Parashat VaYigash- "Yosef is Still Alive"
When Yosef's brothers return to Canaan and inform Yaakov that Yosef is still alive, Yaakov responds with disbelief: "His heart stopped, for he did not believe them" (45:26).
Why doesn't Yaakov believe his sons? He was mourning the loss of his beloved son Yosef for so many years; finally, he receives word that he is alive. Why does he initially refuse to believe the news?
It is likely that Yaakov had all along suspected that Yosef was still alive. The Sages famously comment, "Gezeira Al Ha'met She'yishtakei'ach Min Ha'lev." This means that God created man in such a way that after a year of a loved one's loss a person begins to feel consolation, to overcome his pain and grief. Yaakov, however, continued to feel the pain long after he was shown Yosef's bloodstained cloak. He never achieved consolation as one normally would after a year of a loved one's passing. This inability to be comforted indicated to Yaakov that Yosef might still be alive – and this knowledge caused him further grief. If Yosef was still alive, he was alone, without the company of other Jews. The only Jews in the world at the time were Yaakov and his family. Wherever Yosef was, Yaakov realized, he lived among gentiles, among people who did not share his values and beliefs.
It is virtually impossible for a person to live from the ages of seventeen to forty without any exposure to other Jews and remain committed to Jewish tradition. Let us imagine a seventeen-year-old boy today moving to a town in Wyoming and living there for twenty years. Is there any possibility of his retaining his Jewish identity, let alone his commitment to Torah and Mitzvot?
Yosef had no Minyan, no Yeshiva, and no Chavruta. Incredibly, he remained fully committed and devoted to Torah and Mitzvot throughout the twenty-two years he had spent in Egypt until his brothers arrived. Yaakov, however, could never have believed that. He was convinced that if Yosef were alive, he was assimilated – and this caused him unending anguish and torment.
The brothers came to Yaakov and announced, "Od Yosef Chai" – "Yosef is still alive." They were not referring to physical life; as we have seen, Yaakov had long suspected that Yosef had not died. Rather, they were referring to spiritual life, to a life of meaning and substance. They informed Yaakov that Yosef had achieved the impossible: he remained a committed Jew for twenty-two years in a spiritually hostile environment. This Yaakov could not believe. The Rabbis teach that the "Agalot" – the wagons – that Yosef had sent Yaakov reminded him of the law of "Egla Arufa" that he and Yaakov had studied together right before Yosef took leave of his father for the final time. Only then did Yaakov believe that Yosef indeed remained faithful to the Torah. When he saw that Yosef retained his Torah knowledge, that has still remembered all that he had learned with his father, Yaakov could then acknowledge, "Od Yosef Beni Chai" – "My son is still alive," he is still firmly devoted to his spiritual heritage.
