Do we truly have free will? And what dors it mean that God descends into exile with us? Parsaht Vayigash

 Do We Truly Have Free Will? And What Does It Mean That God "Descends" Into Exile With Us?

In this week's parsha, Vayigash, a profound mystery unfolds when Yosef reveals himself to his brothers. He declares (Bereishit 45:7-8):

וַיִּשְׁלָחֵ֤נִי אֱלֹהִים֙ לִפְנֵיכֶ֔ם לָשׂ֥וּם לָכֶ֛ם שְׁאֵרִ֖ית בָּאָ֑רֶץ וּלְהַחֲי֣וֹת לָכֶ֔ם לִפְלֵיטָ֖ה גְּדֹלָֽה׃

"God sent me before you to make for you a remnant in the land, and to preserve life for you, that there be many survivors."

וְעַתָּ֗ה לֹֽא־אַתֶּ֞ם שְׁלַחְתֶּ֤ם אֹתִי֙ הֵ֔נָּה כִּ֖י הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיְשִׂימֵ֨נִֽי לְאָ֜ב לְפַרְעֹ֗ה וּלְאָדוֹן֙ לְכׇל־בֵּית֔וֹ וּמֹשֵׁ֖ל בְּכׇל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃

"And now, it was not you who sent me here, but God; He set me as father to Paroh and master of all his house, and ruler throughout all of the land of Egypt."

These words are startling. After all, it was the brothers who sold Yosef into slavery. It was Yosef's own choices—his integrity in Potiphar's house, his interpretation of dreams—that propelled him from prison to palace. So what is Yosef truly saying? Is he denying human free will (bechirah chofshit), suggesting we are mere puppets in God's grand design?

Later in the parsha, God appears to Yaakov in a night vision, reassuring him about the descent to Egypt (Bereishit 46:4):

אָנֹכִ֗י אֵרֵ֤ד עִמְּךָ֙ מִצְרַ֔יְמָה וְאָנֹכִ֖י אַֽעַלְךָ֣ גַם־עָלֹ֑ה וְיוֹסֵ֕ף יָשִׁ֥ית יָד֖וֹ עַל־עֵינֶֽיךָ׃

"I will go down to Egypt with you and I will also surely bring you up, and Yosef will set his hands upon your eyes."

Judaism emphatically rejects any notion of God having a physical form or descending literally into the world. So what does this divine "descent" mean? It powerfully echoes Yaakov's earlier dream of the ladder, with angels—messengers of God—ascending and descending, symbolizing an unbroken connection between heaven and earth.

Remarkably, these two puzzles share a single, profound resolution—one that illuminates the Jewish understanding of free will, divine providence (hashgachah), and how we carry God's presence into exile.

The Rambam, in Moreh Nevuchim 2:48, unveils a mind-expanding principle: Every event in the universe traces back through a chain of causes to the ultimate First Cause—God Himself. Prophets and the Torah therefore often attribute events directly to God as the ultimate source, even when intermediate causes (natural laws, chance, or human choices) are at play.

With unusual urgency, the Rambam urges readers to pay closer attention here than anywhere else in the Guide. He illustrates this using Yosef's story twice:

- For voluntary human choices: Yosef's words, "It was not you who sent me here, but God" (45:8).

- For chance events: "God sent me before you" (45:7).

Free will is not illusory—it is part of God's creation—yet every choice and its consequences ultimately trace back to the First Cause. Yosef wasn't absolving his brothers of responsibility; he was inviting them to see the bigger picture: Their freely chosen actions, painful as they were, became threads in a divine tapestry that preserved the family.

This perspective brings deep comfort: Even wrongdoing, when viewed through the lens of the First Cause, can be redirected toward redemption.

The key to God's promise "I will go down with you to Egypt" lies in this same idea—but with a transformative twist.

In Moreh Nevuchim 1:27, the Rambam explains anthropomorphic language like "descending," and in Yaakov's prophetic dream, the literal wording is retained because it is visionary imagery. More profoundly, divine "descent" into exile is not God literally accompanying us in a physical sense. Rather, hashgachah—divine providence—is our human recognition that everything traces back to the First Cause.

It is we who "take God with us" into exile through this elevated consciousness: by perceiving all events as ultimately rooted in God, and by actively choosing to imitate His ways (chesed, truth, justice) even in darkness.

This is the fulfillment of Yaakov's ladder vision. There, the angels (or "men of God," as some interpretations render) ascended first—representing the soul's upward journey in contemplation, grasping the esoteric truth that all reality flows from the First Cause. Only then did they descend, carrying that sublime understanding back into the world.

Now, as Yaakov and his family descend to the depths of Egypt—the epitome of impurity and materialism—they embody that descent of the ladder. They take the profound insight received in the Land of Israel, this esoteric worldview of tracing everything back to God and living in imitation of His attributes, down with them into exile. In doing so, they transform galut itself, ensuring that divine providence remains with them—not as an external force coming down, but as an inner light they carry downward.

Yosef modeled this perfectly: Amid betrayal and suffering, he maintained integrity and attributed the entire chain of events to God. In doing so, he brought the divine perspective into Egypt itself.

This is the timeless, empowering message of Vayigash: True hashgachah in exile is not God coming down to us, but our rising to Him—through understanding that all leads back to the First Cause, and through our resolute choice to live in imitation of His attributes. Like the angels on the ladder, we first ascend in thought and commitment, then descend into the world carrying that truth. In this way, we bring God with us wherever we go, turning even the darkest exile into a path of closeness and redemption.