לגור בארץ באנו, “we came here for only a temporary stay, sojourn;” At that time they did not entertain the idea of becoming permanent residents of Egypt. (Pessikta Zutrata)

כי אין מרעה “for there is no grazing land;” they emphasised this aspect so that Pharaoh should not think that they had come to sponge on Joseph. They asked permission to stay in Goshen, עתה for now, until the Lord in His wisdom, will end the famine so that we can return to the land of Canaan.

במיטב הארץ הושב את אביך, “in the most fertile part of the land settle your father!;” seeing that he is aged and is only looking for peace and quiet and clean air, let him dwell in that part of the land; as far as your brothers are concerned, let them settle in the region of Goshen which has excellent grazing land. Our author continues with: “Do not tell me that the cantillation mark etnachta under the words: ואת אחיך clearly contradicts this interpretation.” This is not the only time that an etnachta, divisive cantillation mark, does not override the plain meaning of the verse. To mention just one:Judges 5,18 זבולון עם חרף נפשו למות ונפתל על מרומי שדה; “Zevulun is a people that mocketh at death; Naftaly on the open heights.” The etnachta under the word Naftaly in that verse is not meant to be divisive. Devorah surely lauded both those tribes as partners.

אנשי חיל, “able and astute people.” According to Rashi, Joseph described his brothers as not only intelligent but as loyal and trustworthy. Examples of the use of that word in that sense are: Proverbs 31,10: אשת חיל מי ימצא, “who is fortunate enough to find a truly wise woman?” Clearly Solomon did not speak about a woman who prepared for battle as a soldier! [Except in modern day Israel, where do women serve in the army in battle formations? Ed.]

ושמתם שרי מקנה, “you will appoint them as being in charge of livestock.” (Pharaoh speaking to Joseph concerning his brothers) The livestock that Pharaoh was most interested in were camels, mules and horses. If we needed proof that this interpretation is correct, it can be found in Chronicles I 28,1: ויקהל דוד את כל שרי ישראל ושר כל הרכוש ומקנה, “David assembled all the chieftains of Israel as well as the chieftains in charge of inert possessions, and the chieftains in charge of livestock, etc.; immediately before this verse, the previous chapter speaks of camels and sheasses (27,30) and the officers in charge of them. An alternate exegesis: Seeing that the areas in which defenseless sheep, goats and cows graze in the desert, an area where there are wild animals and robbers, the shepherds looking after them must be strong, able and capable of defending them.

?כמה ימי שני חייך, “how old are you?” Pharaoh was under the impression that Yaakov was extremely old, as he bore the marks of his sorrow filled life marked on his facial features. Yaakov replied: “do not be surprised that I look so old, the experiences that I have undergone during my life thus far have left their mark on me.” A Midrash quote G-d as responding to Yaakov describing his life as a series of harsh experiences by pointing out that no one before had been protected from as many dangers facing him as had Yaakov. According to these Midrash, the reason why Yaakov lived 33 years less than his father and 28 years less than his grandfather was onaccount of his not having appreciated all that G-d had done for him. The number 33 is arrived at by counting the number of words in verse 8 of our chapter commencing from the word: ויאמר up to and including the word: מגוריהם in verse 9.

ויכלכל יוסף את אביו, “Joseph sustained his father;” Yaakov had become dependent on Joseph’s economic support, as according to what we read in verse 13, the amount of grain available in Egypt during those years for the general population was just enough for bread for each individual.

לפי הטף, “the rations Joseph handed out were not based on the price of bread, but on the number of children each family head had to support.”

בשנה השנית, “during the second year;” according to the plain meaning of the text, this refers to the second year after Yaakov had arrived in Egypt, which was the fourth year of the famine. The food which had been stored up during the seven years of plenty plus the financial savings of the population had sufficed to see them through the first three years. In the fourth year the people tendered their livestock for food, and in the fifth year they tendered their land holdings. In the sixth year they agreed to become slaves of Pharaoh in return for receiving rations from Joseph’s stores. In the seventh year, Joseph gave them seed to plant and they planted it, collecting a harvest in the eight’s year, and the famine was over.

לא נכחד, “we cannot hide, etc.” i.e. “we have nothing left that we could hide instead of offering it to you.”

גם אדמתינו, “also our land holdings.” The words מיתה, “death,” and חי, “live,“ are here used when speaking of inanimate objects, such as land. Our author points out that such usage of the Hebrew language. He cites as examples: Nechemyah 9,6: ואתה מחיה את כולם, “and You keep them all alive.” If G-d’s creatures do not plough the earth and grow things for themselves, they will not stay alive. In other words, they will be no better than dead. [Manna will not fall from heaven. Being given life is not an end in itself, but only a means to staying alive. Ed.]

אנחנו ואדמתנו עבדים לפרעה, “both we and our soil will be slaves to Pharaoh.” We will be his slaves, and the soil will he will hand over to us is to be taxed from its yield.

ואת העם העביר אותו, “as far as the people were concerned, Joseph transferred them wholesale (to new locations).” Joseph transferred the people to new locations so that they would no longer be attached to their soil, since he had bought it. This would prevent them from returning to their land after some time and claim that this is what they had inherited from their fathers. Once they were settled in the new location on soil which had never been theirs, they could not make such a claim since everyone lived on land that had once belonged to somebody else.

רק אדמת הכהנים, “only the soil belonging to the priests (Joseph did not transfer to Pharaoh).” The priests are the like the ministers, as the כהן מדין the priest of Midyan. Joseph did not transfer to Pharaoh so they would not have any reason to start a rebellion against Pharaoh. A different reason given for Joseph’s preferential treatment of the priests is as we explained already, that the priests had suggested a method by which to test if Joseph or the wife of Potiphar had spoken the truth, as a result of which, Joseph instead of being hanged had only been put in ;jail.

ונתתם חמישית לפרעה, “and you will hand over 20% of the harvest to Pharaoh as his share. The harvest was divided into five equal portions. 1) to serve as seed; 2) to provide food for the grower; 3) to provide for his slaves and maidservants; 4) to provide for his young children; and 5) to go to Pharaoh as a tax.

ויאחזו בה, “they became totally attached to it.” They acquired land that served as the ancestral heritage.

ויפרו וירבו. “they became fruitful and they multiplied.” Thus G-d’s promise to the Yaakov in Genesis 46,3, became fulfilled.

ויחי יעקב, “Yaakov lived;” according to Rashi, the reason why this portion has not been separated from the preceding portion by as much as the space of a single letter, is because with the death of Yaakov the “eyes and the heart” of his descendants were as if closed to the spiritual mission they were to bring to the world, as they were being enslaved. You might well ask that seeing that Joseph his son ruled in Egypt for another 54 years during which all of his descendants enjoyed complete freedom, how is that possible? The answer is that this was not quite so. [His family had become culturally too dependent on Egypt. Ed.] When Jacob died, slavery started very, very slowly without anyone taking notice. Another interpretation for the omission of even a minimum amount of blank space in the Torah before the commencement of this portion is that the subject dealt with here was inextricably interwoven with what preceded it, i.e. the Torah’s description of the years during which Yaakov lived thus far.

ויחי יעקב בארץ מצרים, “Yaakov lived in the land of Egypt;” all the years of Yaakov until he settled in Egypt could not truly be described as חיים, “life,” seeing that they were all clouded by different kinds of anguish. It was only during his last seventeen years in Egypt that his mind was at rest and not beset by serious worries of one kind or another. In fact, this whole verse has been inserted in the Torah as a compliment to Joseph who was the cause of Yaakov’s last seventeen years being happy years. During those 17 years he repaid his father who had sustained him for the first seventeen years of his life, by providing for him during the last 17 years of his life. He had been seventeen years old when he had been sold.

ויקרא לבנו ליוסף, “he called for his son, for Joseph.” He did so, seeing that G-d had told him while he was on his way to Egypt that Joseph would be present when the time came for him to die, and that he would close his eyes for the last time. (46,4) Another reason was that the only reason why Yaakov had undertaken the journey down to Egypt had been in order to be near Joseph. It would therefore be appropriate that Joseph would accompany him on his ascent to the Holy Land to be buried with his ancestors.

שים נא ידך תחת ירכי, “please put your hand beneath my hip.” This method of swearing an oath was the equivalent of what a handshake is in our days.

ועשית עמדי חסד ואמת, “and perform for me an act of kindness and truth.” Wherever we find the expression חסד ואמת, it refers to giving someone more than he is entitled to expect, or asking him to do something beyond what he is entitled to demand. One such example is found in Samuel II 15,20: שוב והשב את אחיך עמך חסד ואמת, “go back and take your kinsmen with you and perform an act of loyalty and kindness (with them).” [David was in dire straits and staying with him was likely to result in the death of Ittai and his men. He was not obligated to remain faithful to David. Ed] Yaakov reminds Joseph that while it is his duty to bury his father, he is not entitled to demand of him to bring him to burial in the cave of Machpelah. He therefore pleads with him not to bury him in Egypt.

ושכבתי עם אבותי, “I wish to have my last resting place with my forefathers;” he referred to his grave. He realised that this could be done only if Joseph would transport his remains all the way to the cave of Machpelah. An alternate explanation: When using the words ושכבתי עם אבותי, Yaakov referred to being buried in Egypt, temporarily, whereas when adding: אל נא תקברני במצרים, he asked Joseph not to make his permanent grave in Egypt. This corresponds to what we have learned in the Talmud tractate Nazir 64: “if someone is found buried in a normal fashion, (but not in a graveyard) when transferring the corpse to a Jewish graveyard, he should take along a certain amount of the earth surrounding the corpse with it. When applied to Yaakov, this means that some Egyptian soil was taken with his corpse on his way to be deposited also in the cave of Machpelah. The Talmud there defines how much soil, (approx 3 fingers deep of earth). Yaakov too referred to this amount of Egyptian soil, when he said: ונשאתני ממצרים, “and carry me up from Egypt.”

כדברך, “as you have said.” The word is spelled without the letter י, i.e. in the singular mode.

על ראש המטה, Yaakov gave thanks to Hashem Who had made Joseph’s heart decide to bury his father with his forefathers. This is how Joseph’s dream about the sun bowing down to him, was fulfilled, i.e. he had bowed to the Presence of G-d, not to his son. [The “sun” in the dream, had been Yaakov. Ed.]