Img. ID: 17696

the lower part of the commentary column is shaped like the horned head of a heifer showing its tongue, illustrating the beheaded calf (Deut. 21:1–9). Rashi’s commentary on Gen. 45:27: “And they told him (Jacob) all Joseph’s words . . . and he saw the wagons which Joseph sent,” reminded Jacob of the law of the beheaded calf, which he was studying when he learned about Joseph’s disappearance.64 This complex association between wagon and calf is related to the similar sound of both terms in Hebrew: wagon is agala, a sound similar to egla, which is calf. Rashi explains that Joseph sending agalot (the plural of wagon) was meant as a sign to Jacob that he was still alive, by reminding him of what he was studying when he saw Joseph’s bloody garment, an allusion to the proclamation: “My hands have not shed this blood” pronounced by the elders over the beheaded calf (Deut. 21:7).