Within the Parsha, Parshat Vayigash, Yosef’s brothers prove to Yosef just how loyal they are to each other. As a result, Yosef decides to reveal his identity to them. Yosef then immediately asks if his father is still alive, to which the brothers respond that he is.
The brothers return to Yaakov, telling him that Yosef is actually still alive. Yaakov and Yosef
finally reunite after twenty-two years of Yaakov mourning.
The Pasuk says that when they reunite, Yosef presents himself to Yaakov, embraces him around the neck, and starts crying. However, there is no mention of Yaakov crying, only Yosef.
Wouldn’t you think that after twenty-two years of mourning his son, Yaakov would cry when they finally reunited? There must be a reason as to why he wasn’t crying.
Rashi presents the idea that Yaakov wasn’t crying since he was busy saying Shema. However, this just leads us to a further question: Couldn’t Yaakov wait to say Shema? Why did he have to recite it the moment he saw Yosef?
The Maharal provides an answer to this follow-up question by explaining what the true idea of Shema really is—everything is connected and everything is one. Additionally, people pray Shema in challenging moments of life, as a way of calling out to Hashem to ask for help.
Therefore, we can understand that Yaakov was saying Shema to express his understanding to Hashem of this full circle moment, or that everything is connected. Because Yaakov had believed that Yosef was dead all this time, it was a challenging moment for him to hear that his son was alive. His reunion with his beloved son after twenty-two years emphasizes how everything is connected, and that Hashem always has a plan.
We can take away that Hashem always has a plan for us, no matter what it seems like on our end. Instead of being quick to judge when something difficult happens to us, we should take a moment and stop to appreciate everything we do have. We should view things positively rather than negatively, recognize that everything is connected, and Hashem has great things in store for us as long as we let them happen.
Shabbat Shalom!
By: Abigail Eliav (11th)
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