What's With the Wagons? (Parshas Vayigash)

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December 25 2014
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Yaakov, whose spirit has been crushed and depressed throughout the long twenty-two years since Yosef's disappearance, finally receives the joyous tidings that Yosef is alive and well in Egypt.  However, the Torah tells us that this news report alone was not enough to lift Yaakov's spirits.  Only after he saw the wagons that Yosef had sent to bring him down to Egypt did Yaakov recover his vitality.  The Medrash Rabbah (94:3), wondering why these wagons should make such a crucial difference to Yaakov, explains that the wagons, called עגלות in Hebrew, hinted at the other meaning of the word עגלות, calves, and specifically the mitzvah of עגלה ערופה, the ritual killing of a calf performed on the occasion of an unsolved murder.  Yosef sent not only actual wagons, but a secret message to his father, that the last sugya that they had learned together before their separation was that of עגלה ערופה.  When Yaakov heard this piece of information, which no impostor could possibly know, he believed the brothers and his spirit returned.


 


This medrash, while answering the problem it set out to solve, leaves even more perplexing questions in its wake.  Why didn't he believe any other evidence, even the firsthand testimony of his beloved Binyamin, until he received the message of the עגלה ערופה?  What is the particular significance of עגלה ערופה, as opposed to any other sugya?  And is there any real connection, other than a play on words, between the physical wagons that Yosef sent and the theoretical sugya of eglah arufah?


Perhaps we can answer our first question based on the very next medrash, which explains Yaakov's comment of  רב עוד יוסף בני חי  as marveling at the greatness of Yosef himself, who remained observant and kept his faith throughout all the tribulations that he suffered.  This may be the hidden meaning of the עגלות as well.  Yaakov believed that Yosef was alive and the viceroy of Egypt based on the brothers' eyewitness testimony, but he knew nothing of Yosef's spiritual state.  What good was it to be reunited with a Yosef who had assimilated into Egyptian society and become the opposite of everything his father had hoped he would be?  What comfort is there in hearing that he need not sit shivah for Yosef's death, if he instead must sit shivah for Yosef's intermarriage and assimilation?  It was only when Yaakov heard about the sugya of eglah arufah, when he heard that Yosef was still "holding" in Torah and mitzvos after all those years in Egypt, that he knew his dreams had come true, and his spirit could once again soar.


If we look further into the mitzvah of eglah arufah, we may be able to answer our remaining questions as well.  The Torah tells us that when the spiritual leaders of the town pray to be cleansed of the guilt of an unsolved murder, they must attest that they themselves did not commit the murder.  Chazal explain, in Maseches Sotah, that we do not actually suspect the rabbis of homicide; rather, we are concerned that they may have been indirectly responsible for the tragic crime because they let a visitor travel on a dangerous road without provisions and proper escort.  Only if the communal leaders can attest that they in fact looked after the safety of wayfarers to the best of their ability can they perform the mitzvah of eglah arufah.  Based on this understanding, we can suggest that the medrashic interpretation of the incident of the wagons is not wholly distinct from its literal meaning.  Yosef sent the wagons על פי פרעה, under special license from פרעה.  These were not just regular vehicles, but a special escort provided by פרעה himself.  Yosef may have been afraid for his father's safety while travelling the treacherous desert road from Israel to Egypt, so he sent special wagons as a sign of royal protection, to scare off any bandits who might be tempted to attack Yaakov's caravan.  Yosef's wagons represented his fulfillment of the mitzvah of eglah arufah, and by sending these wagons he not only hinted at the last sugya that he had learned with his father, but also demonstrated that he was committed to the practical implementation of the theoretical sugyos he had learned in his youth.  No wonder that this unique combination of learning and practice brought joy to Yaakov's heart.


Continuing in this line of thought, we can posit yet another layer of meaning to this medrash.  If Yaakov and Yosef were learning the sugya of eglah arufah when Yaakov sent him to check on his brothers on that fateful day, we can imagine that Yaakov was concerned to fulfill this halachah, and wary of sending Yosef on his way without proper escort.  But no doubt Yaakov reassured himself that since he was sending Yosef to meet his own brothers, they themselves would protect him from any danger, and he was not obligated to send a special escort.  When Yosef subsequently disappeared, Yaakov must have been beset by feelings of guilt, questioning his judgement and wondering if perhaps he was responsible for Yosef's death, for the brothers did not provide the protection that he had anticipated.  Even further, Yaakov may have wondered if the eglah arufah was relevant to Yosef's fate at all.  For the eglah arufah is brought only in a case of לא נודע מי הכהו, where it is not known who committed the crime, and in this case Yaakov suspected that he well knew the identity of the perpetrators, that his own sons had cold-heartedly murdered their baby brother.  (See Rashi on 42:36.)  With these horrifying thoughts on his mind, how could he ever be comforted?


 


Yosef, knowing how much it would pain his father to know the true story of his abduction, and witnessing the sincerity of his brothers' teshuvah, decided not to extract his ultimate revenge on his brothers, and resolved to keep the secret to himself.  (He followed the halachah that it is permissible to bend the truth for the sake of peace; see Rashi on 18:13.)  By sending the message of eglah arufah, he told his father that in fact לא נודע מי הכהו, the brothers need not bear any guilt for his abduction, and that Yaakov himself was not negligent and should not feel guilty for Yosef's suffering.  Rather, it was the hand of Hashem that insured that Yosef would be sent down to Egypt in order to fulfill the Divine plan of Jewish history.  When Yaakov understood this message, when he saw his family reunited in a state of forgiveness and harmony, his spirit was truly freed from the worries which had shackled it for so many years.

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    Learning on the Marcos and Adina Katz YUTorah site is sponsored today by Judy & Mark Frankel & family l'ilui nishmos מרדכי בן הרב משה יהודה ע"ה and משה יהודה ז"ל בן מאיר אליהו ויהודית and by the Polinsky Family to commemorate the 5th Yahrzeit of Gil Polinsky, Gedalyahu Gootmun Chaim ben Yaakov Dov