The possuk says וַיְהִּי, which Chazal say is an expression of pain. What was painful about this possuk?
Additionally, why does the Torah say כׇּל, all of the souls of those who were born to Yaakov? Whom is this coming to include?
And why does the Torah need to tell us again that these were the children of Yaakov, we know that anyway from previous Parshiyos?
Also, what is the relevance of the fact that Yosef was in Mitzrayim?
The Ohr Hachaim explains that the Gemara tells us that Yosef was destined to have 12 children, just like his father. When he was seduced by the wife of Potiphar and almost succumbed, he lost ten of his children. This is why the Torah writes a painful expression about the number of children that they had.
The Torah then offers the reason why there were no more than seventy descendants of Yaakov Avinu when they descended to Mitzrayim. וְיוֹסֵף הָׂיָׂה בְמִּצְרָׂיִּם – and Yosef was in Mitzrayim. Because Yosef had been sent to Mitzrayim prior to his brothers, he fell into the trouble of the wife of Potiphar, and he did not have more children.
The Ohr Hachaim offers another explanation for this possuk. The Torah calls the brothers and the children כׇּל נֶפֶש – all the souls. They were equal to him, and he was equal to them. One would expect the other brothers to be closer to each other, after how they treated Yosef. Yosef could have been their enemy. He also could not learn at his father’s feet like they could. But he was a brother to them, and he was a great tzadik. Nothing could change him, and he stayed just like them.
