Vayigash is the parsha of achdut (Jewish unity). Before Oct. 7th we longed for more achdut. Since Oct. 7th we have been carried by the spirit of our people’s togetherness. Going forward, how do we preserve this achdut in Israeli society despite our differences? The approach of Yehuda toward Yosef provides some insight.

“Then Yehuda approached him [Yosef]…” This was a pivotal moment in the story of Yaacov’s sons. At their lowest point, the brothers could not speak peaceably with Yosef. Rashi characterizes their feelings of disdain as having “moved on from all feelings of brotherhood.” In parshat Vayigash, Yehuda (who doesn’t realize that he is speaking to his brother) speaks at length to Yosef, in the hopes of saving Binyamin as he had promised his father. 

Bereshit Rabbah likens this encounter to a well with good, cold water at the bottom, which is out of reach until someone ties rope to rope and draws from it and drinks. So too, Yehuda approached Yosef with many words until he found the ones which touched Yosef’s heart. The physical approach, along with words, communication, are the keys to bridging deep divides. 

The haftorah too, contains a vision for Jewish unity, particularly for modern Israel. Yechezkel is told by God to take two sticks and write on one the name Yosef (Ephraim and the tribes of Yisrael) and the other Yehuda and then, “Bring them close to each other, so that they become one stick.” Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook quoted this prophecy in his eulogy for Theodor Herzl and calls the secular Zionist movement the footsteps of the messiah son of Yosef. 

Rav Kook was a model for approaching and drawing closer to parts of Israeli society who thought and lived differently. How can we walk in the footsteps of Yehuda, Yechezkel and Rav Kook? By seeing what they all saw – we are one people. Shabbat Shalom -Karen Miller Jackson