Vayigash   ויגש  sets the stage for the picture of the two messiahs, Joseph the suffering Messiah and ben David, the conquering Messiah.  In this portion, we see something interesting happening— the crossing over of these two important personalities where Judah takes on the role of the suffering Messiah while Joseph represents the triumphant Messiah. Judah represents the underdog, who will have to confront the powers of the world, while Joseph represents the conquering Messiah as the saviour of Israel.     Judah took on the role of the one responsible trying to save his youngest brother and his father from dying of grief, even if it meant losing his own life.  He tried to cover up his own actions to Joseph as he explained about what would happen to his father if he lost another son the way he had lost Joseph.  In the haphtarah we see at the end the unification and the universality of G-d's message, where He paints the picture that in the end Judah and Joseph will come together as one when the whole world will enter a new reality. Joseph knew what he was doing to his brothers, trying to see if they were really repentant for what they have done to their younger brother Joseph. He had been placed in a position second only to Pharaoh and was looked upon like a god to the Gentiles.  To the Jews he was, of course only looked upon as a man who could never believe that a man could be G-d.  His brothers couldn't recognize him because he didn't speak to them in Hebrew, he had shaved his body, and he was dressed like an Egyptian.  It is written that Joseph sent all his servants out of the room and screamed so loudly that the entire palace heard him.  At this moment he revealed himself to them.  The connotation in the Hebrew was that he revealed his brit milah to his brothers, who then trembled with fear, thinking that Joseph would want revenge.  Instead, he said, do not worry for what you meant for evil, G-d used for good, so that Israel could be saved.  This is a beautiful picture of Messiah Yeshua who came to his own but they did not recognize him.  When Yeshua came, the people were expecting a different Messiah, one who would come in power to vanquish the enemy, Rome.  They didn’t want the suffering Messiah. Joseph spoke to them in their own language and they knew who he was.  The lives of these 11 brothers were changed forever as Joseph saved his people from starvation and annihilation.

The Torah is so clear about our Messiah Yeshua being a picture of Joseph but our sages in the Midrashim write that if Israel is not faithful to the G-d of our fathers in the suffering Messiah will come as Messiah ben Joseph.  They call him the leprous Messiah who comes due to the misbehaviour of Israel.  And if we are good then the conquering Messiah will come, Messiah ben David.  For our rabbis, The Talmud has taken precedence over the Torah with all its rules, regulations, but for us Torah is G-d's revelation to his people.  One crucial problem today is the understanding of the Rabbis which separate the Torah from the Goyim, as if is ONLY for the Jews. By doing so, they are going against G-d’s commandment to be light to the world (see Sifra 194. 2.15)

On the other hand, the Gentiles have given Yeshua an entirely new personality who resembles the Egyptian Joseph unrecognizable by his brothers.  They have created dogmas about their understanding, definitions and doctrines about G-d, as if they are written in stone.

Next week is the 8th of Tevet, declared by our sages as a day of mourning, when we remember the day that the Rabbis were ordered to translate the Hebrew Bible to Greek by Ptolemy.  They knew that so much would be lost and that this would change the course of history. The Hebrew language is like a mosaic, painting pictures which can only be seen from a distance, quite opposite to the Greek, which requires definitions, is punctiliar, painting everything in black and white. There are words and concepts in the Hebrew which do not exist in the Greek changing the meaning entirely.  This caused the changes to the very identity of Messiah himself.

Religion dictates that we need to do things a certain way to be accepted by G-d; to dress a certain way, to speak a certain way and to believe a certain way. Joseph dressed, spoke, ate, married and died like an Egyptian yet G-d used Joseph in a dramatic way to save our people. We need to stop trying to be religious and instead we need to read the Torah for what it really says. It does not make heroes of people. G-d calls and works with regular people, giving them a special role to fulfil with His leadership and help.

In the same way that G-d opened the eyes of his brothers to recognize Joseph, one day God will open up the eyes of the Jewish people to recognize Yeshua as their Messiah.  In the same way as the Egyptians received Joseph as their saviour and as a god, the Gentiles will also one day recognize Yeshua for who he really is, the Jewish Messiah, not a Gentile god.  G-d needs to open up our eyes since no one can reveal these things to anyone else other than G-d himself.  It was G-d who chose Joseph, who allowed Judah to sell them into slavery for the good of all.  They each had a role to play as we do, those who are called by G-d to serve him.  Joseph served the Gentiles as their god while saving the Jewish people.  Today, Yeshua is worshiped as a god by the Gentiles and through him all Israel will be saved. Because at the end all of us will be one again in His Name!

May G-d open our eyes of understanding to see that the message is for all humanity and being chosen has nothing to do with race; it simply has to do with G-d’s choice.