A Thought on Parshas Vayigash

"...va'yizbach...l'Elohei aviv Yitzchak...Va'Yomer...Anochi Ered imach..." (46:1-3) "...Yakov sacrificed to the G-d of his father Yitzchak, who said "I shall go down with you..." There is a shaela gadola - a big question - writes ibn Shu'aib, about the exile into Egypt. All of the other exiles in our history were a consequence of something done wrong. Galus Bavel, Galus Edom... we know through our sages and our prophets wherein our iniquities were. We have concepts with which to follow why each Bais HaMikdash was destroyed and our nation dispersed. The question, though, is what did we do to end up in Egypt? That exile lasted for centuries, and we were hardly yet a nation or an organized religion that we could have done something so wrong so as to deserve the traumata of Mitzrayim. This is a shaela gedola. We know that there are some midrashim wherein Chazal detect words with hidden meanings, or events with subtle implications, which suggest that there were some incidents which hint at Avraham's descendants having had to correct or enhance their collective stature as a people. But is seems clear that Avraham was foretold that exile and oppression were a plan-in-process years before he had a family. We also know that the exile was to last 400 years, but in reality was a 210 year process. The explanation given for this by Chazal is that we clock the onset of exile from the birth of Yitzchak, 90 years before Yakov descended to Egypt. Now on the one hand, we can understand Yitzchak having a role in the saga of exile, in that HaShem had told Avraham that (15:13) ki ger yiyeh zarecha - your child will be a stranger in that strange land, and Yitzchak was in fact the child of Avraham. On the other hand, Avraham had a brief exile in Egypt. Yakov had a definite exile in Egypt. YItzchak, however, never went to Egypt so in what way did our historical exile relate to him; why do we date its onset from his birth? ibn Shu'aib continues: if we study the prophetic foretelling of the exile carefully, we read (15:13) b'eretz lo lahem. We always translate that Avraham's descendants would be exiled in a land that was not theirs. ibn Shu'aib suggests that it means we would be exiled in a land that is not the land of our oppressors. It was a land which at first was not the Egyptians', but belonged to us, namely, the land where Yitzchak lived. The "exile" began while we were not geographically in exile. And if you will ask that the land is also described as "bais avadim" - HaShem says that He is the One who took us out of the place where we were slaves, ibn Shu'aib responds that the verse actually means "a place that was run by slaves", namely, the sons of Cham who were cursed and branded as a slave nation; the verse does not mean that we were slaves ourselves the entire time. So now that we have presented an alternative formulation for how the exile really began before we were slaves and before we left our own land, and how its onset coincided with the birth of Yitzchak who never was a slave and never was exiled, we now must explain wherein Yitzchak can be regarded as the first to experience that exile. ibn Shu'aib suggests that the answer lies in what the Torah tells us about Yakov's sacrificial offerings prior to descending to Egypt. Our verse relates that Yakov sacrificed to "the G-d of his father Yitzchak." It seem curious that it does not say that he sacrificed to "his own G-d", which he surely did. What is hinted at by this verse? ibn Shu'aib reminds us that earlier (41:42, 53), Yakov refers to "his G-d" as "the Dread of Yitzchak." What is meant by the expression that HaShem is the Dread of Yitzchak? The answer is that from the time that Yitzchak learned of the impending exile which would take his son and his grandsons to Egypt, he was in dread of the impact which that long peril would have on his family, and he prayed that HaShem lighten the process. HaShem regarded Yitzchak's personal struggle and suffering over that future galus as the onset of galus. The internal exile began 90 years before the overt exile. A mind preoccupied with future suffering is also suffering. ibn Shu'aib then says that there is a mystical concept known as sod ne'elam - a hidden dimension - here. The "reason" for that preliminary exile was to facilitate a sacred energy in advance of all future suffering which would befall the Jewish people. Mobilizing the pure and saintly pleadings of Yitzchak, who suffered over the very thought of Jews in peril, was a catalyst for the Divine Presence to be part of all of our future exiles. He brings scriptural support for the recurrent promise made to Avraham, made to Shmuel, made to Dovid, made to Yeshayahu, that the Shechina would always accompany us during our national tragedies. Just as Yitzchak paved the path of tefilla, of forging a link from earth to heaven prior to exile, so would that link now connect heaven with earth in all centuries to come. And, ibn Shu'aib assures us, we can depend on this in our own lives as well, as foretold through the prophet Zecharia (9:9) "Rejoice greatly O daughter of Tzion! Shout for joy, O daughter of Yerushalayim! For your king, with the Righteous One, is coming to redeem you." Good and hopeful Shabbos. D Fox