After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, it was time for Yaakov and the whole family to reunite and come to Egypt. To this purpose, Paro told Yosef to load up the brother's animals and send wagons back to Canaan to transport the entire family to Egypt. When the brothers return, they told Yaakov the amazing news about Yosef. When Yaakov saw the wagons, he believed his sons and his spirit revived.
The commentators focus on the significance of the wagons and how they revived Yaakov's spirit. The most widely accepted answer is a play on the Hebrew word for wagon(s),
eglah / agalot
. By sending these wagons, Yosef alluded to the last Torah topic he had studied with his father,
eglah arufah
, the calf that would be killed as atonement after finding a murdered man between two cities. By sending the wagons, Yosef was telling his father that Torah was still important to him, even after all these years in Egypt.
Rabbi Z. Leff asks, if Paro commanded Yosef to send wagons how could they serve as an allusion? The
Netivot Chaim
explains that while the wagons were indeed authorized by Paro, Yosef packed the animals full of provisions for the journey, but the wagons remained empty. If one understands that the
eglah
that would atone for the murder victim was one that had never born a burden, one can understand why Yosef sent the wagons empty and put the loads on the donkeys instead.
The laws of
eglah arufah
are meant to teach important ideas. Both Rabbi Belsky and Rabbi Frand teach that escorting a traveler and providing food for the journey gives him the self-confidence and dignity to fend off his attackers (or make him seem a less easy target). Yosef is thus telling his father that he survived and maintained his Jewish identity by remembering his relationship with his father. Rabbi M. Ezrachi points out that the crux of the
eglah arufah
ritual is the declaration by the elders that they did not spill the blood of this man. But there is a second responsibility they may not have met. They should have also have noticed the people at risk who may already have been on a criminal path. They should have stepped in and, with sensitivity and caring, brought them back from a violent lifestyle.
Each of us serves as a role model to others at one time. We must always act responsibly, for a careless action on our part may be the catalyst for someone else's first step away from the Torah.
Rabbi Leff points out that Paro sent empty wagons to express his hope that Yaakov would leave not only his physical possessions behind, but also his spiritual identity. But Yosef sent additional wagons so that Bnei Yisroel were able to bring down their belongings and by extension their unique culture. Yaakov understood that Yosef himself had maintained his spiritual connection to
Am Yisroel
. In fact, according to the Medrash, Yehudah destroyed Paro's wagons because they were decorated with idolatrous images. Rabbi Leff sees here the inherent message that wherever we find ourselves, we can carry the sanctity of the community with us and not succumb to the lures of other cultures. In connecting this to
eglah arufah
, Rabbi Leff posits that by escorting a traveler, one arms him with the spiritual protection of the community.
The
Shvilei Pinchas
discusses the symbolism of the wheels, the
g
a
lg
a
l
im
of the
a
g
a
l
ot
, the wagons. When we pronounce the four letter name of Hashem, we think that it refers to all times,
h
a
y
a
h
/past,
h
o
v
e
h
/present, and
y
i
h
i
y
e
h
/future. Numerically, the all temporal God is the Master of the
g
a
lg
a
l
, the turning wheels of time. Yosef encouraged his father to go down to Egypt, for although Bnei Yisroel would be enslaved there, the wheels would keep turning, and their enslavement in Egypt would be a necessary step in the purification process to bring Bnei Yisroel to receive the Torah at Sinai.
