Parshas Vayigash 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Dec 25, 2025
- 3 min read
וירא את העגלות אשר שלח יוסף לשאת אתו ותחי רוח יעקב אביהם ... (מה-כז)
Rashi quotes the Medrash that when the Shevatim came to Yaakov and told him that Yosef, their brother, was alive, he became revived. “He (Yosef) gave them a sign, regarding the topic he was engaged in learning when he became separated from Yaakov. (It was) the parsha dealing with עגלה ערופה - the heifer that was to be beheaded and this is what the posuk means, ‘and he saw the wagons (agalos) that Yosef had sent,’ - it does not say, ‘that Pharaoh had sent.’”
Many years ago, man arrived in the city of Vilna claiming to be the long-lost husband of a woman who had lived for years as an agunah, trapped in painful uncertainty after her husband had vanished without a trace. The stranger spoke with confidence and precision. He knew her family history, the layout of their home, and countless details that only a true husband would know. Neighbors were impressed; some were even moved to tears, convinced that a miracle had occurred. But the woman herself felt no such comfort. Though she desperately wanted to believe him, something in his presence felt foreign. She could not explain it logically, but she felt a quiet, stubborn voice inside her insisting that this man was not her husband.
With no way to resolve the conflict between the man’s convincing signs and the woman’s unshakable intuition, the case was brought before the Vilna Gaon zt”l. The Gaon listened carefully, absorbing every detail. After a moment of thought, he offered a simple yet puzzling instruction: he instructed the gabbaim in the main shul that when the man came arrived on Shabbos to daven, they should ask him to sit in his usual place and identify where his father-in-law used to sit. The community was surprised. Why ask about something so trivial when the man had already demonstrated knowledge of far more personal details? Still, they trusted the Gaon’s wisdom and prepared to follow his guidance.
On Shabbos, the man entered the synagogue with the same confidence he had shown all week. The gabbaim approached him politely and said, “Please, sit in your familiar seat.” At once, the man froze. His eyes darted around the room in confusion. He stepped forward, then backward, scanning the rows of benches as though seeing them for the first time. He could not identify a single familiar spot. The truth became instantly clear: he was a fraud. He had memorized many details, but he had never prayed in this synagogue, never lived the life of the man he claimed to be. The woman’s heart had been right all along.
Afterward, the Gaon explained his reasoning. He said, “I am not a Navi, nor the son of a Navi. But I understood that it is possible the real husband, wherever he is, revealed certain signs to this impostor. That would explain how the man knew so many details. But if the real husband had fallen so low spiritually that he would share such things with a swindler, then surely his mind would be filled only with worldly matters. A person like this does not remember holy things. He does not remember where he sat in the synagogue. He does not remember where his father-in-law davened. Those memories live only in a heart that still values holiness.” The Gaon had chosen a test that no fraud could fake and no spiritually fallen man would recall.
The Gaon then connected this insight to a mysterious moment in the Torah. When Yosef revealed himself to his brothers in Egypt, he sent wagons - agalos - to bring Yaakov down to Egypt. The Torah says that when Yaakov saw the wagons, his spirit revived. Why would wagons revive his spirit more than the news that Yosef was alive? The Gaon explained that before Yosef was torn away from his father at age seventeen, the last Torah topic they studied together was the law of the eglah arufah, the decapitated calf. The word agalah (wagon) echoes eglah (calf). Yosef was sending a subtle, holy reminder: “Father, I remember our last Torah learning. I remember the holiness of our home. I have not forgotten who I am.”
This was not a sign that could be forged or guessed. It was a private spiritual memory shared only between father and son. Yaakov understood immediately. If Yosef had survived twenty-two years in Egypt - the most immoral and spiritually polluted society of the ancient world - and still remembered a Torah lesson from his youth, then Yosef had not been spiritually destroyed. He had remained pure. And so Yaakov’s spirit revived, for his son was alive not only in body but also in soul.