ספר בראשית

Genesis 46,29. (normal translation) “Joseph harnessed his ‎chariot and ascended towards Israel his father;” ‎‎[The reason why the author presents an allegorical ‎commentary first, as if it were the obvious meaning, is ‎presumably, that if the Torah had merely wanted to tell us that ‎Joseph traveled in the direction of his father to welcome him, ‎these details would have been irrelevant. The same reason applies ‎elsewhere where he chooses the allegorical or mystical approach ‎as his first choice. Ed.]‎ The word ‎ויאסור‎, refers to Joseph “harnessing” his body in ‎anticipation of meeting his saintly father; the word ‎מרכבתו‎ is an ‎allusion to the four basic components (raw materials in terms of ‎the creation) of which the physical universe is composed. Joseph ‎considers the forthcoming encounter with his father as almost ‎like making a pilgrimage to the Holy Temple. This is reflected in ‎the Torah’s choice of his name Yisrael at this point, although his ‎father is entering “exile.” His father had the name Yisrael added ‎to his name as recognition that he had elevated his body through ‎service of the Lord to come closer to his Creator. The first three ‎letters in that name, i.e. ‎ישר‎, “upright,” straightforward, are also ‎reflected in the location where Israel would reside from now on, ‎in ‎גשנה‎, a word reflecting ‎הגשה‎, bringing something close, in order ‎to unite it with something or somebody else. In this case it ‎reflects rapprochement to G’d in heaven. The letter ‎ה‎ at the end ‎of the word ‎גשן‎, meaning five, alludes to the One and only G’d ‎Who holds the other 4 parts of the universe together, without ‎Whom it would implode. Here on earth this world is held together ‎by the tzaddik, in our case by the righteous Joseph.‎