The Vicious Cycle of Slavery: VaYigash 5780
The paradox of Parashat VaYigash is that it opens with reconciliation but ends with alienation. Perhaps this is no paradox, but just a pendulum swing. As we ask in the piyyut unetaneh tokef, מי ירום ומי יושפל, “who will be raised high, and who will be brought low?” Joseph was enslaved by his brothers, and…
A house divided no more? Vayigash 5777
Is it only two brothers who face off in the dramatic opening of our portion, or do they carry upon their shoulders the weight of future history—the division of their two respective kingdoms, Judah and Israel, which will vie for primacy and even engage in civil war? Why add the historical overlay? Is not the…
Joseph the Lonely Master: Vayyigash 5774
The paradox of VaYigash is that the Joseph who tearfully reconciles with his family in the beginning is the same man, the iron-fisted administrator, who enslaves most of the Egyptian population in the end. There is almost a law of conservation of compassion at play. In verse 47:23, we read, “Joseph spoke to the people, ‘Indeed, I have acquired you and…
Rabbi Danny Nevins 