IN A NUTSHELL
Our parasha begins with Yehuda’s emotional speech to the viceroy of Egypt, pleading for Binyamin to be set free. Yehuda even asked to switch places with Binyamin and become the prisoner instead. Then the viceroy finally revealed that he was actually their brother Yosef. The brothers were shocked by this twist in their story, and Yosef told them not to worry that he might still be angry with them for selling him as a slave all those years ago. He explained that this was always God’s plan, and that everything had turned out okay for him. All twelve brothers came close together and hugged.
Both Pharaoh and Yosef then gave them many presents, and the brothers returned to Yaakov their father in the land of Canaan to tell him the news that his beloved son Yosef was still alive. Yaakov gathered the entire family together and they travelled to Egypt, seventy people in all.
Finally, the family is reunited. They settle in an area called Goshen, in Egypt, and the family of Benei Yisrael continues to grow and grow.
QUESTION TO PONDER
How was it comforting to his brothers when Yosef told them this was always God’s plan?