The Power of Hope
Genesis 44:18-47:27
Is this week’s Torah portion we learn about the reunion of Joseph and his family. How appropriate for the name of the portion to be called Vayigash, which means, “and he came near.” After a long period of being apart from his family, Joseph was able to come near his family. Not only did Joseph reveal himself to his brothers after the long wait for his plan to succeed, but he was also reunited with his father who had given up hope of Joseph’s survival years beforehand.
After revealing himself to his brothers, he instructed them to go back and get their father and all of their possessions and move down to Egypt where he would provide for them. Once they got back home to their father, however, Jacob did not initially believe the news about Joseph:
And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. (Genesis 45:26–27)
In this translation we read that Jacob’s heart “became numb.” However, the Hebrew is more evocative. It says that his heart “fainted.” He simply could not believe Joseph could be alive after all these years. His pessimism was based on his challenging life. Jacob was 130 years old and had lived through many difficult circumstances. When he ended up moving down to Egypt and met Pharaoh, he explained:
The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning. (Genesis 47:9)