Parshas Vayigash

In this week's parsha, the Torah tells us how the Shevatim came to Yaakov Avinu and told him that Yosef was alive, and that he was a viceroy in Egypt. To their great surprise, however, he did not believe them, until he saw the wagons which Yosef had sent. Why would Yaakov not believe them? Surely something as serious as this is no joking matter! If the Shevatim make so bold a statement as to say that Yosef is alive, surely they are serious about what they are saying! And if they are indeed not to be believed, how did the sight of the wagons change anything? What did seeing the wagons tell Yaakov that the Shevatim themselves did not?

Perhaps we could suggest that Yaakov actually believed that Yosef was still physically alive; but he did not believe that he was still spiritually alive. When he heard that Yosef was a viceroy in Egypt, the very core of immorality, the Yosef that he knew was as good as dead to him. "Is this what I was hoping for?" he thought. "Were all my hopes and tefillos for my son to become an Egyptian viceroy, estranged from Torah and mitzvos?" It was only when he saw the wagons, and understood the hint that Yosef was sending him - the word "agolos" symbolizing that he still remembered the sugya of egla arufa, which was the last thing they learned together - that Yaakov realized that his favorite son was indeed still a fully religious Torah scholar, living the way his father always wanted him to. And that is why "vatechi ruach Yaakov" - the spirit of Yaakov was revived.

The lesson we learn from Yaakov Avinu is that as Torah Jews, we do not measure success by fame, fortune, or power. Despite how the gentile culture surrounding us may try to indoctrinate us, "my son the doctor", "my son the lawyer", or even "my son the senator", for that matter, is not what we strive and hope for. The definition of true Yiddish nachas is having children that follow the ways of Hashem, and establishing a home based on true Torah values above all else.