Joliet Jewish Congregation

Shalom!

 

 

Happy 2026! Wishing you a very happy start to the 
New Year!

Last week’s Torah portion was “Vayiggash,” which 
means “And he approached.” After Joseph was taken 
to Egypt and rose to power, his brothers travel there 
many years’ later. They, as many other families do, 
need extra food to deal with the famine in the region.
Judah, at this point, approaches his disguised brother, 
Joseph, in Egypt, to plead for the release of their 
youngest brother, Benjamin. Judah offers himself as a 
substitute. When Joseph realizes how loyal his brothers 
are to each other, he reveals his identity to them. He 
then asks, “Is my father still alive?”
The brothers finally show some sense of kinship and 
guilt toward Joseph. Rather than refusing to accept 
their apologies, Joseph shares his faith with them, saying that the whole storyline of being sold into slavery 
and growing into power in Egypt occurred to save the 
whole region from famine. Joseph needed to somehow 
travel to Egypt, and to be in a position to interpret 
Pharoah’s dreams. Pharoah dreamt of seven healthy 
cows eaten by seven starving ones, and seven healthy 
ears of corn being consumed by seven gaunt and thin 
ears. Joseph correctly interpreted these dreams as indicating that Egypt would have seven years of plenty, 
followed by seven years of drought, and that the region needed to store as much food as possible during 
the first seven years to provide for the following ones.
After he translated Pharoah’s dreams into more understandable terms, and became his assistant, Joseph 
could begin to see that his story is part of something 
larger. After he tells his brothers about all of this, the 
brothers return quickly to their father, and travel back 
to Egypt with Jacob and their own families, 70 souls 
altogether. It has been 22 years since Jacob and Joseph were separated.
On his way to Egypt, Jacob worries about leaving his home. G-d says to him: “Do not be afraid to go down 
to Egypt, for it is there that I will make you into a 
great nation.”
Joseph sells food and seeds during the seven years 
of famine. Pharoah gives Joseph and his family the 
fertile county of Goshen, where they settle down, 
and the Jewish people grow into a large community 
in the land of Egypt.
Although there is strength in numbers, or perhaps -
because- there is strength in numbers, eventually the 
large and growing number of Jews in Egypt causes a 
new leader to become frightened by them. This in 
turn, leads to slavery, and to the tale of plagues and 
escape in Passover. But that won’t occur for generations. At the end of this Torah portion, the Jews have 
just landed in Goshen.
This sense of Jewish community is something that we 
carry with us today. I hope that you will enjoy the 
community around you!
And may you stay warm and healthy during this cold season

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B’shalom, 

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Cantor Jessica