(24) As he sent his brothers off on their way, he told them, “Do not be quarrelsome on the way.”
(25) They went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.
(26) And they told him, “Joseph is still alive; yes, he is ruler over the whole land of Egypt.” His heart went numb, for he did not believe them.
(27) But when they recounted all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

(1) ויגדו לו לאמור. They told him, saying, etc.. The word ויגדו indicates the difficulty the brothers had telling their father what had transpired in Egypt. What was good news for their father involved a confession of the evil the brothers had perpetrated and how they had caused their father unnecessary anguish. It is also possible that the use of the word ויגדו [especially the missing letter י ] alluded to the ensuing exile of the Jewish people and the hard times their descendants would experience there eventually. We do indeed find that Jacob was afraid to travel to Egypt until reassured by G'd in a dream (46,3).(2) The reason the Torah uses the expression לאמור is to tell us that the brothers were astute in the manner they conveyed the good news to their father. It is well known that sudden good news may shock a person and cause cardiac arrest. The brothers therefore led up to what they had to say in stages; first they mentioned that they were the bearers of good tidings, ויגדו לו לאמור; after Jacob had been thus prepared they told him that Joseph was still alive. At that point this news was not liable to endanger Jacob's life. (3) It is also possible that we should read the verse thus: ויגדו לו לאמר עוד, "they told him saying: furthermore," etc. They said: "Not only have we all returned safely but we still have more to say." Once they had conditioned Jacob's mind they informed him that Joseph was still alive. Having said this they added a little later that Joseph had achieved a position of great stature in Egypt.(4) I have been troubled by the fact that Joseph did not communicate with his father during all these years. Did he not realise that his father must have been in terrible anguish concerning what had happened to him? While it is true that as long as Joseph was a slave he may not have been able to communicate with his father, nonetheless during the nine years since his appointment as viceroy surely he could have done so? Why did he not at least write his father a letter to temper his father's pain and to stop him from mourning him? Not only this, why did he not at least send a message to his father during the year of famine when there was a constant stream of travellers between Egypt and Canaan? Who had given Joseph permission not to tell his father that he was alive after the brothers arrived in Egypt the first time?(5) Whereas we can understand why Jacob had to suffer twenty two years in order that G'd's plan could be executed, this is all well and good from G'd's point of view. Since Joseph was not aware of G'd's plans, who gave him the right to let his father suffer longer than necessary?(6) We have good reason to believe that Joseph had perfectly good reasons for preferring not to communicate with his father until he did. No doubt he would have liked to communicate with his father ever since he came to Egypt until he was appointed as viceroy.(7) Even assuming that an opportunity had presented itself prior to his sudden and dramatic promotion, he was afraid that as soon as his brothers would hear about his whereabouts they would try and murder him so that he could not testify against them. The brothers would therefore have a vested interest in disposing of Joseph if they heard that he was still alive somewhere.(8) It is also possible that as soon as Jacob would receive such a communication he would curse the brothers for what they had done to Joseph; as a result the brothers would die and he would indirectly be responsible for their deaths.(9) Once Joseph had been released from prison and become viceroy he no longer had to fear for his life if a letter from him would be intercepted or the brothers would attempt to kill him to prevent their father from learning the truth. On the other hand, he considered a statement by our sages in Baba Metzia 59 that it is preferable to be burned in a fiery oven than to cause a fellow human being to go pale with shame. Joseph was concerned for his brothers' dignity as human beings, something they would lose if their father would find out at that point what the brothers had done to his favourite child. He decided therefore that the anguish of one man, i.e. his father, was preferable to discrediting his brothers.(10) Besides, Joseph may well have felt that the brothers still wanted him out of this world and would confer how to bring this about. When Bereshit Rabbah 91 described the brothers as taking a great deal of money to Egypt in order to ransom Joseph, this merely means that they hoped to succeed in order to demonstrate that they were sorry for what they had done. Only then would they no longer feel threatened by him and plan to dispose of him. (11) Joseph, of course, was unaware that the brothers had undergone a change of heart until he had personally tested them in the presence of Benjamin. Only after that experience did Joseph realise that he was no longer in danger from his brothers. Until all the pieces of the puzzle came together at the time Joseph decided to reveal himself to his brothers it would have been premature to risk identifying himself. Until Joseph was able to put the brothers at ease by attributing all that had happened to G'd's planning, he would have been risking his life by revealing himself. You will recall that Yehudah had resorted to a confrontational stance when he found out that Joseph had included innocent Reuben in his treatment of the brothers. Tanchuma item 5 on our Parshah even reports the brothers as planning to kill Joseph [not in his capacity as Joseph, of course, but in his capacity of a ruler who had framed Benjamin, Ed.], and that it had taken an angel to save Joseph from their hands. Considering all the foregoing Joseph can hardly be faulted for allowing events to run their course without informing his father prematurely.

‘VAYAPHAG’ HIS HEART. His heart passed away and ceased to believe; his heart took no notice of their words. The word vayaphag has the same meaning as the Mishnaic expression: “The fragrance of all spices m’phigin (escape).” Similar is the verse, Without any ‘haphugoth’ (intermission). The verse, And his scent is not ‘namar,’ is rendered in the Targum: “and his scent is not pag (passing away).” This is the language of Rashi. But it is not correct, for phugah is an expression of cessation and abolition, just as : give thyself no ‘phugath’ (respite). So also, Mine eye is poured out, and ceaseth not, without any ‘haphugoth,’ meaning “mine eye pours out tears steadily without cessation or intermission.” And so likewise, “m’phigin (their fragrance)” means that the spices scatter the fragrance and it is voided. So also, Therefore the law is ‘taphug,’ that is, voided and ceased. In this verse also, ‘vayaphag’ his heart [thus means that the beat of] his heart was suspended and his breathing ceased, for the movement of the heart ceased and he was as dead. This condition is known when joy suddenly comes upon one, and it is mentioned in the books of medicines that old or feeble persons cannot withstand the shock, for many of them faint when joy comes to them very suddenly. The heart widens and opens suddenly, and its natural heat goes out and scatters throughout the outer parts of the body, and the heart thus ceases to function because of its coolness. Thus the patriarch fell as dead. Scripture says, for he believed them not, in order to relate that he remained in that condition a great part of the day, and he lay so without movement because he did not believe them.
Concerning such fainting it is known that people shout to the fainting person and accustom him to that joyful event gradually until he accepts it with a tranquil spirit. And this is the meaning of the verse, And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them, and when he saw the wagons [which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived], for they shouted into his ears the words of Joseph and brought the wagons before him. Then did his spirit return to him, and his breathing began and he was revived. It is this which Scripture says, And the spirit of Jacob their father revived. Now Onkelos translated: “The Divine Presence, [which had departed from him when he was in mourning], again rested upon him.” Onkelos added this because the thing is true, and he expounded this interpretation from the word ruach (spirit), since Scripture does not say, “and Jacob their father revived,” [but rather, and the spirit of Jacob their father revived]. He thus explained the verse here as being analogous to these verses: The spirit of the Eternal G-d is upon me;And now the Eternal G-d hath sent me and His spirit;A man in whom is spirit.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still well?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dumbfounded were they on account of him. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come forward to me.” And when they came forward, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt.

On the pasuk (Bereishit 45:3-4), “And his brothers could not answer him because they were afraid of him...I am Yosef your brother whom you sold to Mitzrayim,” there is a difficulty. If Yosef was trying to console them, why did he mention the sale, which would embarrass them more? However, there was a deeper consolation here. The brothers definitely felt Yosef's holiness, as indicated by their fear of his countenance. Yosef was telling them that he reached this high level of righteousness because they sold him to Mitzrayim. This realization alleviated their guilt, as they thought he would have been greater had he stayed with their father, but this was not the case at all.
It then says, “and the brothers spoke to him,” contrasting their initial inability to speak to him peacefully. Now, they could converse with him, free from jealousy. In truth, one cannot be jealous of someone who has perfected their unique role and place, as everyone has a specific place designed for them, making jealousy irrelevant. However, until the tzadik has fully perfected himself, jealousy is possible. In the future, when everyone has corrected themselves and is in their proper place, there will be no jealousy. This is as it says in Yeshaya 11:13, “Then Ephraim’s envy shall cease and Yehuda’s harassment shall end; Ephraim shall not envy Yehuda, and Yehuda shall not harass Ephraim.”

AND THEY TOLD HIM ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH. It is my opinion, in line with the plain meaning of Scripture, that it was never told to Jacob throughout his entire lifetime that the brothers had sold Joseph. Rather he thought that Joseph had strayed in the field, and those who found him took him and sold him into Egypt. The brothers did not want to tell him of their sin, being afraid for their lives lest he be wroth and curse them as he did to Reuben, Simeon and Levi, while Joseph in his good ethical conduct did not want to tell him. It is for this reason that it is said, And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying: Thy father did command before he died, etc. And had Jacob known of this matter, it would have been proper for them to plead before their father at the time of his death to command Joseph by word of his mouth, for he would have granted his father’s request and not rebelled against his word, and they would not have been in danger, nor would they need to feign words out of their own hearts.

(12) So, too, in matters affecting a person’s relations with his neighbor, as soon as there rises from his heart to his mind some animosity or hatred, G–d forbid, or jealousy or anger, or a grudge and suchlike, he gives them no entrance into his mind and will.
(13) On the contrary, his mind exercises its authority and power over the spirit in his heart to do the very opposite and to conduct himself toward his neighbor with the quality of kindness and a display of abundant love, to the extent of suffering from him to the extreme limits without becoming provoked into anger, G–d forbid, or to revenge in kind, G–d forbid; but rather to repay the offenders with favors, as taught in the Zohar,17 I:201a. ff. that one should learn from the example of Joseph toward his brothers.

(17) According to another interpretation, the verse teaches us first not to repay evil for good, inasmuch as “whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house” (Prov. 17, 13); and, moreover, man must abstain even from repaying evil for evil, but must “wait for the Lord and he will save thee”.
(18) This teaching was exemplified in Joseph the righteous, who abstained from repaying evil to his brethren when they fell into his hands. He addressed to himself the words, “wait for the Lord, and he will save thee”, for he feared the Holy One, blessed be He. He thus said to his brethren: THIS DO, AND LIVE.