The Beer Shava Stopover

Parshat Vayigash

by Rabbi Avi BIllet

In the Torah, the city Beer Sheva appears thus named only one time (26:33). Otherwise it is always called Beer Shava. Seforno notes the difference between the vowelization of the two names of the city, while Ibn Ezra offers that when it is called Beer Sheva it might be for two reasons (based on a swear and the number seven), or, perhaps, it is a different (though similarly named) city.

When Yaakov visits Beer Shava in our parsha, he is presented as Yisrael as he offers sacrifices to the God of his father Yitzchak. God speaks "to Yisrael" in a nighttime vision, calling him "Yaakov Yaakov" saying, "I am the God of your father. Do not fear going down to Egypt, for I will turn you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will come up with you as well, and Yosef will place his hands on your eyes."

Then "Yaakov" gets up from Beer Shava, as "Bnei Yisrael" lift Yaakov their father – along with their children on wives – onto the carriages Pharaoh had sent for them.

A few questions come to mind: What is the significance of stopping in Beer Shava? Why is Yitzchak mentioned and not Avraham? Why the switch from Yaakov to Yisrael, and back again? What are we to take from the "nighttime vision"? Who will be accompanied by God in the descent to and in the ascent from Egypt? Why the promise of Yosef putting his hand over Yaakov's eyes.

Yitzchak had two prophetic experiences in Chapter 26: in the first he is told not to descend to Egypt during a famine, as his father had done before him, and the second was in Beer Shava when God told him "I am the God of your father Avraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and make your children numerous in the merit of my servant Avraham." (26:24)

In all likelihood Yaakov went to Beer Shava on account of this latter encounter (Rashbam), hoping to be the recipient of a similar blessing, and also hoping to be told not to descend to Egypt. Nonetheless, he was encouraged to complete this trip (Sechel Tov). Alternativley, Toldos Yitzchak suggests Yaakov very much wanted to go, but feared God would tell him he could not. The promise to become a great nation in Egypt, unlike the promise his father received, was so helpful in freeing him to go.

Sacrficing to the God of Yitzchak alone may be because: a person is more obligated to honor his father than his grandfather (Rashi, Midrash); since Yitzchak suffered as well over the sale of Yosef (the crying father in 37:35 refers to Yitzchak), his suffering could serve as a merit for Yaakov's own wishes to suffer no longer (Pesikta); a lament over not honoring Yitzchak for 22 years, Yaakov did not want similar treatment when being reunited with Yosef (Meshech Chokhmah).

There are many theories as to why "Yaakov" or "Yisrael" is used. As they are going down to Egypt and need strength (Yisrael) to survive, the name Yaakov is still applicable as with that name he is sometimes defeated. They come as "Bnei Yisrael" because they will multiply in numbers and eventually be redeemed. But Yaakov the man is the one who is going descending to slavery. (Ramban)

The nighttime vision is unique to Yaakov and takes place when he is on the cusp of leaving the land (see 28:11-16). The message is that even in nighttime, in the darkness of exile, God's Shechinah dwells amongst Israel. (Meshech Chokhmah)

God promised that He'd go down with and take Yaakov out of Egypt. Yaakov did not want to become a slave. So he was told he personally wouldn't be there that long. (Or HaChaim). He received the promise that his children would not be enslaved during his lifetime either. (Sechel Tov)

Of course, Yaakov knew from the moment he purchased the birthright that exile was the price for getting the blessing promised to Avraham. Never having anticipated that the strange land was going to be Egypt, he feared for the moral decay of his family to the point they'd never be able to get out. God promised him that if necessary, He would take them out early, before it is too late. (Beis HaLevi)

The promise of going down to Egypt included different features.

The language is "I will go with you" as opposed to "I am bringing you down." (Rabbenu Bachaye) He is literally counted as the 70^th soul because the family actually totals 69. (Daat Zekenim) This is what the Kli Yakar calls a "Yeridas HaShechinah," a descent of the divine presence.

A double language is utilized to promise the ascent from Egypt: I will bring you up (your sons will bury you) and I will bring your children up (eventually) (Sechel Tov, Radak); not only will you be brought up, but all of your sons will merit burial outside of Egypt too (R Chaim Paltiel); the double language of ascent refers to to Eretz Yisrael and to the World to Come. One is a physical ascent, and one is an ascent of the soul (Rabbenu Bachaye).

The promise that Yosef would place his hands on Yaakov's eyes has different meanings.

We know from the death of Rachel (and elsewhere) that a throwaway comment in the Torah sometimes turns out to be a prophesy. Perhaps Yaakov was being promised that the comment he made when he thought Yosef was dead "that he would go down to the grave mourning for his son" (37:35) would not be fulfilled. As the Baal Haturim notes, God was showing Yaakov that Yosef would not die in Yaakov's lifetime. As Rashbam hints to (Baba Batra 108a) Yaakov was receiving a two-part blessing here: that he would outlive Yosef, and that Yosef has children who count as part of Yaakov's family of 70.

Other possibilities include: Yosef will close your eyes when you die; Yosef will take care of those upon whom you have your eye – your children and grandchildren… long after you die (Radak); "Einekha" (your eyes) means "Inyanekha" – he'll take charge of your affairs (Chizkuni); or, most practically, you won't have to keep your eye on all of your belongings when you get to Egypt, because Yosef will make sure everything gets to you (nothing will be stolen) (Seforno)

The stop in Beer Shava, therefore, is highly significant. It is meant to serve as a reflection of a spiritual encounter his father had, and it is meant to sway or counter many fears Yaakov has over being the "one" who is beginning the actual descent to the strange land promised to Avraham. Avraham's experience is not noted because Yaakov serves as his spiritual heir – and perhaps Yaakov even latches on to whatever merits his father had, as a man who suffered in his life, and as a man who never left Eretz Yisrael – a place to which Yaakov desperately wishes to one day return, whether in life or in death or through his descendants.

The promises he receives from God set a stage for the promises the people will one day remember: that we may become slaves, but there is a promise for redemption. We may fall into moral depravity, but God will not let us disappear into a murky existence from which redemption is impossible.

For us, we look to the words of the Midrash that the Final Redemption will mimic the first redemption (from Egypt) in all ways, except that the Final Redemption will not be preempted by slavery. We therefore hope that all the promises made to Yaakov in Beer Shava will one day be fulfilled again, as we experience an end to the (long) night in which Yaakov received his vision - a promise for a bright future when God will once again accompany us all up to the land He promised to our forefathers.