Jacob and the Red Sea

And he told it to his father and to his brothers, and his father rebuked him (vayig’ar) and said to him: “What is this dream that you have dreamt? Shall I and your mother and brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth to you?”                                                      Genesis 37:10

            Ba’al haTurim connects our verse’s use of the word “vayig’ar” with its use in the description of splitting the Red Sea [Psalms 106:9]: “And He rebuked (vayig’ar) the Red Sea, and it was dried up…,” teaching that it was through the merit of Jacob that the Red Sea was split.

            My father explained that Jacob rebuked Joseph in an attempt to defuse the hatred his brothers had for him and thereby achieve peace and unity among his sons and it was through the unity of the Children of Israel, who were of a single heart and as a single person, that our ancestors merited having the Red Sea split for them.