Torah Thoughts on Parshas Vayigash by Rabbi Milton Wakschlag
"כִּי עַבְדְךָ עָרַב אֶת הַנַעַר מֵעִם אָבִי לֵאמֹר אִם לֹא אֲבִיאֶנוּ אֵלֶיךָ וְחָטָאתִי לְאָבִי כָּל הַיָמִים" בְּרֵאשִׁית מ''ד:ל''ב
“Because your servant took responsibility for the youth for my father, saying: ‘If I do not bring him to you then I will have sinned to my father for all time.’ ” Bereshis 44:32
The seeds of the history-altering encounter between Yehuda and Yosef in Parashas Vayigash are planted early in Sefer Bereshis. The first בֵּין אָדָם לְחַבֵרוֹ crisis in the Torah is reflected in Kayin’s haunting question (Bereshis 4:9): “Am I my brother’s keeper?” After that, the Torah repeatedly emphasizes the importance of arvus/personal accountability for others. Thus, when Lavan accuses Yaakov of stealing his sheep, Yaakov invokes his role as surety for Lavan’s flock (Bereshis 31:38-39): “I never presented you with a mauled animal; I bore the loss. You held me accountable.” Later, in the story of Yehuda and Tamar, Yehuda learns painfully about the consequences of providing a surety for his financial commitments. Later, Yosef imprisons Shimon to secure the brothers’ commitment to bring Binyamin to Mitzrayim, thus teaching the brothers that even a person can be a surety for another’s performance.
Reuven does not absorb this lesson and therefore fails to convince Yaakov to send Binyamin with him to Mitzrayim, as demanded by Yosef. But Yehuda, who has profoundly internalized the message, implores his father to send Binyamin under Yehuda’s wing (Bereshis 43:9): “I will be his surety; from my hand you may demand him,” says Yehuda. Only then can Yaakov, who is intimately familiar with the idea of personal surety, put his trust in Yehuda and send Binyamin with him to Egypt. Finally, in this week’s parashah, Yehuda fulfills his arvus obligation to his father and saves Binyamin from imprisonment in Egypt by declaring: “For I have made myself surety for the boy to my father, saying: “If I do not return Binyamin to you, I will have sinned to you forever.” The process is complete; we have evolved from Kayin’s “Am I my brother’s keeper?” to Yehuda’s “I am surety for my brother!”
Bnei Yisrael have now emerged from a family of individuals to a potentially cohesive nation. This message was delivered by Yosef to Yaakov by invoking the theme of the עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה, which attests to the sense of personal responsibility felt by each Jew for every other Jew. Similarly, Rav Aharon Soloveichik explained the halachah of "כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל עֲרֵבִים זֶה בָּזֶה" – All Jews are responsible for one another. “Just as a surety in money is held responsible as if he or she had been the debtor, so also every Jew is a surety for all the spiritual obligations of every other Jew.” Therefore, continues Rav Soloveichik quoting the Midrash, Jews are referred to as Yehudim, for Yehuda, who declared “I am surety for my brother.”
Rabbi Milton Wakschlag is a graduate of FYHS (1972) and a musmach of Rav Aharon Soloveichik. He practiced law for 40 years, retired to learn with the HTC Bellows Kollel for three years, and now studies Tanach and Talmud in Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies.
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