Weekly Portion – וַיִּגַּשׁ – Vayigash – And He Drew Near – Genesis 44:18-47:27; Joshua 14:6-15:6

Yet Joseph’s silence was not betrayal. It was patient endurance in a divine mission that did not end with mere physical survival, but only with the transformation of souls. A mission that went far deeper than survival and was only completed once the hearts of his brothers were also healed.

More than once I have asked myself why Joseph—who had become Zaphenath-Paneah, viceroy of Pharaoh, head of the greatest world empire of that time and a man of immense means—never sent even a letter or a message to his beloved father, never even “picked up the phone” to inquire about his well-being.

From the moment he rose to greatness, he could have brought closure to his tragic family story. He could have returned and lived in the embrace of his deeply loving father. In doing so, he could have brought peace to his own soul and to the soul of his grieving father. How is it that he did not...

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