פרשת ויגש תשי"ט - דברי יוסף והאחים לפרעה+הפטרה

And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say: What is your occupation?

בעבור תשבו בארץ גשן IN ORDER THAT YE MAY ABIDE IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN — and this is the land that you require, for it is a land of pasture. If you tell him that you are inexperienced in other work he will send you far away from him and settle you there.

אל תירא מרדה מצרימה FEAR NOT TO GO DOWN TO EGYPT — God said this to him because he was grieved that he was compelled to leave the Land of Israel (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 39).

And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying: Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by these?

And the people said unto me: ‘Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?’

And it shall be, when they say unto thee: Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt say: Because of the tidings, for it cometh; and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be slack, and every spirit shall be faint, and all knees shall drip with water; behold, it cometh, and it shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.’

even all the nations shall say ‘Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger?’

את העבודה הזאת THIS SERVICE — that of the Paschal offering. But has it not already been said above, (Exodus 12:25) “And it shall come to pass when ye be come into the land … [that ye shall keep this service]”? Why then does it repeat it again? On account of a new matter that is introduced here; viz., in the former chapter it says, (v. 26) “And it shall come to pass when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?” and there Scripture is speaking about a wicked son who excludes himself from the Israelite community (by saying ye, as though he does not wish to participate in the service), whilst here it states, (v. 8) “And thou shalt tell thy son”, referring to a son who does not know how to enquire, and Scripture teaches you that you yourself must open up the conversation with Agadic explanations which attract the heart (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 13:14:1; Shabbat 87a).

And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying: What is this? that thou shalt say unto him: By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage;

My dwelling-place also shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

My dwelling-place also shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.