Vayigash - December 22, 2012

I apologize for this entry being so late.

We had a wonderful discussion last week about parashat Vayigash and also our Haftarah portion from Ezekiel.  In the portion Joseph and his brothers reunite, Jacob learns that Joseph is still alive, Jacob and Joseph are reunited, and we get a census of the household of Israel (Jacob) who go into Egypt.  It is there that they will remain until the exodus.

In Ezekiel we read also of the reunification of the Jewish people, specifically those tribes of the Southern kingdom, Judah, and the Northern Kingdom represented by Ephraim (one of the ½ tribes of Joseph).  In essence like our parashah, the brothers are reuniting.  Our Haftarah portion focused on the ingathering of the exiles (or diaspora), the return to Israel, under a Davidic monarchy when the Messiah or Messianic age will come.

There was a question as to whether or not this was the first reference to the ingathering at the “end of days.”    The first textual reference is actually from Deuteronomy.  Then according the historical timeline we would have Isaiah’s verses and then Ezekiel and Jeremiah are roughly during the same period.

Moses discusses this “ingathering of exiles” in Deuteronomy 30:1-5

30:1	There shall come a time when you shall experience all the words of blessing and curse that I have presented to you. There, among the nations where God will have banished you, you will reflect on the situation.
30:2	You will then return to God your Lord, and you will obey Him, doing everything that I am commanding you today. You and your children [will repent] with all your heart and with all your soul.
30:3	God will then bring back your remnants and have mercy on you. God your Lord will once again gather you from among all the nations where He scattered you.
30:4	Even if your diaspora is at the ends of the heavens, God your Lord will gather you up from there and He will take you back.
30:5	God your Lord will then bring you to the land that your ancestors occupied, and you too will occupy it. God will be good to you and make you flourish even more than your ancestors.

Isaiah 11:11-12

11 And it shall come to pass in That day, That the Lord will set His hand again the second time to Recover the Remnant of His people, That shall Remain from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

 12 And He will set up an Ensign for the nations in, and will assemble the Dispersed of Israel, and Gather together the Scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Jeremiah 29:14

And I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will return your captivity and gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will return you to the place whence I exiled you.

Shabbat Shalom!!

Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg