… and Joseph fell on his (Jacob’s) neck and cried… Genesis
46:29
However, Jacob did not fall on Joseph’s neck nor kiss him;
our Sages say Jacob was reciting Shema. Rashi
Rashi’s source is Derech
Eretz Zuta [1:10]:
Forego your will for the will of
your friend, as Rachel did for Leah and as David did for Saul. Forego your will
and that of your friend for the will of heaven, as we find that Jacob did not
kiss Joseph because he was reciting Shema.
Reading the source makes Rashi’s
intention perfectly clear: as much as Jacob loved Joseph, as happy as he was to
be reunited with his beloved son, Jacob’s first and greatest love was God.
Jacob had already expressed this
primary love in connection with his beloved wife Rachel who said to him: “Give
me children or else I die,” to which he surprisingly responded in anger.
[Genesis 30:1-2] Sforno explains that because Rachel directed her request to
Jacob rather than to God, his angry response demonstrated that despite his deep
love for her, his love of God exceeded his love of Rachel.
Thus, in connection with each of
the two people he loved the most, Jacob stressed that these loves were
secondary to his love of God. In these demonstrations of primacy of his love of
God, Jacob achieved the complete fulfillment of the mitzva stated in
the Shema:
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your might (me’odecha). Deuteronomy 6:5
Aruch haShulḥan [Oraḥ Ḥayyim 1:6], in
explaining this mitzva, writes: all that is beloved to you, whether
self, family, or anything else, must be null and void compared to your love of
God, and suggests that “me’odecha” is derived from the word “me’od”
(much)’ translating the verse: “Your love of God must be greater than anything
which you love greatly.”
Indeed, Jacob reached this lofty level of loving God. Thus, Midrash
Sifrei states that “‘with all your might (me’odecha)’ refers to
Jacob.”
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