Yehuda steps up and takes responsibility (see below re what was Benjamin thinking while this was happening!)
Yosef reveals his identity, and calms his brothers (we saw the important subtle message implied for his father)
Yosef's tells the brothers to return to Yakov and bring him to Egypt (see below: Why didn't Yakov believe the brothers?)
Yosef's hegemonic real-estate plan, consolidating all the land of Egypt under Pharaoh's hand, turning all Egyptians into Pharaoh's serfs; the Jewish people multiply (See below re the Karmic effect fo all this).
Also:
Yaakov stops at Be'erSheva and at long last God speaks to him
Yosef preps his family about Egypt and Pharaoh, and Yaakov meets Pharaoh; the house of Jacob settles in for what turns out to be a very long - and troubled - stay.
The Amazing way that Joseph accomplished true teshuva by enabling it for his brothers! (And via his secret message to his father: see below re the animals).
First step: Why Joseph framed and then threatened to kidnap Benjamin:
Joseph was a tzadik, a righteous man, righteousness earned by his behavior. He placed the brothers in the same situation they had been in when they sold him - he hid his identity and told them he would take Benjamin as a captive, and in this week's portion they - led by Judah - rose to the occasion and took full responsibility, offering themselves as slaves instead, directly the opposite of their behavior via a vis Yosef. By being in the same situaiton and acting correctly, they did real teshuva (repentance/return), thus rectifying the situation cosmically. It was an act of righteousness on the part of Yosef to give them the opportunity to redeem themselves in this way.
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However there were two dangers the brothers feared when Joseph revealed himself to them: either he would punish them severely for selling him as a slave, or their father Yakov would find out what they had done and would expel them from the family, as they had tried to uproot Yosef from the family (and as Ishmeal and Esav had been cast out).
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Second step: Yosef allayed both fears: he said he bears them no ill will, and he tells them something they can tell Yakov: "God sent me here, to save all of you from famine".
Yosef’s protecting the brothers from their father’s wrath is the direct opposite of his earlier actions as told at the opening of the story of Yosef - the Torah tells us that as a boy he was a tattle-tale to his father about the misdeeds of his brothers (which would incur his father's wrath). Now he is in the same situation and does the opposite - the classic way of teshuva - he knows of evil that they did and he makes sure that his father will NOT find out. After having overcome any desire for revenge, and giving them the opportunity to do teshuva, in this way he was doing his own teshuva.
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Yosef's helical righteousness: Perhaps the brothers hated him and due to the tales he told, and so the sale of Joseph derived partly from this. For Yosef to finally be in a position of power and to not take revenge, and instead to recognize the wrong he had done by telling tales about them, and to make up for it now, this is true teshuva ('return'/penitence) and this made him yet more of a true 'tzadik', indeed he reached the high stage of completing a full circle: indeed he 'helixed', ie completed a cycle at a higher level, coming back full circle to the same experience but dealing with it at a higher level, and merited being able to achieve teshuva by giving those he had wronged the opportunity to do teshuva, for the wrong they did to him in revenge for his misdeeds to them.
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Third step: See below "Why send these animals? Why did it lift Yakov's heart?"
And: The effect of Joseph's action on the Jewish People: The Jewish People are "Bney Yisrael" "the children of Israel" because all of Yisrael's sons were enfranchised as opposed to Abraham's (because Ishmael was cast out) or Isaac's (because Esav was cast out). It was Joseph who ensured this family-completeness, by creating the circumstance allowing for the brothers to do teshuva: they wanted to cast him out of the family and instead of taking revenge and having them removed from the family, he gave them the opportunity to do teshuva and thus maintain family completeness.
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The cosmic effect of Yosef's actions: There was a cosmic cycle of sibling rivalry, a chain of brotherly hatred running through the stories of Genesis, which began with the first siblings Cain and Able, and continued with Isaac and Ishmael and then Yakov and Esav, and then to the rivalry of him and his brothers. Yosef put an end to it with his magnanimous act of righteousness (next week we'll see how his children Efrayim and Manasheh continued it and brought down a great blessing which can be activated even nowadays).
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May we be inspired by Joseph's great righteousness to search inside ourselves for wrongs we may have done others who wronged us, and even if we eventually are able to take revenge to instead magnanimously give them the possibility of doing teshuvah, rather than our seeking revenge, and each in our own way to bring successful holy completion to the cosmic cycles manifesting in our lives.
אֵת כָּל-דִּבְרֵי יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵהֶם
Joseph sends specific animals to his father. Tradition tells it was a hidden message, which i think is deeper than usually presented.
The traditional teaching is that it was about "eglah arufa", which was the topic discussed by Joseph and Jacob as they discussed tradition the day he disappeared, and so sending the animal was a way for Joseph to indicate to Jacob that indeed it was him, Joseph.
However, of course he could simply have given a verbal message to this effect!.
So I understand the Traditional teaching as meaning that this was Joseph's secret message to Jacob,because the ritual of eglah arufah was carriedout when a dead body is discovered outside a city and noone knows who killed him or how he died, and the elders of the city say "our hands did not shed his blood" (read internet sources about this ceremony).
So the secret message of sending these anmials was that his father Yaakov should not hold the borther responsible for his disappearance and the blood on the coat they had long ago showed him.
We can see the lengths that Joseph went to in order not to have his brothers suffer retribution, and in order to maintain the completio of the familty rather than having the borthers expel
What the brothers may have told their father Yaakov: The brothers convey what Joseph had said, but we see from later that they also knew how to paraphrase (ie they seem to have twisted what Yakov had perhaps said to them, or invented it), so presumably they said that Joseph told them it was a mystery how he got to Egypt and it was not their fault. And Yosef send the animals as a way of a secret message to his father, serving as a verification method that indeed this is what he had said.
By knowing that Yosef was alive, Yakov knew that he was not killed by a wild animal, and so he suspected that the fact that the brothers had brought the bloody coat to him way back then, was an indication that they had a hand in his disappearance.
And Yakov himself had been a fugitive, afraid of his brother, staying in a foreign land without contact to his parents out of fear that his brother would find out where he was and come to kill him. So it would not be a leap for Yakov to realize that if Yosef was in power in Egyt and had not tried to contact his father, thatit was because he was afraid his brothers would kill him!
And he knew that Yosef had recognized them when he had taken Shimon as captive etc, so this clearly indicated that Yosef had a grudge against them.
The secret message:
All the above clearly implicated the brothers. But by being reminded of "eglah arufa" , Yakov realizes that Yosef is telling him to accept what the brothers say, and to accept that he (Yakov) did not need to undesrtand. And that's the meaning of the passage: "And Israel said: 'It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive" in other words "it is enough that he is alive, I don't kneed to know what happened, who is guilty, all here can be presumed to have clean hands, at least now".
And so Yakov's heart was lifted, knowing that his sons were not now enemies, that no-one needed to be put on trial and the family placed in turmoil in order to find out what had happened.
....כה וַיַּעֲלוּ, מִמִּצְרָיִם; וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן, אֶל-יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם.25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father.כו וַיַּגִּדוּ לוֹ לֵאמֹר, עוֹד יוֹסֵף חַי, וְכִי-הוּא מֹשֵׁל, בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם; וַיָּפָג לִבּוֹ, כִּי לֹא-הֶאֱמִין לָהֶם.26 And they told him, saying: 'Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.' And his heart fainted, for he believed them not.כז וַיְדַבְּרוּ אֵלָיו, אֵת כָּל-דִּבְרֵי יוֹסֵף אֲשֶׁר דִּבֶּר אֲלֵהֶם, וַיַּרְא אֶת-הָעֲגָלוֹת, אֲשֶׁר-שָׁלַח יוֹסֵף לָשֵׂאת אֹתוֹ; וַתְּחִי, רוּחַ יַעֲקֹב אֲבִיהֶם.27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them; and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived.כח וַיֹּאמֶר, יִשְׂרָאֵל, רַב עוֹד-יוֹסֵף בְּנִי, חָי; אֵלְכָה וְאֶרְאֶנּוּ, בְּטֶרֶם אָמוּת.28 And Israel said: 'It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.'Karma:
Step 0: The Brit BenHabetarim: Avraham asks "Bameh Edah" and (as a result of this question?) he is told that his descendants will be in a strange land for 400 years and will suffer.
Step 1: The shvatim misinterpret Yosef's dreams as if they are bowing to him and sell him as a slave to Egypt
Step 2: The shvatim offer themselves as slaves to Yosef (twice: when they don't know it is him, and after yakov dies and tney still don't trust Yosef).
Step 3: Yosef turned all Egyptians into Pharaoh's serfs (except for the priests).
Step 4: A new Pharaoh - with the connivance of the Egyptian people - enslaves the descendants of Yosef and the shvatim (except for the priests [the Levi'im]).
Joseph's tshuva: Yosef’s protecting the brothers from their father’s wrath is the direct opposite of his earlier actions, and so this is true teshuva.
Explanation: At the opening of the story of Yosef, the Torah tells us that as a boy he was a tattle-tale to his father about the misdeeds of his brothers (which would incur his father's wrath). Now he is in the same situation and does the opposite - the classic way of teshuva - he knows of evil that they did and he makes sure that his father will NOT find out. After having overcome any desire for revenge, and giving them the opportunity to do teshuva, he was doing his own teshuva.
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We are Bney Yisrael because all of Yisael's sons were enfranchised as opposed to Abraham's or Isaac's. It was Joseph who ensured this, by creating the circumstance allowing for the brothers to do teshuva (and thereby himself doing teshuva). Joseph finally put an end to the cosmic drama of the chain of brotherly hatred stretching from Cain & Abel down to the way his brothers treated him.
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Joseph tells his brothers not to worry, he bears them no grudge, for it was God who sent him to Egypt, not them. On the one hand this is very merciful. However it could also be interpreted as also being very arrogant since he is implying that their actions were as those of puppets acting out the divine will. Furthermore he says that he was sent to Egypt to ensure there would be food for them during the famine [45:7-8], another patronizing statement.
However in truth it his remarks are very insightful and show great compassion. He was telling them to return home and tell his father that he was alive, and that they should all come to Egypt where there was adequate food. Not only is this meant to make them feel at ease, but it is also a prelude to the next thing he says: a message to his father Yakov: the brothers are terribly apprehensive not only as to what Yosef will do to them, but also what Yakov will do when he learns that Joseph was alive
But in learning that Joseph was alive rather than eaten by a wild animal as had been suspected, their father would perhaps realize that the brothers had sold him as a slave to Egypt! What would their father do to them?!
So Joseph provides them with an alibi, he tells them that it was God who arranged the whole thing, and this is presumably the message they gave their father, and it indeed saved them.
Rather than eaten by a wild animal as had been suspected, their father would perhaps realize that the brothers had sold him as a slave to Egypt! What would their father do to them?!
Yosef alays their anxiety in this as well, provides them with an alibi. He instructed them to return home and tell his father that he was alive, and that they should all come to Egypt where there was adequate food., that it was God who arranged the whole thing, Yosef is a great leader in Egypt and was placed in this position by God. This is presumably the message they gave their father, and it indeed saved them.
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Bottom line: Yosef did chesed to brothers by giving them opportunity to do tsuva, but at the same time he himself did tshuva for "dibah ra'a' leavihem'! ie when Yosef had the chance to get the brothers into a bad situaiton, he chose to do exactly the opposite of the dibbah ra'a' bad tales, that he had indulged in at the beginning of the saga, he instead gave them a good 'excuse' to help them escape the bad result so ftheir aciton. And this is what saved the brothers from disenfranchisement or death penalty by Yaakov.
so Yosef was indeed a tzadik!
And we can learn (or make up) a very important 'lesson': when you allow those who harmed you to do teshuva, perhaps it will enable you yoursef to do teshuva on exactly that which brought about the desire on their part to harm you!
Why would Yosef put Benyamin through such suffering?
The story in our parsha is very reminiscent of an earlier story - let's compare them. In our parsha:
Joseph has his men plant the magical divination cup in Benjamin's bags.
Joseph commands his men to run after the brothers to retrieve the allegedly stolen item. The brothers are told it is magical, a divination cup (and indeed Joseph had implied to the brothers that he used magical properties to divine their ages when arranging their seating[Gen 44:5]).
The brothers say “Let the one who stole it die”
it turns out that the “thief” is Benjamin (Joseph's younger brother, the other son of his mother Rachel), and he is taken prisoner.
Binyamin was accused of theft, and must have worried that his brothers wouldn't believe he is innocent, especially now that he knew what they had done to Yosef. And he had to now suffer the thought of being a slave to the 'evil Egyptian viceroy' (Joseph). Why would Yosef put his beloved younger brother, who had no part in the kidnapping, through such suffering? And if Joseph wants to test the brothers' intentions towards Benjamin, and to enable them to do teshuva - repentance - for selling him (Joseph), why such an elaborate method, and a magic cup? The answer is perhaps revealed in the parallels to the earlier story:
Rachel stole her father’s magical divination item.
Her father Lavan runs after Yakov and his family to retrieve it, telling Yaakov it is his magic divining tool..
Yakov, disbelieving lavan and not knowing that his beloved wife Rachel had taken it, said “Let the one who stole it die”, and though she remained undiscovered at the time, later Rachel died early, in childbirth]
Rachel dies while giving birth to Benjamin who is now embroiled in the seeming same story!
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The earlier story happened as it is, but the later story with Joseph (in our parsha) happened only because Jospeh made it happen, and so it would seem that Joseph crafted a thriller based on the plot of the story above, and this parallel was meant as a hint of his identity to Benjamin.
Who knew what when? After Lavan searched everyone (except Rachel) he left and presumably noone ever found out she had taken it.
My speculative scenario: When she was dying in chilbirth perhaps she told Joseph about it, or he found it among her belongings after she died, and he realized what had happened. Benjamin must have been very eager to hear whatever he could about the mother he had never met, and about the circumstances of her death while giving birth to him. The two brothers were very close, and I presume that Joseph shared the story eventually with him, and perhaps Joseph kept the cup with him always.
Rachel had hidden it underneath her so it was probably quite small, and so perhaps Joseph was able to hide it on him and keep it on him even after the brothers kidnapped him and took away his outer garment of many colors. Or he crafted a replica. And then he produced it at the dinner with the brothers, knowing that only Benjamin would identify it and understand thereby that Joseph was the host! In this way, when the cup was discovered in Benjamin's possession, Benjamin understood that he was safe and Joseph was testing the brothers!
But would Benjamin - seeing the cup or a replica - conclude it was Joseph, or a coincidence? After all, as far as he knew, Joseph was long dead. However, he had had a shocking revelation a little earlier: Benjamin had not been present when the brothers sold Joseph and presumably never knew what had happened to him, until the brothers said to each other in front of Joseph, and with Benjamin present, 'we are guilty because we didn't have pity on our brother when he begged us for mercy", and he must have been shocked to the core to discover that this is what had happened to his long lost and presumed-dead brother Joseph - he was not dead after all, but was sold as a slave to Egypt, the country they were now in! So Jospeh knows now that Benjamin knows that he was not killed at the time and was sold to Egypt, so when Binyamin sees the cup on the table at the special dinner with Joseph he is already primed for the revelation that their host is Joseph. Joseph, by revealing his identity in this way that is secret except to the two of them, conveys to Benjamin that his identity should not be revealed. And then when the cup is found in his bag and the brothers say "let the person who stole it die" as Yaakov had said - leading to his mother's death at his own birth, the identity of the two stories cemented in his mind the identity of the owner of the cup, and this allayed any anxiety he had.
In this way, via this admittedly speculative scenario, we can understand so much of the odd aspects of the story.
May we all be blessed to see the meaning of the odd events in our lives, individually and collectively, and interpret correctly the messages to us hidden in the patterns of the events.
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More details about this:
[A midrash states that the brothers called Binyamin "thief son of thief" when they saw the cup in his bag, I believe the passages tell us that they did NOT believe Binyamin took it, and so I think we can interpret the midrash in a different way, for example perhaps they had a thought in their head that Binyamin was guilty but then succesfully quashed that thought, and perhaps meant that as a descendant of Lavan the genes were passed on, or maybe even as a descendant of grandfather yakov who had 'stolen' the brochos, or etc.... ]
Avraham had been told that his descendents would be slaves 400 years in a strange land and be subjected to mistreatment, and this knowledge wa spassed down to the next generations. However of course the amount of time in Egypt was much less than 400 years.
By being nasty to the brothers and having them bow to him, Yosef started that clock early, so that it was ticking all the time that the Bney Yisrael actually had it very good, the first years in Egypt. Perhaps this was also why Yosef allowed for his father Yakov to suffer during the time they were using the food from the first trip and at the time of sending Binyamin off to Egypt. He knew that eventually Yakov would come to see him due to the actuation of the brothers' misinterpretation of his dream, so he was not truly worried that Yakov would die in the interim, though he could not be totally certain.
By tying his father and brothers' experience to his own in this way, Yosef started the clock early - perhaps even from his own arrival in Egypt - thereby saving the Jewish People from many years of enslavement.
[Yosef couldn't let Yakov know he was ok as soon as he was freed from prison since Yosef didn't at first know whether Yakov had in fact commanded the brothers to dispose of him. When it became clear that Yakov was not part of it, Yosef wanted to make sure the brothers had adequate opportunity to repent before Yakov found out about the story.]
Answer: They were manipulated all along, including their exit - they wording of the passage shows that they didn't leave on their own, they were ejected.
While they slept, their sacks were being filled by Yosef's staff, and as soon as morning broke, the sacks and pack animals were given to them and they were sent out of the city, in other words with no time to check: הַבֹּקֶר, אוֹר; וְהָאֲנָשִׁים שֻׁלְּחוּ, הֵמָּה וַחֲמֹרֵיהֶם. This was clearly deliberate.
the brothers' fear after Yosef reveals himself: Note the contrast the Torah points out by using the same term: "vayigash" and "vayigashu".
When Yehuda approached Yosef = "vayigash" at the outset of the parsha, he was not concerned at all of his own personal safety, he knew he could be slain on the spot, and he did not hesitate to approach the viceroy unbidden, or to implicitly criticize him, and to offer himself as a servant instead of Binyamin - no fear or hesitation. Being a slave in Egypt to this very tough viceroy who falsely accuses and manipulates could certainly be a death sentence for him, but he is fully ready to accept this. Yet a moment later, he is terrified. Of what? What could possibly terrify him if he was so full of courage and determination?
Answer: When he find out it is Yosef. So his terror was not of being killed by Yosef, since that possibility was understood all along. And that's why even the brave Yehuda psychologically shrinks away from Yosef, as opposed to the boldness of facing likely death and certain slavery in confronting the all-powerful viceroy:
א וְלֹא-יָכֹל יוֹסֵף לְהִתְאַפֵּק, לְכֹל הַנִּצָּבִים עָלָיו, וַיִּקְרָא, הוֹצִיאוּ כָל-אִישׁ מֵעָלָי; וְלֹא-עָמַד אִישׁ אִתּוֹ, בְּהִתְוַדַּע יוֹסֵף אֶל-אֶחָיו.
1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried: 'Cause every man to go out from me.' And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
ב וַיִּתֵּן אֶת-קֹלוֹ, בִּבְכִי; וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ מִצְרַיִם, וַיִּשְׁמַע בֵּית פַּרְעֹה.
2 And he wept aloud; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.
ג וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל-אֶחָיו אֲנִי יוֹסֵף, הַעוֹד אָבִי חָי; וְלֹא-יָכְלוּ אֶחָיו לַעֲנוֹת אֹתוֹ, כִּי נִבְהֲלוּ מִפָּנָיו.
3 And Joseph said unto his brethren: 'I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?' And his brethren could not answer him; for they were affrighted at his presence.
ד וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹסֵף אֶל-אֶחָיו גְּשׁוּ-נָא אֵלַי, וַיִּגָּשׁוּ;
4 And Joseph said unto his brethren: 'Come near to me, I pray you.' And they came near.
The Torah makes this contrast clear by featuring Yehuda's bold "vayigash" on his own, to the need for Yosef to now ask them to do that.
When Joseph reveals himself, the brothers so-to-speak 'hear the presence of God' suddenly, ie there is an instant realization that Yosef's dreams had been prophetic and that they had abused a prophet, so they were part of a divine drama not just a personal one, and they were the evil ones not Joseph with what they had misjudged to be usurping arrogant dreams - they were shrinking from God after this realization, something like Adam & Eve cowering in fear when they "hear God's 'footsteps' and 'voice'".
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More about the brothers' fear after Yosef reveals himself
There is an obvious level which is less interesting here, namely that after Joseph reveals himself, of course they realize they were wrong, and understand that what they did to their father was so wrong, and they are afraid of Joseph's revenge and of what their father will do when he finds out. We are more interested here in the subtler levels:
When after Joseph reveals himself, they realize that it was indeed prophecy, and they realize they sold a prophet into slavery, and they did it to stop God's prophecy from being fulfilled (as they themselves effectively said when they decided on this course of action), and they are terrified, and paralyzed. And this is why the words and atmosphere and situaiton seem reminiscent of the Torah's relating how Adam and Eve reacted when hearing God's voice after eating from the Tree.
And when they hear his full story - or perhaps it was told to them before meeting him - they realize they had sold him (to those who sold him) to the exact place he needed to be in order to make his dream into prophecy. Often in this universe (I myself have noticed this many times) it turns out that what one does to prevent something from happening is exactly that which causes it to happen! (Not just "It happened despite my best efforts to prevent it", but rather "it happended BECAUSE I tried to prevent it"!) This also might have been part of what terrified and paralyzed even the couragous Yehuda who at this point did not fear slavery, imprisonment, mistreatment and death....
When the Egyptians found out that they were Yosef's brothers, shouldn;t they have insisted for Egypt's homor that the brothers be punished for having sold their viceroy as a slave?! And yet, the Egyptians were pleased!
וְהַקֹּל נִשְׁמַע, בֵּית פַּרְעֹה לֵאמֹר, בָּאוּ, אֲחֵי יוֹסֵף; וַיִּיטַב בְּעֵינֵי פַרְעֹה, וּבְעֵינֵי עֲבָדָיו.
Answer: Yosef waits until they are gone to say "I am Yosef who you sold as a slave". What they all heard was Yosef crying, not talking afterward, so they did not hear the words "whom you sold as a slave". They all had witnessed Yosef's testing the brothers with Binyamin, and they all saw the dedication of the brothers, so from their perspective this CLEARED the brothers of suspicion that THEY had sold Yosef.
The Egyptians were misled deliberately by Yosef - he made them think that he himself had not known whether the brothers were complicit in his sale, and that this test proved their innocence. Thus the Egyptians felt warmly to the brothers and understood all of Yosef's actions towards them in testing them. So Yosef is consistently being a tzadik, and waits until the Egyptians are gone to say "I am Yosef who you sold as a slave".
[Note: since there was ambiguity in Yakov's knowledge of the incident, and it maybe also be that the brothers did not tell their own families what had hapened, perhaps it was only when the Torah was given that the story was known to all the bney yisrael!]
Note that in recounting the dreams to Yosef, Pharaoh adds the observation that it was not possible to see the effect of on the thin cows of swallowing the fat cows. This is referenced perhaps later when Moses appears in front of the later Pharaoh andAhron's staff swallows those of the magicians without this being noticeable, so he can leave with them inside! .
Was Yosef's dream implanted by God as prophecy?
Comparison to the prophetic status implied for Yaakov's dream, and that of Pharaoh
God dictates to M"R the words describing the experience of Avimelekh at night, "And God appeared to Avimelekh in a dream at night..."
וַיָּבֹא אֱ' אֶל-אֲבִימֶלֶךְ, בַּחֲלוֹם הַלָּיְלָה; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ
(and re Pharaoh re Sarah, God does not appear at allm no dream in the text itself)....
And the same re Lavan: וַיָּבֹא אֱ' אֶל-לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי, בַּחֲלֹם הַלָּיְלָה; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ,
But when God dictates the dream of Yakov with the ladder, there is no such introduction saying "And God appeared", no indication that it is a true prophetuc dream.
On the one hand, the difference can be easily understood: in the prevous cases God addresses the person directly, in a way which they especrience as a dream, however in the case of Yakov there is at first a vision, an appearance of angels, and then an appearance of God, and then the appearance of God in the dream speaks to him.
This might be an indication of something which led Yakov to not be entirely sure that it was indeed a divine visitation.
However Tradition tells us it was, and it is clear to the Traditional reader that indeed it was meant as such.
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Yosef's dreams as prophetic:
Later when Joseph dreams, it is similar but even less, since God does not even appear within the dream, nevertheless, it is clear to the Traditional reader - partly based on the rest of the unfolding of the story - that it is meant by the Author of the account, God, to be prophetic.
And one can see a hint the fact that there are a great deal of parallels between the story of Yosef and that of Mordechai in megillat Esther. One is that it is a very long Biblical story without any mention of God! In both cases there is no passage such as "And God spoke to ..." or "And God arranged for x to happen..." etc. And there are many other parallels.
Yosef mentions that the dream interpretation is from God and Pharaoh acknowledges Yosef's God-sourced wisdom, but God is writing this story, dictating it word for word to M"R, and yet stays unmentioned directly.
However, by telling us about these events at length in the Torah, God is clearly indicating that indeed God was acting behind the scenes. Despite the lack of any phrase such as "And God gave Pharaoh a prophetic dream" or "And God opened Yosef's mind to understand" etc, God lets us know it was all divinely arranged. How? By relating Pharaoh;s dreams and Yosef;s interpretation and then telling us that indeed events unfolded as Yosef had described. Ie, clearly God in writing the story this way is telling us that indeed God sent Pharaoh prophetic dreams and gave Yosef access to the correct interpretation.
And similarly for the dreams of the two ministers in jail, it is clear from the story that God is telling us that they were prophetic dreams.
And so it seems clear that God is intending for us to understand that despite there being no mention of God in relation to Yosef;s dreams, that these were indeed prophetic dreams (of course the first-time reader would only realize this in retrospect!).
But according to my interpretation, it is a sort of deliberate misdirection of God in writing the Torah, to have the brothers bow down to Yose, as if this is what God meant in that dream! In my interpretation, the deeper meaning meant by God in this story is that the dream had a direct interpretation relating to Yoses eventual role in Egypt and being the source of the brothers food and being able to circumvent the disastrous effects of the 7-year drought or crop failure.
Was Yosef's dream implanted by God as prophecy?
Comparison to the prophetic status implied for Yaakov's dream, and that of Pharaoh
God dictates to M"R the words describing the experience of Avimelekh at night, "And God appeared to Avimelekh in a dream at night..."
וַיָּבֹא אֱ' אֶל-אֲבִימֶלֶךְ, בַּחֲלוֹם הַלָּיְלָה; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ
(and re Pharaoh re Sarah, God does not appear at allm no dream in the text itself)....
And the same re Lavan: וַיָּבֹא אֱ' אֶל-לָבָן הָאֲרַמִּי, בַּחֲלֹם הַלָּיְלָה; וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ,
But when God dictates the dream of Yakov with the ladder, there is no such introduction saying "And God appeared", no indication that it is a true prophetic dream.
On the one hand, the difference can be easily understood: in the prevous cases God addresses the person directly, in a way which they experience as a dream, however in the case of Yakov there is at first a vision, an appearance of angels, and then an appearance of God, and then the appearance of God in the dream speaks to him.
This might be an indication of something which led Yakov to not be entirely sure that it was indeed a divine visitation.
However Tradition tells us it was, and it is clear to the Traditional reader that indeed it was meant as such.
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Yosef's dreams as prophetic:
Later when Joseph dreams, it is similar but even less, since God does not even appear within the dream, nevertheless, it is clear to the Traditional reader - partly based on the rest of the unfolding of the story - that it is meant by the Author of the account, God, to be prophetic.
And one can see a hint the fact that there are a great deal of parallels between the story of Yosef and that of Mordechai in megillat Esther. One is that it is a very long Biblical story without any mention of God! In both cases there is no passage such as "And God spoke to ..." or "And God arranged for x to happen..." etc. And there are many other parallels.
Yosef mentions that the dream interpretation is from God and Pharaoh acknowledges Yosef's God-sourced wisdom, but God is writing this story, dictating it word for word to M"R, and yet stays unmentioned directly.
However, by telling us about these events at length in the Torah, God is clearly indicating that indeed God was acting behind the scenes. Despite the lack of any phrase such as "And God gave Pharaoh a prophetic dream" or "And God opened Yosef's mind to understand" etc, God lets us know it was all divinely arranged. How? By relating Pharaoh;s dreams and Yosef;s interpretation and then telling us that indeed events unfolded as Yosef had described. Ie, clearly God in writing the story this way is telling us that indeed God sent Pharaoh prophetic dreams and gave Yosef access to the correct interpretation.
And similarly for the dreams of the two ministers in jail, it is clear from the story that God is telling us that they were prophetic dreams.
And so it seems clear that God is intending for us to understand that despite there being no mention of God in relation to Yosef;s dreams, that these were indeed prophetic dreams (of course the first-time reader would only realize this in retrospect!).
But according to my interpretation, it is a sort of deliberate misdirection of God in writing the Torah, to have the brothers bow down to Yose, as if this is what God meant in that dream! In my interpretation, the deeper meaning meant by God in this story is that the dream had a direct interpretation relating to Yoses eventual role in Egypt and being the source of the brothers food and being able to circumvent the disastrous effects of the 7-year drought or crop failure.
Themes of Dreams, before & after the brother's Schemes
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How to recognize DIvine Providence:
Outlines of some hints the Torah's may be providing us via these stories to those interested in Dreams:
Parallel of the dreams of Yosef and of Pharaoh
They both have doubled-dreams, ie two separate dreams with similar themes at different times, on the same or different nights
The dreamer sees himself in the dream (in the case of Yosef's dreams, this indicated that the other items in the dream did not represent him - similarly in the case of Pharaoh's dream);
he is standing outdoors in a field;
he is watching agricultural produce, the staple food in that land.
The produce is then animated! ( in Yosef's dream sheaves bowing, the sun moon and stars bowing; in Pharaoh;s dream sheaves eating other sheaves; and the cows are animated in an unusual way, one set swallowing the other)
And there are two sets of items in Yosef's and Pharoah's dreams, and one bows to the other or one swallows or overpowers the other.
For each of the two people this was a strange (dual-) dream, and stranger and more significant still is that the 'same' dual-dream was dreamed by both Joseph and Pharaoh!
וְהִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ מְאַלְּמִים אֲלֻמִּים, בְּתוֹךְ הַשָּׂדֶה, וְהִנֵּה קָמָה אֲלֻמָּתִי, וְגַם-נִצָּבָה; וְהִנֵּה תְסֻבֶּינָה אֲלֻמֹּתֵיכֶם, וַתִּשְׁתַּחֲוֶיןָ לַאֲלֻמָּתִי
; וּפַרְעֹה חֹלֵם, וְהִנֵּה עֹמֵד עַל-הַיְאֹר.
וַיִּישָׁן, וַיַּחֲלֹם שֵׁנִית; וְהִנֵּה שֶׁבַע שִׁבֳּלִים, עֹלוֹת בְּקָנֶה אֶחָד--בְּרִיאוֹת וְטֹבוֹת.
ו וְהִנֵּה שֶׁבַע שִׁבֳּלִים, דַּקּוֹת וּשְׁדוּפֹת קָדִים--צֹמְחוֹת, אַחֲרֵיהֶן.
ז וַתִּבְלַעְנָה, הַשִּׁבֳּלִים הַדַּקּוֹת, אֵת שֶׁבַע הַשִּׁבֳּלִים, הַבְּרִיאוֹת וְהַמְּלֵאוֹת
One of the two dual-dreams involves that country's symbol of Fate and seasons, as well as being worshipped as avodah zara: in one country is the sun, moon and stars (as we discusses in a previous parsha) in the other it is the Nile river, which was worshipped( because it predictably overflows and creates abundant produce in a specific seasons).
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How Yosef's own dream helped him correctly interpret Pharaoh's dream:
Joseph certainly recognized the parallels, and understood that this meant there was a connection between his and Pharaoh's dreams: his dream was meant to prepare him for the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream. Especially as in Pharaoh's dreams he does not see the powers bowing to him as they did in his own dream, so this means Pharaoh will not be able to resolve the situation - granting Yosef the courage and the celestial legitimacy after offering the requested interpretation to speak up to offer unsolicited advice - telling Pharaoh what he should do as a result of the dream!
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If someone encountered the Torah for the very first time without ever having heard of any of the stories in it, would they have understood that Pharaoh's dreams were indeed prophetic? ie if the reader took the literary assumption for granted that the story was written by God, does the beginning of the story clearly indicate that the dream was a message from God?
No. There is no mention of "And God appeared to Pharaoh in a dream, saying.." or "And God sent Pharaoh a dream of the future, a true prophecy..."
However from the context of the later part of the story, it is clear that the Torah presents Pharaoh's dreams as prophetic, ie sent by God, and clearly Yosef sees them as such.
Yosef later tells his brothers that they didn't sell him but rather it was God arranging him to be there in Egypt as needed, ie he saw God's hand in it all, and Yosef understood his dreams to be prophetic, ie God was in touch with him, and so:
he realized that God was behind what had happened to him in a way that was connected to his dreams!
So he probably realized upon hearing Pharaoh's dream that this was the reason for him having ended up in Egypt.
And so by connecting the two dreams - his and Pharaoh's - he can more easily come up with the interpretation of both dreams! (Just as how hearing the dream of the two ministers somehow helped him interpret both!)
ie he understood upon hearing Pharaoh's dream that the solution of the dream which occurred to him was from God, as he told Pharaoh openly and as Pharaoh acknowledges. And so as soon as he receives the enlightnement in preparation for understanding the dream-solution Yosef realizes that his dreams meant that the wheat of the brothers would come from him because he would help save the crops ie there would be a famine preceeded by plenty which he would store., and the combination of his and Pharaoh;s dream, the way they fit perfectly into each other, assures him that the dream interpretation is indeed from God.
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in the case of Yosef's dreams, seeing himself and his brothers separately from the bowing sheaves indicated that the bowing of the sheaves did NOT represent bowing to HIM, and similarly in the case of Pharaoh's dream since Pharaoh sees himself in the dream separately from the wheat and cows, Joseph understands that the dream is NOT about HIM, and this was subconsciously understood by Pharaoh, who rejected the interpretations of his ministers and experts and magiciancs who assumed it was about Pharaoh, or assumed that Pharaoh was arrogant and dreaming about himself and thought it was so important, whereas Midrash tells us that Pharaoh understood the dream was prophetic and related to his role in the world not to personal matters, and Yosef understood his own dreams the same way and so was able to understnandn this about Pharaoh's dream, and this was why Pharaoh knew Yosef's interpretation was correct as opposed to the interpretations of all others.;
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Conclusion
May we be blessed to figure out the meanings of the strange events which seem to happen at random to us, and to have the moral strength to perfect our character and be like Joseph whose willingness to sacrifice his kingship in order to help those who wronged him do teshuva and receive that kingship, and saved the Jewish nation (as I explained earlier), and saved civilization from deadyl famine, and by us emulating this we can achieve our destiny and play our part in destiny of the Jewish People and the rest of the world.
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1. The brothers knew that on the previous occasion their coins were mysteriously reinserted in their bags, and this caused them great anxiety all the time they were home so why did they not check their bags before leaving to ensure that something like this didn’t happen again?
Answer: All the brothers had their money returned, so perhaps they assumed that if something similar would occur it would involve all of them, and so one checked for all, but since it was not Benjamin who checked they didn’t find anything suspicious and so they all assumed everything was ok, for everyone.
2. When Joseph’s servants arrived to search them for the ‘missing’ cup, they protested to the searchers that they could not possibly have taken the cup, after all, they said, “when we found money in our bags we returned it later, and anyways how could we have had the chutzpah to steal the viceroy’s cup while at dinner with him!?” So after the cup was found in Benjamin’s bag why did they not similarly try to proclaim their innocence?!
Answer: From their words when they are being asked to bring Benjamin we see that the brothers realize that they are being punished for what they did to Joseph – this is an amazing thing, for there was certainly no open connection to him in the story. But given that they did realize this, they saw no purpose in trying to avoid their fate, their punishment. This is similar to the famous High-Holyday liturgical compilation regarding the Roman execution of ten leading Rabbis (the “asarah harugei malchut” piyut on Yamim No’ra’im)[65]: they accept that they are being punished by God and don’t argue[66].
3. Did the brothers actually suspect Benjamin of having taken the cup?
The brothers accept that they are being punished for having sold Joseph and don’t even address the question of who actually took it, whether or not Benjamin is guilty, and if not, who placed it in his bag and why. [67]…
Yakov hears that Joseph is alive, and we are told that “his heart was weakened because he didn’t believe them”. Why didn’t he believe them? And why was his heart weakened?! This almost sounds as though he heard BAD news rather than good news!
Answer: When we are told that he didn’t believe them, it does not mean that he didn’t believe them that Yosef was alive: he DID believe that, but now that he knew that Yosef was alive he realized that the coat with blood on it was a false piece of planted evidence; and so what he didn’t believe was their story that they had found the coat with blood on it!
One or other had to be false. Clearly as a false clue it implicated the brothers - who had brought it to him – in Joseph’s disappearance.
And so he suddenly realized that his sons had sold Joseph to Egypt and kept it from him all those years that they watched him suffer!
And they not only perpetrated that act, but kept it from him all those years that they watched him suffer!
That’s why when they told him Joseph was alive “his heart weakened because he didn’t believe them”.
Yosef showing Binyomin that Yakov didn't have to know
We all have the feeling that it is not told whether Yakov knew or not, and what he did if he knew, so my vort is meant to povide a reason for why Yakov didnt know and a reason why he even felt that he didn't need to know!
Quesiton: of course Yosef gave his brothers the opportunity to do tshuva, and also made them feel less responsible for their actions, so that when Yaakov would find out he wouldn't exile them or sentence them to death, but why is it that we do'lt even find out what Yaakov said or did in reaction to finding out that the brothers had sold yosef and had lied to him all the years?
Answer: What Yosef said and did was meant not just to save the brothers from yaakov but to prevent Yaakov from trying to find out what had happened!
Review: Yosef did chesed to brothers by giving them opportunity to do tshuva, but at the same time he himself did tshuva for "dibah ra'a' leavihem"! ie when Yosef had the chance to get the brothers in bad situaiton, he chose to do exactly the opposite of dibbah ra'a', he instead gave them a good 'excuse' that saved them from Yaakov. so Yosef was indeed a tzadik!
Deeper Explanation:
When the brothers said that the Viceroy's false and vicious accustaitons and behavior was all divine puishment for having sold Yosef, what did the brothers think was the motivation for the Viceory, 2nd to Pharaoh, for doing all this? What did Yakov think of all this when he heard that Shimon was captive?
The brothers: Even if they realized and accepted that is it is punishment for selling Yosef, but what could possibly be the reason the viceory himself wanted to act this way to them?
I will hazard this statement: they weren't even interested! Why? Since they were so clear about the divine level operating here, ie they knew what the real reason for what was happening, it didn't matter what it was that Hashem implanted in the Viceroy's head to make him do these crazy things.
Yaakov: But what did Yaakov think was the reason for all that strange behavior? Obviously the brothers didn't tell him that it was because of what they had done to Yosef!
When the brothers first returned to Yaakov, without Shimon, they were all in the same puzzled state, the brothers and Yaakov couldn't understand why it happened, and so the brothers would have ha dno reason not to tell Yaakov the entire story. But when the brothers returned with the news that Yosef was alive and Yakov deduced that all along it had been Yosef doing all this, surely Yaakov would wonder why Yosef acted that way to them?! And would wonder how he got to Egypt, and why he hadn't tried to contact home!
So this is how it happened:
What Binyamin learned when Yosef revealed himself was different than what the brothers learned - Binyamin had thought Yosef was dead! and now he learns also that his brothers sold Yosef as a slave!
Surely he would tell Yakov!
So in order to prevent this, what Yosef is saying effectively constitutes telling Binyamin not to tell Yakov about the fault of the brothers, and that is why the posuk menitons Binyamin and the brothers separately.
So the message of Yosef's words "lo atem shlachtem oti hena ki im Hashem" were aimed at three sets of ears (levels):
a. to Binyamin,
b. to the brothers, and c.
to Yakov partly via the brothers.
SubTopic: Yosef understood what the brothers had said when the 'melitz' was between them. Now the brothers realize this. So it is interesting to think of how Yosef's statement related to that, and how all thisimpacted what the brothers will say to Yosef:
When Yosef revealed himself, the brothers realized that their mistreatment by the viceory was NOT 'divinely-arranged ', it was from Yosef! But then Yosef tells them that they were right that it was all divine operation, but the point is that the divine hand was arranging events from the begining, ie the dreams he had and told them about, and even the getting to Egypt!
Yosef's subtle deep message to the brothers, about Yaakov, to save them: He was telling the brothers: just as you didnt care to find out what the Viceroy of egypt was thinking that led him to do these crazy things, because you understood that it was God's hand, so too for Yaakov,our father: tell him, or he will himself understand, that it is not for him to try to understand how it was that Yosef ended up there, because the point is that it was God's hand which brought Yosef there. And that is why the story is so ambiguous about what Yakov knew, or is more than ambiguious, it totally ignores that so-important aspect of the story; this complete absence of mention of this point in the chumash is itself a mirror of the actual situaiotn, where this aspect was not discussed or thought about and finding out what had happened was not considered important, or deliberately ignored.
Yakov started his struggle with Esav in the womb and at birth, and later by tricking his father, but this was not the way to achieve the celestial brochoh. It was only when he engaged in the struggle with the sar of esav that he truly rose to the task, and became Yisrael.
Similarly: As we discussed in an earlier parsha, Yosef was meant to be the eldest (had indeed it been Rachel that first night), and as a boy Yosef told his father the misdeeds of his older brothers, so that Yosef stood out as the rightful leader of the next generation, but this only cause jealousy and hatred and was not the way to achive the celestial level approval for his leadership. But now that he overcame himself with full teshuvah, he became Yosef HaTzadik (and the co-leader with Yehuda).
Although we are not told that God directly addresses him, there are many examples of Divine Intervention - subtle or otherwise - in Joseph’s Life
Joseph’s dreams are clearly divine messages
His dreams get him sold, which led to the fulfillment of the dream;
Joseph was looking for his brothers, couldn’t find them, and then “a man found him, wandering lost” and directed him to his brothers: if not for this anonymous ‘man’, the sale of Joseph would likely not have occurred.
After Joseph is thrown in the pit, Reuven leaves for a while, intending to return later and rescue Joseph when the brothers have left; however during his absence the brothers sell Joseph, something that should not have occurred in the absence of the eldest brother. The caravan of Yishma’elim arrived seemingly from nowhere and Joseph was sold to them before Reuven had a chance to return.
God gave Joseph a special charisma which enabled him to survive and thrive even as a slave;
The ministers in jail have prophetic dreams, which is itself strange, who are they that they deserve prophecy?! Clearly it was for Joseph's benefit.
Even when people tried to harm Joseph, he rose above it, as with the frame-up by his master's wife and even when the minister described him as “a lad, a Hebrew, a slave” as though to denigrate him, this turned into Joseph’s favor, since Pharaoh did not fear to place him in a high position where he could eventually usurp the throne: given that everyone knew his lowly status and foreign origins non-one would ever accept him as actual Pharaoh, and so there was no danger in appointing him viceroy.
Yosef's assistant tells them " הֲלוֹא זֶה, אֲשֶׁר יִשְׁתֶּה אֲדֹנִי בּוֹ, וְהוּא, נַחֵשׁ יְנַחֵשׁ בּוֹ " and they know that the viceroy used it to determine who was oldest etc, so they understood its magical power and perhaps assumed that it would tell Yosef that they hadn't stolen it. Note that the assistant speaks to them as though he is actually Yosef himself: " וַיֹּאמֶר, גַּם-עַתָּה כְדִבְרֵיכֶם כֶּן-הוּא: אֲשֶׁר יִמָּצֵא אִתּוֹ יִהְיֶה-לִּי עָבֶד, וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ נְקִיִּם. ".
And indeed the previous magic of the goblet seems to be re-enacted here to determine the order of their ages:" וַיְחַפֵּשׂ--בַּגָּדוֹל הֵחֵל, וּבַקָּטֹן כִּלָּה; "
Afterwards: When Yehuda speaks to Yosef he does not at all apologize for stealing the goblet and asks for Binyamin to be let go which would be unthinkable if he had been a thief, ie in effect he is telling the viceroy that he knows the viceroy knows it is a frameup, and they are playing along but asking for the rules to be somewhat bent so that THEY can bear the brunt of whatever it is that the viceroy is planning for Binyamin.