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“...and say to him, “So says your son Yosef, Hashem has placed me as a master for all Egypt...” (Beraishis 45:9)
After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers and tried to reassure them that they were not to blame for his ending up in Egypt, it was time to let Yaakov know he was alive. Yosef commanded his brothers to hurry to his father and give him a message. “So says your son Yosef, Hashem made me the master of all Egypt.” More than that, they were to recount to Yaakov all they had seen of his power and grandeur.
Because of his position, Yosef was unable to honor his father by leaving Egypt to visit him, and therefore he asked Yaakov to hurry down to see him in Egypt. He promised to care for Yaakov and his family, and part of the message of his power was that he would be able to create a special area in Goshen for Yaakov and his family to live, without mingling with the Egyptians. Yosef would clear the area for them and he was able to do this because of the great rank he held.
For a father who wanted his sons to be involved in serving Hashem, not a foreign government, and who desired that they be righteous and learned, why was this news the impetus for Yaakov to come see his son? Would it not have been better for Yosef to tell Yaakov that he was fulfilling the mitzvos of the Torah and raising his sons as his father raised him? It seems that Yosef’s lofty position would be a reason for Yaakov to stay away.
However, we must pay attention to the order of Yosef’s message to his father. He told his brothers, “Tell my father Hashem made me the lord of this land.” In other words, He sent me here for a purpose. Once Yosef made that declaration, it showed that he did not view himself as a powerful man with great success. Rather, he viewed himself as an Eved Hashem, a person seeking to achieve what Hashem put him on this world for.
Then, he said to tell Yaakov about the greatness and honor he had. However, all of this was tempered by that first statement of fact: This is not my greatness, but rather the great responsibility Hashem has bestowed upon me. I am here to do what He wants me to, and I cannot abandon my post.
To Yaakov, this would be something he would be pleased to witness; to see his son surrounded by wealth and power, and to find it meaningless other than to fulfill Hashem’s will. The message Yosef conveyed was that he recognized the place where Hashem puts us is where we are to accomplish. This was the righteousness Yaakov desired from his children, so he hurried to see Yosef.
R’ Isser Zalman Meltzer z”l, the great Rosh Yeshiva and sage, was on his way to deliver a lecture in Yeshiva when he was stopped by a beggar asking for alms. R’ Isser Zalman gave him a generous amount but the fellow complained that it wasn’t enough.
The rabbi gave him more, but the man still had the audacity to ask for more. Once again, R’ Isser Zalman gave him another coin. The student walking with R’ Isser Zalman was aghast at how the beggar treated the great man, and stunned at the sage’s response.
“Why are you shocked?” asked R’ Isser Zalman. “Do you think I’m better than him because I’ve learned a lot of Torah and I give shiurim? The circumstances of life have led me to be a Rosh Yeshiva and him to be a beggar. I do not feel superior to him so I felt obligated to grant his request, regardless of how he made it.”
©2025 – J. Gewirtz
