Word: Goshen, the name of the land where Yosef settles his family within Egypt
Root: My theory: The name Goshen is related to the root nagash, “to come close,” as in vayigash, “he [Yehudah] came close,” the first word of the parsha, and geshu na elay, “come close to me,” what Yosef says to his brothers upon revealing himself.
The Numbers: The word Goshen appears nine times in this parsha, once in next week’s parsha and twice in Shemot, making it a significant theme in our parsha, a point reinforced by the parsha’s Vayigash name.
The root nagash, “to come close” is used 20 times in the book of Breishit. 15 out of those 20 times, it refers to sibling relationships – first in reference to Jacob and Esau’s attempts to each receive their father Isaac’s blessings (6 times in ch 27), then in reference to the later meeting and reconciliation between Jacob and Esau (4 times in ch 33), then in our context of the reunification of Joseph and his brothers (3 times in ch 44), and finally in reference to Jacob’s blessing of Joseph’s two sons, Ephraim and Menasheh (twice in ch 48). The root nagash seems to have encoded into it an association with the sibling relationship – both its difficulties and the possibility of ultimately coming back together.
Interpretation: The parsha is about the reunification – the coming close, the coming together – of the family of Jacob after many years of estrangement. We are nearing the end of the book of Breishit, a book, among other things, about brothers who fight each other, from Cain and Abel to Isaac and Ishmael to Jacob and Esau to Joseph and his brothers. Now we have arrived at the finale – the coming together and inclusion of all brothers in a single family destiny, becoming a nation of brothers (and sisters).
Message: Goshen is the land of connection, the place where we arrive following all the strife of the book of Breishit, a place where we can glimpse the possibility of real connection and coming together. It is a place that exists in this world, but not yet in its complete form; the family tension is clearly not entirely resolved here, as after Yaakov dies, the brothers are worried that Yosef will now turn on them. But still, amidst the strife and distrust and difficulty, we have a brief taste of peace and connection – like the appearance in the Isaac narrative of Rehovot, a place of spaciousness and generosity amidst fights over wells and birthrights – a glimmer of a messianic world that is not yet fully realized in our world. Seeing it, imagining it, tasting the peace and connection and forgiveness that is possible, inspires us to know and believe in its existence – even if we are at the moment experiencing a sense of loneliness and estrangement – to trust that this is the ultimate goal and truth: to reunite and come close. May we move ever closer to living in the land of Goshen.
