Parshas Vayigash

This week’s Torah portion, Parshas Vayigash, brings us to the dramatic climax of the Yosef narrative. After years of separation, manipulation, and mounting tension, Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers with the immortal words, “I am Yosef! Is my father still alive?” The brothers stand frozen in shock, unable to respond. The viceroy of Egypt, the man who held their fate in his hands, was their long-lost brother whom they had sold into slavery decades earlier. But this moment of reunion comes only after an extended ordeal. Yosef had accused them of being spies, imprisoned Shimon, demanded they bring Binyamin down to Egypt, planted his goblet in Binyamin’s sack, and threatened to enslave this beloved youngest brother. The brothers were subjected to psychological torment, forced to relive their guilt, and pushed to the brink of despair.

While Yosef’s actions make for a great story there is an obvious question that screams at us. Why was Yosef allowed to put his brothers through all of this suffering around their youngest brother Binyamin? As one of the twelve sons of Yaakov Yosef was a great man who we know held no resentment towards his brothers for what they put him through.

The Abarbanel provides a penetrating answer that transforms our understanding of Yosef’s actions and shows us the true path from the darkness of exile to the light of redemption. All this time there was a prophecy hanging over the heads of the house of Yaakov. Hashem promised Avraham, Yaakov’s grandfather, that they and their descendants would be in exile and persecuted for many years in Egypt. Yosef knew this and had to play the long game because he had one very powerful secret � the key to salvation from the brutal Egyptian exile. Binyamin was not only the youngest brother, but he was the only one other than Yosef to be son of Rachel, the (in some way) favored wife of the four wives of Yaakov. Yosef knew He needed to know if the brothers had truly changed, if the jealousy that had driven them to sell him still festered in their hearts. Not simply to see if the brothers were righteous people, but to see if they would let go of the jealousy of the children of Rachel that caused the brothers to sell him in the first place and stand up for Binyamin.

Yosef knew that the one thing that would convince Hashem to end a brutal exile is unity. Thousands of years later and here we are, mired in the bloody pits of a tear-filled exile looking for answers. May Hashem give us the strength to learn from Yosef and unite as one nation and finally return home in song and redemption.