By Morriah Kaplan
There’s a lot going on in this parshah. At the end of last week’s portion, a goblet was found in Benjamin’s bag on the brothers’ way out of Egypt, and a disguised Joseph ordered that Benjamin, the youngest brother, remain in Egypt as a slave. To begin this week’s torah portion, Judah, another brother, offers himself in Benjamin’s place. Joseph is overcome and reveals himself to his brothers, and then inquires about his father Jacob, telling them to bring Jacob and settle in Egypt. The brothers do so, and Jacob also experiences a vision from God telling him it’s a good idea to move to Egypt and that God will make Jacob’s descendents into a great nation in Egypt. When they arrive, Jacob is overjoyed to find that his son Joseph is still alive and well.
Meanwhile, there’s a famine going on in Egypt, which Joseph has to figure out how to deal with. The people of Egypt came to Joseph demanding bread, but Joseph will not give it to them for free and instead tells them to go bring their cattle to trade for bread. The people come back empty-handed, telling Joseph they have nothing, and they offer to sell themselves and their lands into slavery in exchange for subsistence. Joseph purchases the farmland for Pharoah and agrees to provide food to the Egyptians in return. Then Jacob and his sons become fruitful and multiply a lot.
For a more thorough rundown, here are two pretty good summaries: this and this.
So like I said, there’s a lot going on here. Judah’s offer to sacrifice himself in his brother’s place seems like a pretty clear lesson about taking
responsibility for one another, though it does seem a little ironic after the brothers once sold Joseph into slavery. Perhaps this is an indication that the brothers have matured and realized that they need to take responsibility for one another. Joseph also responds maturely and forgives his brothers, telling them that it was God’s will that sent him to Egypt. In a lot of ways, this portion seems to provide a happy ending to the conflict that started off the whole cycle of events (and also provides the plot for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat).
The way that Joseph responds to the people of Egypt is a little more ambiguous. I’m going to assume that for many of us, our gut reaction might not approve of Joseph’s actions in insisting that the already-suffering Egyptians trade their cattle for bread, and then making them sell their land for sustenance. Instead, we might argue that Joseph should give out food for free, since he has it and they don’t (sort of like kupa). Aside from ideological reasons, I think Joseph’s system of providing food aide fails for practical reasons as well. By making the people of Egypt dependent on him, Joseph only deepens their plight and does not provide a way for them to once again own land and participate in food production.