Vayigash: Eucatastrophe

Like all sedrot (weekly Torah readings), Vayigash is named after the first prominent word in the section, in this case meaning, “And he approached,” referring to Yehudah (Judah) approaching Yosef (Joseph) to plead for the freedom for Binyamin (Benjamin). I’m always wary of reading too much into the title of a sedra precisely because of the slightly arbitrary way in which it is plucked from the text (the annual Torah cycle was not the only one, originally competing with a triennial cycle which would have had more sedra breaks and therefore more sedra names). However, in this instance, it feels particularly potent: on a personal level, the climax of the power struggle between Yehudah and Yosef over primacy among Yaakov’s (Jacob’s) sons and on a national level the climax of the first round of the struggle between the tribes of Yehudah and Yosef for national leadership, which will later lead to the fracturing of the Jewish nation after the death of Shlomo HaMelekh (King Solomon) only to be resolved with the coming of Mashiach ben Yosef (the Messiah son of Joseph) to be followed by the Mashiach ben David (the Messiah the son of David), with both Yosef and Yehudah (the tribe of King David) bringing the final redemption. We can go deeper and look at a more philosophical level, as, for reasons that are too involved to mention here, Yehudah represents the idea of pure spirituality, while Yosef represents the idea of bringing spirituality into the world of the physical, as shown by his brilliant success as an administrator, with God’s help.

What happened after this moment of drama as Yehudah approached “the vizier” took Yehudah and the other brothers by surprise as the Egyptian vizier revealed his true identity as their brother, Yosef. Perhaps it took Yosef by surprise too: it is unclear whether he planned to reveal his true identity at this stage; the text describes him as bursting into tears, unable to control himself any longer. It is a moment of what J. R. R. Tolkien referred to as eucatastrophe, meaning an unexpected positive event preventing or undoing doom. If we remember that Tolkien was not primarily a fantasy writer, but an Oxford linguist working on ancient myths and legends and also a religious Catholic, then it is no surprise to see eucatastrophe across Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). Already in Bereshit (Genesis), we have seen Noach (Noah) saved from the flood (albeit not quite in the sudden nature of the classic eucatastrophe), Sarah saved miraculously from the hareems of Pharoah and Avimelekh, Lot saved miraculously from Sodom, Yaakov saved by Esav’s (Esau’s) sudden change of heart and Yosef himself propelled in minutes from the darkest dungeon to the second most powerful position in the most powerful empire of the ancient world. Eucatastrophe is the moment of hashgachah pratit, of Divine Providence that suddenly turns the story around and turns certain death or misery into salvation.

This moment is one that echoes through later Jewish history, a reminder that there is nothing so bad that God can not turn it around. It is unsurprising, then, that Yosef himself on his deathbed, perhaps mindful of the terms of the Abrahamic covenant, which promised foreign slavery in return for Divine redemption and inheritance of the land of Israel, makes his brothers swear that they or their descendants will take his bones back to the promised land. The bones of Yosef become a symbol: retrieved from Egypt by Moshe (Moses) on the eve of the exodus, they travel with the Israelites through the desert years, finally being buried by the Israelites in Shechem, where he had gone to seek his brothers centuries before, at the very end of the book of Yehoshua (Joshua), closing off the main narrative of the conquest of the land of Israel. The return of Yosef to the land from which he was abducted centuries before brings the narrative of the slavery and exodus full circle.

The eucatastrophe of Tanakh is therefore not a once-and-forever thing. Today, the family is reunited; tomorrow, the Israelites will be enslaved. Until Mashiach comes, we are not saved forever, only for today. Tomorrow, the challenge begins anew. Tomorrow, Pharoah will enslave the Israelites. But for today, Yosef is alive, the family is reunited and everyone is safe. This is the moment of eucatastrophe.