https://www.wikiart.org/en/jacopo-pontormo/joseph-revealing-himself-to-his-brothers

Parshat Mikketz

Genesis 41:53-43:15

December 15-16, 2023

What We Missed:

►Joseph is freed from prison to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams

►Joseph overcomes hardship again: He becomes Pharaoh’s second-in-command

What We Read:

►Famine in Canaan / Joseph is in charge of the entire food distribution

►Joseph’s brothers seek food in Egypt; they do not recognize Joseph

►Joseph accuses his brothers of being spies and imprisons them

►The brothers express remorse for their past behavior

►Joseph prohibits their return to Egypt without Benjamin

►Judah promises to take care of Benjamin enroute to Egypt

When interpreting Pharaoh’s dreams, Joseph predicts that seven years of famine will follow seven years of plenty. Because Joseph suggested a plan to prepare for the famine, Pharaoh recognized Joseph’s talents and wisdom. Pharaoh elevates Joseph to be second-in-command, responsible for the entire food distribution.

The famine was severe, spreading to neighboring countries like Canaan. All of Joseph’s brothers then travelled to Egypt to buy food. We can imagine that with such a large clan, Jacob’s family required huge amounts of food; therefore, all the brothers (minus Benjamin) needed to go. However, when they arrived in front of Joseph, they did not recognize him. Although I certainly fault them for their egregious crime decades ago, I only partially fault them for not recognizing Joseph now. Think about people you knew in High School but never saw again until many years later. Physical features change; the people we once knew are totally different decades later. Perhaps if they had much time just to gaze at Joseph’s face they would recognize him. However, Joseph was now an adult; he wore Egyptian clothing, and his head was probably covered with some type of helmet or hat. On the other hand, Joseph was not a child when they sold him. It is likely that at least ONE sibling would identify him.

For me, the more pressing question is why did Joseph (who clearly recognized them) behave so cruelly to his brothers? Why imprison them? Why be vindictive at a time when his father – back in Canaan – was growing old and may never learn the truth about Joseph being alive and well?

*Joseph could just be acting vindictively, finally exacting revenge for this brothers’ cruelty so long ago. I however believe there was an alternative reason for speaking harshly to his siblings and for both imprisoning and for keeping Simeon as hostage while they returned to Canaan. I am sure Joseph had to suppress some major vengeful thoughts. He had reason to still resent his brothers for abandoning him. He also had justifiable reasons to resent his father. It was Jacob who, by playing favorites, created the atmosphere of jealousy which led the brothers to sell Joseph in the first place. Nevertheless, Joseph believed that the sequence of events was God’s Providence and not the initiative of his siblings. Pretending to be harsh must have been agonizing, but he desperately wanted to know if they had changed for the better. Joseph did imprison them and then he expelled them. He did keep Simeon as a hostage, then ordering the brothers not to return without their younger brother. He must have imagined how Jacob would react to such an order. Yet, when Joseph sent his brothers packing, he not only provided them with plenty of food, but refused to accept their monetary payment. A truly vindictive person would have expelled them from Egypt with nothing!

*Today’s reading includes one of the most emotional scenes in the entire Torah. After being thrown in prison, the brothers acknowledge how they were being punished for what they did to Joseph 20 years earlier. The first born, irresponsible Reuben is eager to blame his siblings for ignoring his plea not to harm Joseph. In prison, the brothers recall how they ignored Joseph’s cry from the pit. They had ignored his suffering and his trepidation. As contemporary commentator Aviva Zornberg points out, at the time when the brothers threw Joseph into the pit, the Torah says nothing about Joseph crying out and the brothers ignoring him. Nothing. Only now, decades later, is there any discussion about the subject. Zornberg argues that the Torah originally says nothing because the brothers must have suppressed that memory of Joseph crying and their refusing to respond. Only now, as they sit in an Egyptian prison, is such a memory no longer suppressed. Only decades after the traumatic incident, can the brothers talk about what happened; that is why the Torah was originally silent about the memory. She observes how many Holocaust survivors could not speak about their traumatic experiences for many years (some never could speak…). They suppressed their nightmares in order to live and move forward with their lives. Only with the passage of time could many finally speak. Such was the case with Joseph’s brothers. Only now could they verbalize the memory they had suppressed for two decades.

*By accepting responsibility for Benjamin, Judah becomes the first brother who has truly changed. By virtue of his transformation, Judah’s name becomes synonymous with Judaism itself and with Jerusalem and its environs.

Haftarah Reading: 1 Kings (1 Melakhim) 3:15-4:1 

The Haftorah parallels the Torah reading in that Solomon, the new King after his father David, awakens from a dream. In the dream (described in the section prior to our Haftorah), God promises Solomon the exceptional characteristic of wisdom. Solomon then illustrates his wisdom through his decision in a popular story: two women give birth to children; one child lives and the other dies. Both women claim the living child and then come to Solmon for a solution. Solomon suggests an answer which leads to his determining which woman is the true mother of the living baby. Joseph and Solomon share the gifts of wisdom and such a trait binds them together.

-Rabbi Michael Klayman