This week’s parashah brings us as witnesses to the reunion of Joseph and his brothers. Joseph finally reveals his true identity after his brothers have come to Egypt in search of food during the famine. But before that, the parashah opens with Judah approaching Joseph, with the words, “vayigash eilav Yehudah” - Judah came near to him. Judah didn’t yet know that the man of great political power in front of him was his brother, yet he came close to him.
Rabbinic commentators understand this type of approaching in a myriad of ways. Some say that Judah was approaching Joseph for war. Some say he came close in reconciliation. Others say he came near to pray. But the Midrash combines all of these to say that it doesn’t matter which intention Judah had when coming close to Joseph; it was simply most relevant that he drew near.
In Judah’s drawing close to Joseph we see a reminder of what can happen when we bring ourselves close to someone, even if at the outset they seem like a stranger. Judah initially stood in front of someone that was very different from him, and as he got closer, he saw that person was his brother. We might not always have that exact outcome that Judah had. But perhaps Vayigash, for us, can be about stepping forward into a challenge, into unknown and scary things, with the understanding that it is only through this drawing close that we’ll approach fulfillment and togetherness in the next chapter. When we allow ourselves to remain distant, we also deny ourselves new opportunities of meaning-making.
May this Shabbat of Vayigash bring us each closer to each other and to new possibilities in our lives.
