11: Vayigash
Welcome to TLDR Torah: a synopsis of the weekly parsha based on Robert Alter’s translation, plus a question to spur your Shabbat dinner (or any!) conversation.
Parsha Vayigash (Genesis 44:18-47:27)
TLDR:
Judah continues to plead with Joseph (whose identity is still hidden), offering to stand in place of Benjamin as the slave so Benjamin could return to Jacob.
Joseph tells his attendants to leave, and sobs loudly for a third time. He breaks the news directly, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?”
Dumbfounding his brothers, Joseph speaks to his story, God’s (his own?) greatness, and his desire that they all settle in Goshen in Egypt. The brothers stay silent until the end, when they all embrace.
Per Pharaoh’s direction, Joseph gives his brothers clothing (three pieces to Benjamin… has he not learned anything about favoritism?), and sends them back home with wagons and supplies.
The brothers tell Jacob that Joseph is alive. It takes him a moment to truly believe it. Jacob decides to go to Egypt with seventy people in his household. On the way, God comes to him in a vision to “ok” the Egypt trip.
Joseph, crafty as ever, tells his brothers specifically what to tell Pharaoh about their occupation to guarantee them the spot in Goshen. The meeting with Pharaoh goes great!
The famine worsens, and Egyptians come to Joseph for food. Joseph exchanges the food for their livestock. Still famished the following year, the people trade their land for food. Joseph resettles the Egyptian population (excluding the priests) across the land, presumably to erode ownership claims.
Joseph provides seed for farmland in return for 20% of their harvest for Pharaoh. Joseph seems to be praised as a smart administrator and the mastermind behind income taxes. Apparently Egyptians are “grateful.”
Jacob and his entourage acquire land in Goshen, and grow their family.
Question:
When meeting Pharaoh, Jacob tells him, “Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life.” Somber stuff for someone who has achieved so much! He married Rachel, got rich, had a big family, and lived 130 years. Of course, there was a lot of self-generated conflict along the way. Is this an indictment of the “ends don’t justify the means”, at least on the personal level? How do you know whether something in the moment is “worth it”?