Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו אֵת כׇּל דִּבְרֵי יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵהֶם
וַיַּרְא אֶת הָעֲגָלוֹת אֲשֶׁר שָׁלַח יוֹסֵף לָשֵׂאת אֹתוֹ
וַתְּחִי רוּחַ יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם׃
The brothers told Yaakov all of Yosef’s words that he had said. Yaakov saw the agalot (wagons) that Yosef had sent to carry him, and Yaakov’s spirit was revived.
The agalot (wagons) in this pasuk are an unusual detail! Why would agalot revive Yaakov’s spirit?
רַבִּי לֵוִי בְּשֵׁם רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בַּר שָׁאוּל: אָמַר לָהֶם אִם יַאֲמִין לָכֶם הֲרֵי מוּטָב, וְאִם לָאו אַתֶּם אוֹמְרִים לוֹ בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁפָּרַשְׁתִּי מִמְּךָ לֹא בְּפָרָשַׁת עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה הָיִיתִי עוֹסֵק?!
הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב: "וַיַּרְא אֶת הָעֲגָלוֹת… וַתְּחִי רוּחַ."
R. Levi said in the name of R. Yohanan bar Shaul:
Yosef had told his brothers: If our father believes you (that I’m alive and ruling Egypt), that’s great. But if he doesn’t believe you, remind him that the last thing he and I learned together before I left him was the mitzvah of eglah arufah!
That’s why the pasuk says: “Yaakov saw the agalot…and his spirit was revived.”
Do you see what the midrash is doing here? It’s a play on words! The word “agalah” (wagon) sounds a lot like “eglah.” According to the midrash, what actually revived Yaakov’s spirit was the reminder of eglah arufah.
Eglah arufah is a mitzvah that appears in Sefer Devarim (21:1-9). It’s a ritual for when someone is mysteriously killed in the middle of nowhere. The leaders of the nearby community have to make a kind of sacrifice out of an עֶגְלָה (eglah, calf) to remind people that we must take responsibility for each other and that no one should be left unprotected.
- Why would it be powerful for Yosef to remind Yaakov that he still remembered a lesson from when they learned Torah together so many years earlier?
- Why might it be relevant that this lesson was about leaders assuming responsibility? Is there a connection to this story that goes beyond eglah sounding like agalah?
- Can you think of a special lesson that you have learned with a parent or a teacher? Does that lesson represent a goal or a value that you share?
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