In the Torah portion of VaYigash (read during the month of Tevet), Joseph discloses himself to his brothers: “I am Joseph; does my father yet live?” Joseph, the brother who was gone for 22 years, from the age of 17, and was thought to have assimilated amongst the Gentiles, reveals himself suddenly to his brothers as a proud Jew, faithful to the traditions of his father, Jacob and the Patriarchs.
Joseph symbolizes the spark alive in the heart of each Jew, even one that appears to have assimilated amidst a foreign culture, estranged from the traditions of Israel. Though “I sleep” in exile, “my heart is awake.” This is Joseph’s spark. “Every person has his day” and a time will come, and the spark of Joseph will be revealed for all to see: “I am Joseph, does my father yet live?”
Rachel called her first-born Joseph (Yosef), saying, “God shall add [yosef] to me another son.” In Chassidic writings it is explained that the special quality embodied by Joseph is the ability to favorably influence a Jew, who has affiliated with those outside the fold and therefore appears externally as “another,” to return to openly being a son to his Father in Heaven.
By Divine Providence and design, Joseph was sent to Egypt before his brothers to prepare the way for his family by implanting in the land of Egypt the power of Jewish survival, which would become critical during the long exile in Egypt. Joseph’s soul hides in the recesses of his family’s souls while they, the Israelites, are in exile, and it awakens them to leave their exile. We see this in the final verses of the Book of Genesis, when Joseph reveals to his family the phrase that will serve a password of sorts heralding the redemption from Egypt. He says to them, “God [Elokim] will surely remember you” and these are the words that Moses hears from God when sent on the mission to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
In the Zohar it is stated that Joseph’s revelation before his brothers foreshadows God’s revelation to the Jewish People at Mount Sinai: “I am Havayah your G-d who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of slavery.” The awakening to depart from Egypt, which is the secret of Joseph’s revelation to his brothers, is really the manifestation of God’s essence within the Jewish People. With an awakening from below (with the initial desire from the Jewish People to be redeemed), a complementary desire is aroused from Above, from God, to deliver His people. Essentially the two are really one and the same.
“I Will Sing Praises To My God While I Exist”
When the brothers returned to Jacob, they brought good tidings: “Joseph is still alive.” In turn, Jacob declared, “Joseph my son is still alive.” Significantly, the three excited pronouncements: “I am Joseph; is my father still alive,” “Joseph is still alive,” and “Joseph my son is still alive” share the word “still” (דֹעו). Let us focus on this word and uncover its deeper meaning.
From the verse, “I will praise God while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I still exist” (יִדֹעוְּי בַהֹא-לֵה לָרְּמַזֲי אָּיַחְּהוי' בַה לָירִׁשָא), the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, learns that “life stems from God’s essential Name, Havayah, while the body, referred to by the word “still” [יִדֹעוְּב] stems from His Name Elokim.” Thus, we see that this word “still” (דֹעו) refers to the body of a Jew, which is subordinate to a Jew’s soul, or life, which stems from the Name Havayah.
The Divine soul of a Jew is “truly a part of God above.” Therefore, it is not surprising that the soul has eternal existence. However, regarding the body of a Jew, we unexpectedly learn that in any situation—even when it goes down to Egypt, “the nakedness of the land”—it lives and thrives. In the body of the Jew, there is an essential spark (in addition to the pure soul placed within) that enlivens and sustains the body: this spark is none other than the spark of Joseph, the secret of “God [Elokim] will surely remember you.” Indeed, Joseph’s special relationship with God’s Name Elokim is noted when he replies to Pharaoh at his most crucial moment, “...it is not me. God [Elokim] will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.”
Infinite Power of Generation
The first expression of excitement (“when Joseph made himself known to his brothers”): “Is my father still alive?” refers to the body of Jacob, the elderly father. Afterwards, the excitement concerns the body of the son, Joseph, which also has been able to survive and thrive: “Joseph is still alive;” “It is great; Joseph my son is still alive.”
According to Kabbalah, Jacob is the archetypal soul of the sefirah of beauty (tiferet), which is associated with the torso or body, in the supernal form. Joseph is the archetypal soul of the sefirah of foundation (yesod), site of the holy covenant of circumcision made between God and Abraham. In the Introduction to the Zohar, a section known as Patach Eliyahu foundation is described as “the end of the body” (אָפּגוְא דָמּויִס). Thus, we find that both Jacob and Joseph hint at the body—the “main part of the body” and “the end of the body.” In the Zohar, their connection is described as “the torso and the site of the covenant, are considered one.”
Even though the Jewish people are the progeny of Jacob, based on the verse, “These are the offspring of Jacob; Joseph...,” Chassidic writings explain that all the progeny of Jacob were born via the power of Joseph—including Jacob’s other sons, born before Joseph). Joseph, as the archetypal soul of foundation, “the end of the body,” the organ of procreation, manifests the power of procreation in him and that is why he is described as “still Joseph lives,” i.e., the body’s power of procreation is alive. As stated, Joseph’s power is to both procreate physically and spiritually, by adding many “sons” who are considered to have been lost. The Ba’al Shem Tov explains that Joseph’s “power of the infinite” to procreate reflects the essential vitality of the bodies of the Jewish people, which allows each to generate and give birth not just to infinite generations of offspring, but offspring who are all different, illustrating infinite variety.
The closing verse of the Torah portion of Vayigash reads, “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt in the land of Goshen, and they took possession of it and grew and multiplied exceedingly.” The power to be fruitful and multiply (exceedingly, beyond all measurement and limitation) is the special power of Joseph, whose name is cognate with the Hebrew word for “addition” (tosefet) as in the saying, “what God adds greatly exceeds what was in the beginning” (רּקִעָל הַה עָּבֻרְת מֶפֶסֹות). In the words of the Alter Rebbe, “a Jew should make another Jew.”
The Time of Year
Parashat Vayigash is always read in the month of Tevet, which the sages describe as, “the month when one body enjoys another.” Although this usually refers to the pleasure derived from physical nearness between husband and wife, in our context it refers to the pleasure Jacob (the main part of the body) received when realizing that Joseph (the end of the body) was still alive. This is to enable the begetting of numerous Jewish progeny–the Hosts of G-d–until “all the souls in the body will be finished” at which time the redeemer will appear.
The Alter Rebbe, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe’s day of passing is on the 24th of Tevet. The Alter Rebbe used to say that in the future, “the soul will be nourished by the body.” There will be a reversal of nature: the essential (the soul) will become incidental while what was once incidental (the body) will become essential. This is the real secret of “Joseph is still alive”: the od of Joseph (which is in each Jew) will live eternally, while the soul (the aspect of, “I will praise God while I live”) will receive its principal vitality from the body which will live forever.
