English translation — ויחי א

Talk 1<pg>211</pg>

A.

"And he said, 'Swear to me,' and he swore to him, and Israel bowed down upon the head of the bed"<sup>1</sup>,

And in Rashi: "And Israel bowed down — a fox in its time, bow down to it"

(A fox,

if you see that its hour is successful<sup>2</sup>,

bow down to it).

And simply,

Rashi's intention is to explain this that Jacob bowed down to his son

(Joseph)<sup>3</sup>,

because "a fox in its time, bow down to it"

(even though it is "the lowliest of animals"<sup>4</sup>).

And behold below on the verse⁵

"And they told Jacob etc. 'Behold your son Joseph comes to you,' and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed" Rashi explains "And Israel strengthened himself — he said: Even though he is my son, a king, I will give him honor,

from here that we give honor to royalty"

(And this is that "we give honor to royalty" in any case,

also as in our case that the discussion is about a father and his son⁶).

And at first glance these two explanations of Rashi their content is one⁷

— that Jacob gave honor to Joseph

(and bowed down to him)

even though he was his son

(and therefore Joseph was considered like a "fox" in relation to him⁸).

And one must understand the reason for the difference between these two commentaries of Rashi,

that on the verse "And Israel bowed down" Rashi explained the reason for Jacob's bowing by means of a parable from this that "a fox in its time bows to it",

And on the verse "And Israel strengthened himself" he explains only the content "Even though he is my son the king, I will give him honor"; and on the other hand specifically the second time Rashi saw a need to explain the difficulty

("Even though he is my son").

The Ra'am explained

(And in this manner several commentators wrote),

that this that "a fox in its time bows to it" is not for the reason of "royal honor" — "for if so, when

(Joseph)

came before him immediately it would have been fitting to bow" — but only "because he needed him",

"that he asked from him his need

("And you shall carry me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial place"⁹)

and he was appeased and swore to him".

And according to this, the explanation of the parable "a fox in its time, bow to it" is — that "in its time" means "at the time that you need him."

And furthermore,

that this bowing is not a giving of honor in itself, but as the Levush says<sup>10</sup>

that "one does not say 'a fox in its time' except when he is..

shows him submission in order that he fulfill his request that he needs from him."

And at first glance, this explanation is difficult,

as the commentators questioned<sup>11</sup>,

"for it is impossible to say..

that he bowed and submitted himself in order that he fulfill his request,

for after the oath he bowed to him and not at the time of the request."

And likewise — it is difficult to say that Jacob bowed to Joseph "in order that he fulfill his request" — for simply

(simply understood)

Joseph was<pg>212</pg>

He answered Jacob's request even without Jacob bowing to him¹².

2.

Seemingly, one must explain the intention of the Ra'am,

that "a fox in its time, bow to it" fits as "submission in order to fulfill his request" and also as thanksgiving

(after fulfilling the request),

that "one whom you need" one must thank him by bowing¹³

("bow to it").

And so in our case,

that after Joseph promised Jacob about his burial and swore to him,

Jacob thanked him by bowing.

But — why did Rashi need to explain this specifically through a parable,

"A fox in its time, bow to it"

(And it was not enough with the explanation of the matter,

in the manner of his aforementioned language in his commentary on "And Israel strengthened himself").

And even more difficult,

that bowing in this content — submission towards one who one needs

(Whether as an expression of thanks,

or so that he will fulfill his request)

— we find earlier by Abraham,

when he requested from the children of Heth that they sell him the Cave of Machpelah,

as it is written¹⁴

"And he bowed to the people of the land, to the children of Heth..

And Abraham bowed before the people of the land",

and likewise we find by Jacob himself,

that in addition to the gift that he sent to Esau "for he said, I will appease his face with the gift etc."¹⁵,

behold when he met Esau he bowed to the ground before him up to "seven times"¹⁶.

It is understood simply,

that if Abraham had not needed the children of Heth,

and likewise Jacob had not needed Esau¹⁷,

they would not have bowed down before them¹⁸

— and nevertheless,

in the aforementioned places,

Rashi did not bring the parable of "A fox in its time, bow to it."

And from this it is implied,

that this that "A fox in its time, bow to it" is not like the matter of the aforementioned bowings

(of Abraham to the children of Heth and of Jacob to Esau)

— submission out of need for him — but rather there is a different content in it.

3.

And behold, in Gilyon HaShas: explanation of "תעלא בעידני' סגיד לי'" — meaning, at a time when the hour is favorable to him¹⁹

סגיד לי' like "there is no person who does not have his hour"²⁰..

And that he did not bow down to him immediately when Joseph came to him,

for there certainly it is not logical that a father should bow down to his son, and on the contrary, this would be a disgrace to Joseph that his father would bow down to him,

also it would appear that Jacob was flattering Joseph to do his request,

but now that he had promised him regarding the burial, he bowed down to him.

And if you say: from where do we know that it is because of "תעלא בעידני'",

perhaps because he pro<pg>213</pg>

mised him regarding the burial and therefore bowed down to him,

this is not a difficulty, for even so he should not have bowed down to his son".

And from his words it is understood,

that Jacob's bowing to Joseph is not related

(so much)

to Jacob's request²¹,

but rather

(mainly)

to Joseph's status at that time,

"that the hour stands for him"

(And so that it should not be a disgrace to Joseph etc.,

he bowed to him only when he promised him about his burial)²².

And it is puzzling: since they bow to one for whom the hour stands,

from where do we have another reason for this that "and Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed"

("from here that they honor the monarchy",

meaning that this is a new reason).

And it seems to me,

that according to Rashi "a fox in its time bow to it" is a special type of bowing that we have not learned until now,

as follows.

4.

And this will be understood with an introduction of a difficulty in this verse

("And he said, 'Swear to me,' and he swore to him")

that seemingly Rashi should have explained it²³

:

In the preceding verse it is told that regarding Jacob's request from Joseph "and you shall carry me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial place," Joseph answered him "I will do as you have said,"

and afterwards<sup>24</sup>

Jacob said to him "Swear to me — and he swore to him."

And it is perplexing — did Jacob suspect Joseph that he would not fulfill his word "I will do as you have said,"

that he needed to make him swear about this?

And the commentators explained<sup>25</sup>

that the reason for this oath was not to urge Joseph,

but rather to ensure that Pharaoh would not prevent Joseph from fulfilling his promise,

and as Rashi explains later on the verse<sup>26</sup>

"And Pharaoh said go up and bury your father as he made you swear" — "And if not for the oath I would not have let you go,

but he was afraid to say to violate the oath lest he say if so I will violate the oath that I swore to you that I will not reveal about the holy tongue that I know..

And you do not know."

And thus,

that were it not for this oath Pharaoh would not have given him permission.

But at first glance it is forced to settle thus in Rashi,

that here on the spot

(in the place where this question arises)

he did not descend to explain that the oath was only for Pharaoh; and it implies,

that according to Rashi's method

(in the plain sense of Scripture)

this was not the reason for the oath.

That is: according to Rashi,

The purpose of the oath was according to the simple meaning of its matter — to urge Yosef,

And the reason that Yaakov needed this is so simple that there is no need to explain it.

And one can say the explanation in this:

Even though Yosef "he is the ruler over the land"<sup>27</sup>,

"And without you no man shall lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt"<sup>28</sup>,

Nevertheless he was only viceroy to the king,

And "the throne

(of Pharaoh)

<pg>214</pg>

Greater than you"<sup>29</sup>.

And since Pharaoh's will was that Yaakov be buried in Egypt

(And even as Rashi explains here<sup>30</sup>

Yaakov feared "lest the Egyptians make me into an idol"),

Behold, fulfilling his father's request had a special difficulty that needed to be overcome.

And therefore Yosef needed special strength in order to overcome Pharaoh's will and fulfill his father's will.

And this is the reason that Yaakov adjured Yosef,

even though even without the oath Yosef would have fulfilled his father's will — in order to support him³¹

and strengthen him to stand against Pharaoh

(and also to overcome all the obstacles and delays that could arise).

And as we see in human nature,

that one who swears to do something,

the oath strengthens the person with a special power,

that he will not be affected by anything that stands before him and he will fulfill his oath.

5.

And based on this, it can be said,

that this is also the content of Yaakov's bowing to Yosef because "the fox bows to him in its time":

Continuing from the oath that Jacob adjured to fulfill his request,

now to strengthen Joseph even more,

he bowed down to him,

by which he aroused in Joseph a measure of haughtiness,

that he would feel himself as a "king" in this matter,

in a manner that nothing could stand against him.

And this is also the content of the matter of "a fox in its time bow to it":

the fox,

its being "the lowliest of animals"

(the opposite of haughtiness and kingship³²),

behold "in its time" that it rules,

they need to strengthen it with greater vigor and greater might,

and therefore "a fox

(specifically)

in its time — bow to it".

And likewise Joseph,

that although regarding Jacob he is considered a "fox"

(and see below³³

that he bowed to Jacob his father),

nevertheless,

in this matter — "in its time" — they need to bow to him.

And one may add another reason that Rashi specified "fox" specifically,

to hint at another matter that Jacob warned Joseph,

that in addition to the excessive measure of strength,

there must also be excessive cleverness,

in order to arrange the burial of Jacob in a way that from the outset there would be no hindrance to it.

And therefore Rashi compared Joseph to a "fox"³⁴,

that the fox is the "cleverest of animals"³⁵.

[And with this we can further explain a precision in Rashi's language here: The source of this commentary is in Tractate Megillah<sup>36</sup>,

And there the Talmud prefaces "This is what people say: A fox etc."<sup>37</sup>,

And it is to be examined,

Why did Rashi omit this preface?

And behold we find in many places in Rashi's commentary that he copied this language

("This is what people say"<sup>38</sup>,

"A common proverb

(says)

"<sup>39</sup>).

And according to the above we can say,

That this language is appropriate for a matter that is only a parable or a similar matter

(But it does not contain an explanation in the content of the matter)

; But not so in our case,

That according to Rashi it is not<pg>215</pg>

Only a parable,

but there is in this a reasoning about the bowing of Yaakov to Yosef,

for "a fox in its time

(there is a special obligation of)

bow to him"].

6.

And based on this is also understood the difference between "and Yisrael bowed" in our verse and that later that "and Yisrael strengthened himself and sat up on the bed" — for there this was only to apportion "honor to the monarchy",

a mere giving of honor; but here it is not

(only)

an apportioning of honor,

but an act of strengthening etc.

And this is also the reason for the difference between them,

that below it is only stated "And Israel strengthened himself and sat upon the bed",

but here he bowed to him — it must be said,

that this that he did not bow to him afterwards,

is not because of lack of ability

(because he was ill<sup>40</sup>),

but because from this aspect of "they show respect to the monarchy" there is no need for bowing,

as above

[in the manner of the example in Rashi there,

from this that "Moses showed respect to the monarchy",

that the respect was only in his manner of speaking to Pharaoh<sup>41</sup>],

and all the more so and a fortiori in our case,

that this impinges on honoring a father that Jacob should bow to Joseph,

and therefore only "And he strengthened himself etc. and sat upon the bed"

(for the honor of Joseph)

;

But not so here,

when he needed to support him in the fulfillment of his command to bury him in the Land of Israel,

mere showing of respect is not sufficient,

but specifically bowing is required,

an act of submission — "A fox in its time, bow to it."

(From the sicha of Shabbos Parshas Vayechi 5727)