Near the end of parashat Vayechi, Joseph reassures his brothers, as they are laying before him in shame and fear, that they have no reason to be afraid. As if to give them a rationale for his good intentions towards them, he poses his final analysis of the events that determined his life: "Although you intended to do me harm, the Almighty intended it for good... to let a vast people live." (Bereshit 50:20)



Superficially, Joseph's statement refers to the years of hunger that Egypt survived through his leadership. However, a closer look at the statement raises a few questions. Many nations were saved, and not one vast people. And if the purpose of the sale of Joseph and subsequent events was to let a vast people live, why did HaShem use this complicated method? Why did He not just stop the hunger? Doesn't He rule over the rains and the winds?



Joseph's analysis is prophetic rather than factual. The vast people that HaShem wanted to let live is the People of Israel that would leave Egypt some 200 years later. Why did HaShem not use a simpler method to let His Nation live? Because of the hatred that was among the sons of Jacob. There was no simpler method: the exposure of the hatred was a prerequisite for its removal. When Joseph gave his analysis, the hatred had gone. The sons of Jacob were united, and their descendants would be one people.



The first words of this parasha are "Vayechi Ya'akov," that is, "and Jacob lived." We celebrate the salvation of the Divine plan to raise a holy nation from all of Jacob's sons. The theme is underlined by the heart of the parasha: the blessings for all the tribes. By virtue of their teshuva - the healing of the hatred - all of the House of Jacob merited to truly live. In this light, the conclusion of Joseph's prophetic analysis shines as a Divine promise: "I will sustain you and your young ones." (Bereshit 50:21)



The reunion of the sons of Jacob was not the only possible scenario. As free people, the ten brothers could have persisted in their hatred. The test that Joseph put them through was therefore very calculated. As it happened, the ten brothers proved their regained righteousness through it. If they had failed the test, if they had abandoned Benjamin in Egypt, they would have been ousted from the holy nation, and they would have joined the fate of Esau. "Israel" would have come from the sons of Rachel only. We were given a permanent reminder of this scenario: Jacob's acceptance of Joseph's sons as his own (Bereshit 48:5). In the scenario that almost happened, twelve tribes would have descended from Ephraim and Menashe and the ten sons of Benjamin (Bereshit 46:21). Jacob ruled that Ephraim and Menashe should not lose this status in the wake of their father's altruism.



Jacob's reminder serves to teach a very profound principle. HaShem allowed man free will and yet controls history. There is no rigid plan for the course of history and yet the end is known. The birth of a holy nation was decreed, but it could have come from Esau and Jacob, or from Joseph and Benjamin. Esau could have saved himself as the ten brothers did, and the ten brothers could have done like Esau.



Let us learn the lesson well. Though it was decreed that redemption will surely come, the difference we can make is enormous. As in the ancient story, we can invite suffering by letting hatred reign. We can refuse to do teshuva and delay the redemption. Or we can reunite and bring the redemption now. Vayechi Ya'akov - may Jacob live.