[Avodah] Who sent the wagons?

[Michael Poppers]

In Avodah V38n112, RAMiller wrote:
> Bereshis 45:27 tells us that Yaakov saw the agalos (wagons) that Yosef
had sent. Rashi there explains that Yosef was sending a coded message, by
way of a pun, because when Yosef left Yaakov, they had been learning about
the eglah arufah.
>  But actually, in Bereshis 45:19, Paro commanded Yosef to tell his
brothers to take wagons. it was not Yosef's idea to send wagons at all. The
idea came from Paro.
>  Technically, Yosef DID tell his brothers to take wagons, but my point is
that it wasn't Yosef's idea. It seems that in order to send this message to
Yaakov, Hashem inspired Paro to command Yosef about the wagons.
>   Comments?

(As I briefly noted to RAM last night, I had the same Q this week while
doing ShMOT.)
>From the earlier *p'suqim*, one would have said that Par'oh sent the
*agalos*, but RaShY explained in 45:27 as he did because the *pasuq* now
says Yosef sent the* agalos*, hence "agalos" in this *pasuq* cannot mean
what it meant when Par'oh was the power behind the dispatch of wagons.
RaShY (as he often did) may have been following Onqelos -- the *targum* for
the previous instances of the word was "agalan" but, in 45:27, is "eglasa".

P.S. From MG.AlHaTorah.ORG
<https://mg.alhatorah.org/Full/Bereshit/45.27#e0n6> I see Medrash Rabbah
explaining that the wagons sent by Par'oh never reached Ya'aqov...; and
Mizrachi noting this isn't the first time "vayar" actually means "vayishma"
(such that our attention moves from the wagons to what Ya'aqov's sons were
telling him...).  Also, FWIW, Sifsei Chachamim treats "agalos" as the
*k'siv* for the *q'ri* of "eglos".

Best wishes for a gut'n Shabbes/Shabbas Shalom!
and all the best from
*Michael Poppers* * Elizabeth, NJ, USA
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