowledge is in fact the essence of all exile. This doubt causes the brothers to feel that they are permanently exiled, that Yosef will cause them to be un-chosen, that the family is permanently shattered. Yosef is the only one who is able to understand that it is through exilic experience one is able to grow, to become a redeemed person. Yosef’s ability to cleave to G-d and understand the idea that “...although you intended me harm, G-d intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result - the life of a people.” (Bereshit 50:20) is true about all exile allows him to navigate the pain of exile as though it were redemption, for the root of exile is redemption. This experiential knowledge is what Yaakov was unable to communicate to his sons on his deathbed, this is aspect of the parsha that is closed.