After Yosef reveals himself to his brothers, he sends them back home to bring Yaakov down to Egypt. When the brothers finally break the news that after 22 years, Yosef is still alive, the Torah records that Yaakov’s heart became faint, because he did not believe them. Only when Yaakov saw the wagons sent by Yosef to carry him, is his spirit revived and he exclaims; “Yosef my son is alive, I will go and see him before I pass away”.
Why would Yaakov have reason not to believe his sons report that Yosef was still alive, after all hadn’t he suspected them of selling him? And why only after seeing these wagons does Yaakov finally embrace the realisation that indeed Yosef is alive?
In their report, the brothers reported that not only was Yosef alive, but that he was the ruler over all of Egypt. Yosef had made it in Egyptian society. He had climbed the ranks, become exceedingly successful and now sat at the helm of the world super-power of his time.
But at what cost? Egypt was a place known for immorality, idolatry and promiscuity. Surely to become the leader of this society Yosef must have abandoned the ways of his ancestors? What must have happened to his Torah study and his observance in pursuit of success within that culture?
Yaakov believed his sons that indeed Yosef was physically alive, he had no reason to doubt them. But for Yaakov, to be alive means so much more. True life is connection to Hashem and to His Torah, the Tree of Life. If Yosef had assimilated to the ideals of Egypt in pursuit of success, then for Yaakov he may as well have been lost forever.
Until “he sees the wagons that Yosef had sent”. Rashi tells us the significance of these wagons. With these wagons, Yosef was alluding to the final Torah topic that he had learned with his father before being sold - the subject of עגלה ערופה (the Mitzvah performed when a corpse is found and the murderer is not known) which is related to the word for wagons - עגלות.
Despite the passage of 22 years away from the influence of his father’s home, despite rising the ranks of corporate society, Yosef was still learning Torah and following in the ways of his father. It was this news that revived Yaakov’s spirit that his son Yosef was not lost, but was truly alive and living, connected to Torah and following in its ways.
