Bostoner Torah Insights: Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in Hebrew and English: Parshas Vayechi – 14 Tevet 5786
Bostoner Torah Insights - Yerushalayim
Bostoner Torah Insights
Bostoner ‘Chassidus’ in English
Parshas Vayechi – 14 Tevet 5786
Bostoner Rebbe shlit’a – Yerushalayim
Secretariat Email: bosto...@gmail.com
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When Yosef finally reveals himself to his brothers in Parshas Vayigash, the Torah states: “וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל־אֶחָיו” — “And Yosef said to his brothers” (Bereishis 45:3). At first glance, the phrase “to his brothers” seems superfluous. After all, Yosef had already removed every other person from the room as not to embarrass his brothers (Bereishis 45:1 and Rashi there). If no one else was present, whom else could he be addressing?
Yosef was emphasizing that he viewed himself not as a ruler over them, but as one of them. By saying “to his brothers”, Yosef was declaring that the Shevatim would be the twelve sons of Yaakov themselves — not a later generation, not their children, but them. This point becomes central to understanding Parshas Vayechi.
Chazal tell us in Parshas Vayeishev that Yaakov was inconsolable after Yosef’s disappearance: “וַיְמָאֵן לְהִתְנַחֵם” — “And he refused to be comforted” (Bereishis 37:35). Rashi explains: “גזירה על המת שישתכח מן הלב” — “It is a decree upon the dead that they are forgotten from the heart.” And since Yosef was actually alive, Yaakov was not able to forget him. The Gemara states explicitly: “A dead person is not forgotten from the heart until after twelve months” (Berachos 58b), based on the verse “נִשְׁכַּחְתִּי כְּמֵת מִלֵּב” — “I am forgotten like a dead person from the heart” (Tehillim 31:13).
Yet this raises a difficulty. Yaakov assumed Yosef was dead, so why did the process of forgetting never occur?
One possible explanation is that Yaakov understood that Yosef’s spiritual legacy continued. Even if Yosef himself was no longer alive, his continuity — his netzach — remained. Chazal teach that Yaakov Avinu never truly died: “יעקב אבינו לא מת” — “Our father Yaakov did not die” (Taanis 5b). His life persists through his descendants who carry forward his Torah and mission. Yaakov may have reasoned that Yosef’s existence continued through children yet unknown to him.
This sheds light on another puzzling moment in Vayechi. When Yosef brings Ephraim and Menashe to Yaakov, Yaakov says: “רְאֹה פָנֶיךָ לֹא פִלָּלְתִּי וְהִנֵּה הֶרְאָה אֹתִי אֱלֹקים גַּם אֶת־זַרְעֶךָ” — “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has shown me also your children” (Bereishis 48:11). But Yaakov had already lived with his grandchildren in Egypt for seventeen years. Moreover, he asks, “מִי אֵלֶּה” — “Who are these?” (Bereishis 48:8). Why did he not recognize them?
Yaakov was not asking who they were physically; he was asking who they were spiritually. Were these children destined to be ordinary descendants, or something more? Yaakov had a prophetic tradition that if his Mita was Sheleimah — his ‘bed’ (family) was completely intact and none of his sons died before him, then Klal Yisrael would emerge fully from him.
The answer is given when Yaakov declares: “אֶפְרַיִם וּמְנַשֶּׁה כִּרְאוּבֵן וְשִׁמְעוֹן יִהְיוּ־לִי” — “Ephraim and Menashe shall be to me like Reuven and Shimon” (Bereishis 48:5). Yosef himself would not be counted as a tribe; instead, his two sons would take his place. Yaakov continues: “וּמוֹלַדְתְּךָ אֲשֶׁר־הוֹלַדְתָּ אַחֲרֵיהֶם לְךָ יִהְיוּ” — “Any children born after them shall be yours” (Bereishis 48:6), meaning that with the addition of Ephraim and Menashe, the number of Shevatim was sealed. No one else could enter that holy classification.
Back in Parshas Vayigash, the meeting of Yosef and Yehudah represents a cosmic alignment. Yosef corresponds to the ten tribes, later ruled by Malchus Yisrael under kings descended from Ephraim, while Yehudah and Binyamin form Malchus Beis Dovid. This is why history unfolds first with Mashiach ben Yosef and ultimately culminates with Mashiach ben Dovid. In Parshas Vayechi we have the blessings of all tribes filled and the prophecies of Yaakov throughout Jewish History until the end of days.
May we merit to witness that completion speedily in our days. Amen.