19 Dec PARASHAT VAYIGASH: TEARS AND FAITH

We read in Parashat
Vayigash of Yaakob
Avinu’s move to
Egypt, where he
was reunited with his
beloved son, Yosef,
whom he had not seen in twenty years,
and whom he had thought was no longer
alive. The Torah describes how Yaakob
and Yosef embraced, and Yosef “cried
more on his neck” (“Va’yevk Al Savarav
Od” – 46:29). Rashi explains this unusual
phrase as referring to “Harbot Bechiya” –
“abundant crying,” indicating that Yosef
“continued crying more than normal.”
What is “normal” crying when one sees
his father for the first time in twenty years?
And why is this detail important for us to
know?
Rashi then proceeds to cite the famous
remark of the Midrash that while Yosef
wept, Yaakob did not cry, because he was
busy reciting Shema. Why was Yaakob
Abinu reciting Shema at this special,
emotional moment?
Our Rabbis established the fundamental
principle of “Ma’aseh Abot Siman
La’banim” – the actions performed by our

righteous ancestors serve as a “template”
of what would happen to their descendants.
As Yaakob and his family moved from
Eretz Yisrael to Egypt, beginning what
would become a long, difficult exile, Yosef
understood that this was establishing the
precedent for all future exiles. Now that
Yaakob had arrived in Egypt, Yosef foresaw
the difficult history of the Jewish People,
how for centuries and millennia to come,
Am Yisrael would be in exile, away from
its homeland, living among other nations,
who, on many occasions, would be hostile
and would persecute the Jews.
This, then, might be the meaning of
Yosef’s “abundant crying.” He wept
bitterly because he foresaw at that moment
the bitterness of exile. He foresaw the
“abundant crying” of the Jewish Nation
throughout the ages, the tears that would
flow during the Babylonian conquest, the
Greek persecution, the Roman conquest,
the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition,
the Holocaust – and all the other periods
of terrible suffering which our nation has
endured.
Yaakob Abinu responded by reciting
Shema – the declaration of faith in Hashem.

The verse of “Shema Yisrael”
proclaims that “Hashem
Elokenu Hashem Ehad” –
there is only one G-d. The
Name “Havaya” signifies
G-d’s attribute of compassion,
and “Elokim” expresses the
attribute of strict judgment.
There are times when G-d
manifests Himself through
“Havaya,” when His kindness
and compassion are clear and
evident, and there are times
when He manifests Himself
through “Elokim,” when He brings
hardship and adversity. The proclamation
of “Shema Yisrael” affirms the belief
that both “Hashem” and “Elokenu” are,
in truth “Hashem Ehad” – one and the
same. It affirms the belief that everything
that happens is, in truth, “Havaya” – a
manifestation of G-d’s kindness and
compassion, because everything He does is
always for the best, even when it is difficult
to see how.
Yaakob made this proclamation at that
moment in response to Yosef’s tears
because this must be – and always has
been – our response to the tears and pain of

exile: faith in Hashem’s kindness under all
circumstances. Immediately upon arriving
in Egypt, setting into motion the long,
painful history of Jewish exile, Yaakob
Abinu equipped us with our most important
asset through which we can survive the pain
and suffering of exile – faith in “Hashem
Ehad,” the belief in Hashem’s boundless
kindness, that even in times of hardship,
He is, in truth, caring for us.
This faith has been the secret of our nation’s
survival throughout our years in exile, and
this is what will continue sustaining us

until the end of our exile and our long-
awaited redemption, may it arrive speedily

and in our time, Amen.