This week’s parshah is dominated by the drama of Yosef finally revealing his true identity to his brother’s. For Yaakov, this was the impossible dream come true. His long thought dead, beloved son was alive! Can we imagine what such a reunion must have been like? Lucky for us, the torah documents the entire scene.
In Perek 46, Pasuk 29, right at the beginning of Shishi (sixth aliyah), it says, “…וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוָּארָיו וַיֵּבְךְּ עַל צַוָּארָיו עוֹד” “…And he (Yaakov) appeared to him (Yosef) and he (Yosef) fell on his neck, and he (Yosef) wept on his (Yaakov) neck for a long time.” There is a famous question: how come Yosef fell on Yaakov’s neck and cried while Yaakov has seemingly no reaction whatsoever? Not exactly the reaction we were expecting!
Rashi brings a very famous midrash which explains that Yaakov was saying Shema when Yosef came. He couldn’t stop in the middle, so Yosef was left to cry by himself. The very next pasuk shows Yaakov’s true reaction, “וַיֹּאמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶל יוֹסֵף אָמוּתָה הַפָּעַם אַחֲרֵי רְאוֹתִי אֶת פָּנֶיךָ כִּי עוֹדְךָ חָי” “And Yisrael said to Yosef, ‘Now I can die since I have seen your face and you are still alive.” Yaakov also had a very emotional reunion, however, his reaction was a little delayed since he was in the middle of saying Shema.
The Sifsei Chachamim has a problem with this midrash. If it was now the time to say Shema, how come Yosef wasn’t saying Shema along with Yaakov? He also has an obligation to say Shema at a certain time, so how come he was not saying it at this time as well? The first answer is that Yosef was in the middle of the mitzvah of כיבוד אב, honoring his father. We have a rule that if you are in the middle of preforming one mitzvah, you are not obligated to fulfill another mitzvah in the meantime. Since Yosef was in the middle of כיבוד אב, he did not have to say Shema at that time.
A second answer we say is based on a gemarah in Brachos (13b). The gemarah explains that if someone is טרוד, loosely translated as “busy”, they are excused from reading the entire Shema and fulfill their obligation with just the first verse of שמע ישראל ה' אלוהינו ה' אחד. For example, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, also known as Rebbi, the author of Mishnayos, never said more than the first verse of Shema since he was constantly involved with teaching his students. So to by Yosef, he was completely involved with running Egypt and now was involved in כיבוד אב, so he did not have time to say more than the first verse. Therefore, he finished Shema long before Yaakov did, and started crying while Yaakov was still finishing up.
Still, it is a little strange that Yaakov decided to start saying Shema right now. His beloved son, whom he has not seen in over twenty years, is on the way to see him! How can he all of a sudden decide to say Shema now? He will still have time to say it afterwards? There are a few different answers, however, I would like to see if I can take one from the Ramban. In order to answer a separate question, the Ramban brings up a point from last week’s parshah that the brothers did not recognize Yosef since they had not seen him for 22 years. Yaakov, with his bad eyesight (he was 130 years old!), couldn’t recognize Yosef either! I would like to take this point for this question as well. Yaakov did not recognize that Yosef was there, so he decided to start saying Shema. In the meantime, Yosef arrives and immediately embraces him.
Shabbat Shalom!
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