When Yaakov and Yosef met, Yaakov said the Sh’ma, says Rashi. Why indeed did he choose this moment for saying Sh’ma?
There are various answers to the question. Some say it was simply nothing more than z’man krias Sh’ma, the time that one must say Shma in, Halachikly. Others point to some reason specific to the situation. Here is one suggestion:
Yosef was special to Yaakov. Rashi explains in the beginning of Vayeshev that when Yosef was born, Yaakov felt confident that he could now face Essav. Although Yosef was little more than an infant, he already possessed the powers to destroy Essav.
Perhaps we can suppose that when Yaakov wished to build Klal Yisrael, he conceived of marrying Rachel, specifically. For he had understood that the child born of that union was the prototype that he, Yaakov, sought. That child was actualized in Yosef. Yosef was the ideal. The Rishonim say that Yosef possessed every sort of good value, and was a mirror of Yaakov. Even centuries later, when Moshe Rabbenu was blessing the Jews, he referred to [the tribe of] Yosef as the Nazir, the most holy one, amongst his brothers.
According to this, Yosef’s dreams of his kingship possessed deep meaning to the genesis of our nation. They meant that he would be a king, leader and shaper of Klal Yisrael. So the loss of Yosef, when he was sold, and presumed dead by his father, was not only a loss of one of the sons, but the loss of a major kingpin of Klal Yisrael. The Klal Yisrael that was to be could no longer be. All was lost. The future was empty.
Yosef’s return meant that Klal Yisrael returned to reality. There would be a nation of Israel, after all!
Sh’ma, says the Ramchal, represents Hashem’s absolute rule in this world. His rule is linked to His being personally involved with us, Klal Yisrael. His absolute rule is related to our existence. Isn’t it apropos to our returning/coming into being that Yaakov recite the Shma?
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