The saga of Yaakov and his children seemingly comes to a happy ending. His children all gather around him, pledging allegiance to promote his legacy to honor G-d in all their endeavors for eternity.

One mystery remains.

Did Yaakov ever find out what exactly transpired between Yosef and his brothers? Was he sold down to Egypt by his siblings?

In the simple reading of the verses that appear after Yosef’s disclosure there is not one dialogue with Yaakov that touches on the sale of Yosef.

Nachmanides indeed writes how ‘it seems to me’, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, that it was never told to Jacob throughout his entire lifetime that the brothers had sold Joseph. Rather he thought that Joseph had strayed in the field, and those who found him took him and sold him into Egypt. The brothers did not want to tell him of their sin, being afraid for their lives lest he be upset and curse them as he did to Reuven, Shimon, and Levi, while Yosef, in his good ethical conduct, did not want to tell him. It is for this reason that it is said, ‘And they sent a message unto Yosef, saying: Thy father did command before he died, etc.’ And had Jacob known of this matter, it would have been proper for them to plead before their father at the time of his death to command Joseph by word of his mouth, for he would have granted his father’s request and not rebelled against his word, and they would not have been in danger, nor would they need to feign words out of their own hearts.

The question begs though, how is it that Yaakov could have contained his curiosity — after living in doubt and likely imagining many possible scenarios — and managed to refrain from pressing the issue to find out the details?

The great disciple of the Holy Baal Shem Tov, Rav Pinchos of Koritz, provides an insight to the greatness of the patriarchs that resolves this enigma.

האבות… לא היו אנשים פשוטים שישבו לדבר דברי הבאי — The patriarchs were not simple people who sat around discussing frivolous matters.

Curiosity, although one of the most basic human tendencies and nature, simply did not exist within their psyche. The purposeless chewing over the past — inconsequential information — was just that — valueless.

If there was nothing to gain, as they had moved on towards reconciliation, then it did not exist for all intents and purposes as far as Yaakov was concerned.

The question that remains is how we are to understand the verse depicting the worried brothers — after their father’s demise — fearing Yosef’s reaction now that their father is gone, devising a seemingly false claim that their father gave orders before his death, saying: ‘Thus shall you say to Yosef: “O please, kindly forgive the spiteful deed of your brothers and their sin for they have done you evil.”

If Yaakov allegedly never knew, since no one revealed that information — neither Yosef nor the brothers — how could they now quote their father as having addressed the matter of the sale at the hands of his brother? Wouldn’t it now blow their cover?

When Yaakov summons his children, he tells them האספו — Come together, which according to one opinion in the Midrash, simply means to unite with one heart, as one, in a common goal.

The Midrash quotes others who interpret this as a call of הטהרו — Purify yourselves.

Rav Yosef Gikitalia, 13^th century Spanish Kabbalist, and one of the Chachmei Ashkenaz, Rav Menachem Tzioni, 14^th century Kabbalist, both direct us to the verse in our portion which describes the ‘pure’ moment of the expiration of Yaakov as ויאסף — he gathered his feet onto the bed.

There is a custom not to allow any extremity of the deceased to extend beyond the perimeter of the bed. The bed signifying the ‘private domain’ of the righteous, where they maintain a ‘clean’ distance from the ‘public domain’ of the external world, an environment frequented by forces of temptation and impurity seeking to sully their souls. 

In the realm of us simple folk, the ‘gathering’ in purity refers to — in the words of Rav S.R. Hirsch — bring something from the place or sphere it does not really belong, to where it does belong. Hence here האספו, break away from everything to which you really do not belong, and find yourselves all united in the one common purpose. Be all taken up with that which is common to you all! So that האספו demands the spiritual gathering together on the single point, for one single purpose — as our sages, accordingly, pithily explain it הטהרו!

The great Chassidic master, Harav Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, the founder of the Sighet dynasty, in his Yetev Lev, couches this objective within the framework of the challenge of what the Chovos HaLevavos refers to as פיזור הנפש — a scattered soul.   

This refers to our being distracted and unfocused, due to our paying attention to matters that do not define us, but only tempt us away from staying on track of our purpose and mission in life.

We must gather in and get a hold on our instinctive drives, directing them towards fulfilling the will of G-d, not our personal whims and whimsies, bringing meaning and purpose to all our actions.

In Sefer Machaneh Dan, authored by Rav Aharon Dan Kolman, he suggests that the brothers when presenting their ‘message’ from their father Yaakov, instructing Yosef to not bear a grudge for their past behavior, were interpreting Yaakov’s intent in his calling out to them, האספו.    

Yaakov, the epitome of a man who maintains his equilibrium despite the many troublesome encounters one endured with others. From Esav to Lavan; the inhabitants of Shechem; the struggles with the brothers, his children; the difficult ‘viceroy’ and the frustrating tug-of-war that ensued, Yaakov ‘let’s go’ of the past, focusing his energies and talents forward. Never does he dwell on the ‘why’, only on ‘what’ is it that I must do to move forward. A man who never permitted his soul to ‘scatter’ mindlessly on inconsequential matters, always keeping his eye in the sight that targets and promotes G-d’s will solely.

So, they instructed that Yosef be told, “your father gave orders before his death, [when he called out to them, האספו] saying, [our father, within that instruction intended for us to ‘pull ourselves’ each towards one’s own self, sloughing off our personal needs and curiosities, focusing only on that which reflects G-d’s will. If we succeed, then encapsulated within that summons will be a message to you, Yosef] ‘O please, kindly forgive the spiteful deed of your brothers and their sin for they have done you evil.'”

The story is told of the holy disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, Reb Dovid Leikis, who made the arduous trip to spend Yom Kippur with his Rebbe. As he approached Mezhibez, his wagon broke, and his horse collapsed. He was an hour away and desperate to make it to his destination. As he hurried along the road, an individual came up to him begging him to spend Yom Kippur with the villagers as they were lacking one person for a minyan.

He looked at the petitioner in the eye and said, “Are you crazy, I’ve spent weeks travelling to be with my Rebbe on Yom Kippur and you expect me to spend it with you?”

He continued and finally made it, and eagerly greeted the Rebbe. But the Baal Shem refused to shake his hand, nor look him in the eye. Reb Dovid was crestfallen, begging his Rebbe to reveal to him why he was so upset.

He finally took him to task for neglecting to join the other minyan and added the following words.

“In the realm of right and wrong, just or not just, you were totally justified, after all you exerted much time, energy and money to get here. But in the period leading up to אחרית הימים — the End of Days, the rectification of the world — what value is there to your ‘being right’?!”   

Moshiach is not interested in people who are always ‘justified’! (As told by Reb Shlomo Carlebach)

Come together, and I will tell you what will happen in אחרית הימים — at the end of days.

It is time to ‘come together’ and ‘let go’, even if you feel you are ‘right’.

Moshiach awaits us!

באהבה,

צבי יהודה טייכמאן