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Vayigash 3

D'var Torah by Rabbi Jay Spero

 

Do Not Fear

Parshas Vayigash

Contact Rabbi Spero at 862-9546 or jsohr1@juno.com

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In this week’s portion, after Yoseph ascertains that his brothers have done Teshuva (properly atoned) for their selling of him, he reveals himself to them and they are joyously reunited. He then sends word to his father Yaakov, who is in the land of Israel, that he is alive and that Yaakov should come join him and the rest of his brothers in Egypt. 

Before Yaakov embarks on his journey to Egypt, he has prophecy from Hashem. Hashem tells him: "Have no fear of descending to Egypt, for I shall make you a great nation there" (Bereshis 46:3).

What was Yaakov’s fear of going down to Egypt?

At different times, all three of our Avos (forefathers) were told "al tira" — don’t fear. Avraham was told this after the war of the four kings against the five kings (Bereshis 15:1). The Ramban explains that Avraham was worried that he would not have any children to carry on his mission in the world, thus Hashem told him, do not fear.

Yitzchok was told "do not fear" after his quarrel with the shepherds in Gerar over ownership of the wells that he had dug, wells that had been originally dug by Avraham and covered by the Pelishtim (Ibid. 26:24).

The wells are a metaphor for the service of Hashem. Originally, they had been dug by Avraham, the spreader of monotheism. Then the wells were covered by those who do not wish to accept this yoke of Heaven. They were subsequently uncovered by Avraham’s son Yitzchok, who continued Avraham’s service to Hashem.

Hashem was telling Yitzchok, do not fear retribution, for just as I have enabled you to uncover the wells and continue your father Avraham’s service of Hashem, so I will increase your offspring, because of my servant Avraham, i.e., that what Avraham started, will be completed by his descendants. 

The Zohar explains that Yaakov is told "do not fear". Yaakov was afraid that his family would succumb to Egypt, that they would assimilate into Egyptian culture. Thus Yaakov is reassured by Hashem: "I will be with you when you go down to Egypt, and I shall lift you up from there" (Ibid. 46:4). 

We see an ascending level of fear by our Avos. Avraham is fearful that there will simply not be the physical element of the Jewish people to continue his work. Yitzchok fears that though there may be the people, perhaps there will be to many impediments. Yaakov fears the problem is not lack of people or outside elements, but rather, the concern for Bnei Yisroel (the children of Israel) themselves, will they be able to withstand the temptation of the outside world, and continue their mission?

To all three of these concerns Hashem tells them "do not fear, I am with you."

We can imagine how Yaakov felt, after all that he had been through, his war with Eisav his brother, his dealings with Lavan, the kidnapping of his daughter Dinah, his thinking that his beloved son Yoseph was dead for twenty-two years, and now he had to leave the land of Israel and be forced to die in exile. Why was this necessary?

The Ohr Hachaim writes that Yaakov actually thought about returning to Israel when the famine (which had led his children to Egypt in the first place) was over, but Hashem had told him, "I will make you a great nation there." Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, author of the Zohar, writes there that the purpose of all our exiles is to uncover the shells, and find hidden sparks of Divine goodness that have been dispersed to the place we have been exiled to. In layman’s terms, this means that there is potential for good dispersed throughout the world, and it is the responsibility of the Jewish people to exercise the gift of free will, and choose this good, and by doing so, to uncover these sparks and sanctify the world. When we do so, we will be ready to return to Israel, to go home. 

And in every exile, Hashem is with us, just as he was with our ancestors.

Rabbi Jay Spero is the rabbi of the Saranac Synagogue in Buffalo.

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