Vayigash: confrontation

 

There are threads of confrontation in Vayigash.  The word vayigash, וַיִּגַּ֥שׁ, means "approach" and there is an implication of a trepidation under the surface. It is the word used when Abraham approaches Gd about the destruction of Sodom: 

וַיִּגַּ֥שׁ אַבְרָהָ֖ם וַיֹּאמַ֑ר הַאַ֣ף תִּסְפֶּ֔ה צַדִּ֖יק עִם־רָשָֽׁע׃

Abraham came forward and said, “Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?

 

This was a confrontation that required a great deal of courage ( and a question that lasts until today and, probably beyond). 

 

 

The same word is used three times, when the disguised Jacob impersonates Esau and thus approaches his father Isaac:

 

וַיִּגַּ֧שׁ יַעֲקֹ֛ב אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק אָבִ֖יו וַיְמֻשֵּׁ֑הוּ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר הַקֹּל֙ ק֣וֹל יַעֲקֹ֔ב וְהַיָּדַ֖יִם יְדֵ֥י עֵשָֽׂו׃

So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.”

 

Jacob told his mother, Rebecca, that he feared discovery and its consequences when he made this approach.

 

Now, it is Judah approaching/confronting/fearing  the Viceroy of Egypt, offering himself in servitude in exchange for Benjamin, who was framed as a thief:

 

וַיִּגַּ֨שׁ אֵלָ֜יו יְהוּדָ֗ה וַיֹּ֘אמֶר֮ בִּ֣י אֲדֹנִי֒ יְדַבֶּר־נָ֨א עַבְדְּךָ֤ דָבָר֙ בְּאׇזְנֵ֣י אֲדֹנִ֔י וְאַל־יִ֥חַר אַפְּךָ֖ בְּעַבְדֶּ֑ךָ כִּ֥י כָמ֖וֹךָ כְּפַרְעֹֽה׃

Then Judah went up to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not be impatient with your servant, you who are the equal of Pharaoh.

 

Generally, vayigash implies a recognition of inferior status.  A degree of subservience is implied , the  descent toward servitude is already present. At the same time, the approach signaled by  vayigash  implies extraordinary courage; confrontation with mortal ( perhaps eternal) danger. Vayigash is an inspiration to strive for a cause. 

 

The first confrontation in our parsha works out much better than expected.  Judah's willingness to sacrifice his own freedom for Benjamin’s leads to Joseph revealing himself. The revelation is not merely an identification that the viceroy of Egypt is actually the lost son of Jacob, it is also the disclosure of the remaining filial bond. Joseph still loves his brothers despite their actions. Their survival seems to depend upon that love.

 

The interaction between the people of Egypt and the surrounding areas, plagued by famine, with Joseph is fraught. The word vayigash is not used to describe this interaction. The populace is threatened with starvation as the famine grows worse. Joseph controls the grain stored during the seven years of plenty. He sells the grain for money, cattle, land and servitude. When I imagine this interaction, I am not sure who is more frightened. Joseph's grain stands between the individual and starvation. But the starving group is so large that at anytime, a group could come and wrest control from Joseph and pharaoh. This does not appear to happen. And the greater good is probably served by having this single authority control the food supply. The surprising aspect is that the people allowed the cost to rise to the point that they became slaves.

 

The story of Joseph acquiring the land and the labor of the people in exchange for food is an origin story of a fundamental economic system. The principles that emerge justify feudalism, capitalism, communism. In the end, Joseph is the great lord and all the world (except for the Egyptian priestly class) are his serfs. The extortions of money, cattle, land and freedom in exchange for food attest to the validity of the capitalist principle that anything can be bought. The urbanization and relocation of the Egyptian people at the whim of the great administrator is reminiscent of Stalin and the evolution of the Soviet Union. The absence of a vayigash, a courageous confrontation, is reminiscent of our own times.

Most of the story concentrates on the children of Israel. The famine forces the Hebrews to move to Goshen (a word related to vayigash). The Promised land is abandoned by each of the three patriarchs because of famine. Survival is more important than settling on the land. But the famine ends, And the Hebrews stay in Egypt because they are prominent and wealthy and connected.

 

Today, is the 10th of Teveth. The fast memorializes the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The penitent prayers associated with today also recall the death of Ezra, the Jewish leader who brought the people back from the first Babylonian exile. We also remember the Septuagint translation of the Torah, considered a debasing corruption of the holy writ. This fast day is a partial undoing of Channukah. Chanukah celebrated the reassertion of the uniqueness of Jewish culture. The  exile, the death of the liberator and the cheapening of the text are steps toward an assimilated state. The forces of independence battle submersion into the dominant culture forever. I have no expectation of victory for either side.