From: Yeshivat Har Etzion Office
<office@etzion.org.il>
To: yhe-test@etzion.org.il
Subject: PARSHA61 -10: Parashat Miketz
YESHIVAT
HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
*********************************************************
PARASHAT
MIKETZ
The
Intractable Question:
Why Did Yosef Not Send Word to his Father?
By
Rav Yoel Bin-Nun
Seven hundred years ago, Ramban (Bereishit
42:9)
posed a difficult question, one which continues to puzzle
whoever studies the book of Bereishit:
How is it that Yosef, after living many years
in
Egypt, having attained a high
and influential
position in the house of an
important Egyptian
official, did not send his father even one message
to inform him (that he was alive) and comfort him?
Egypt is only six days' travel from Chevron,
and
respect for his father would have justified even a
year's journey! ... [It would] have been a grave sin
to torment his father by leaving him in mourning and
bereavement for himself and for Shimon; even if he
wanted to hurt his brothers a little, how could he
not feel pity for his aged father?
Ramban's own astonishing answer to his question is
that Yosef's goal was to guarantee the fulfillment of his
dreams. Even after the first dream had been realized, he
intensified the deception in order to fulfill the second
dream.
He did everything in its proper time in order
to
fulfill the dreams, for he knew
they would be
fulfilled perfectly.
Abarbanel (chap. 41, question 4) poses
the same
question, but more bluntly:
Why did Yosef hide his identity from his
brothers
and speak harshly to them? It is criminal to be as
vengeful and recriminating as a serpent! ... How is
it that as his brothers were starving and far from
home, having left their families and small children
and, above all, his aged, worried and
suffering
father waiting for them, did he not show compassion,
but rather intensified the anguish by
arresting
Shimon?
Rabbi Yitzchak Arama (Akedat Yitzchak, 29, ques. 9;
see also Abarbanel, chap. 41, ques. 6) finds Ramban's
solution puzzling.
What did he stand to gain by having
his dreams
fulfilled? Even had there been some advantage, that
would not have justified sinning toward his father!
And as for the dreams, let the Giver
of dreams
provide their solutions. It seems very foolish
to
strive to fulfill dreams, as the fulfillment
does
not depend on the dreamer's will.
Professor Nechama Leibowitz, in her commentary
to
Bereishit (p. 327), believes that dreams can indeed be
acted upon. She cites as proof Gideon, who hears
a
Midianite tell a dream, and acts upon it
(Judges
7:13,14), as well as the Babylonian exiles (Ezra 1), who
did not wait for the seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy
to pass, but returned on their own, beforehand.
In my opinion, Prof. Leibowitz is mistaken.
There
are two differences between her examples and the case at
hand, both of which are mentioned as well by R. Yitzchak
Arama.
First, neither Gideon nor the Babylonian
exiles
committed a grave offense in following their dreams.
Their dreams did not contradict honoring parents, and
certainly did not call on them to cause others grief.
Secondly, Scripture itself clearly differentiates dreams
from prophecy:
Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream;
And [let the prophet] who bears My word speak
My
word truthfully;
What is straw to wheat? The Lord has spoken.
(Yirmiyahu 23:38)
As the Talmud (Berakhot 55a) explains:
Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar
Yochai: Just as wheat cannot exist without
chaff,
there cannot be a dream without false elements.
Rabbi Berekhia said: Although a
dream may be
partially fulfilled, it will not be fulfilled in its
entirety. How do we know this? From Yosef, as it is
written: "The sun (representing Yosef's father), the
moon (his mother), and eleven stars [are bowing down
to me]," and at the time, his mother was no
longer
alive.
The prophet Yirmiyahu teaches us that dreams are the
outer shell of prophecy, just as chaff is the outer shell
of wheat. The true prophet is able to separate grain from
chaff in order to eventually produce clean flour for
baking. It is dangerous to confuse the different levels,
to the point where every inspired man is considered to be
a prophet or seer; we could never clearly perceive the
word of God. We need not deny the existence of great
visionaries - or underrate their importance - even when
we affirm that they are, after all, not prophets.
The Torah distinguishes Yosef's dreams
from the
prophetic dreams of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov. The
Patriarchs' dreams appear as pathways to
divine
revelation. In the Covenant between the Halves (berit
bein ha-betarim), Avraham first sleeps and has a vision,
and then receives God's word (Bereishit 16:12- 13; 17-
18). Ya'akov has a dream in which he sees a ladder and
angels, and then God speaks to him. In Yosef's dreams,
however, there is no outward prophecy or
Divine
revelation. Even in Yosef's solving of dreams, there is
only a general feeling of prophecy:
Solutions come from God; please
tell me [your
dreams]. (40:8)
Not I [but] God will answer for Pharaoh's
well-
being. (41:16)
Only after completing his explanation does
Yosef
become more confident:
God is committed to doing this, and God will do it
quickly. (41:39)
It is significant that Yosef uses God's
universal
name "E-lokim," and not the Tetragrammaton
or Kel
Shakkai, names God uses when He reveals Himself
to
Israel.
For all the parallels the Midrash draws
between
Ya'akov and Yosef (Bereishit Rabba 84:6), the Torah
clearly differentiates the dreams of one from those of
the other. This distinction draws a dividing line between
the degree of revelation shown to the Patriarchs, on the
one hand, and to Yosef and his brothers, on the other.
Clearly, Yosef's dreams are prophetic, and not mere
nonsense. However, they are a form of ruach ha-kodesh
(holy inspiration), rather than nevu'a (prophecy; see
Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed II:45, where
he
specifically mentions Yosef as being on the
"second
level" of prophecy; see also Akedat Yitzchak ad loc.).
Ya'akov himself provides the appropriate response to
Yosef's dreams:
His father was angry at him and said: "What is this
dream you dreamt? Shall I and your
mother and
brothers come and bow down to you?" ...
but his
father awaited it. (Bereishit 37:11)
R. Levi adds:
He (Ya'akov) took pen in hand and wrote down on what
date, at what time, and at what place. (Ber. Rabba,
84:11)
Dreams like this are
precisely the kind of
experience about which the Akedat Yitzchak writes, "Let
the Giver of dreams provide their solution." These dreams
are not granted in order to be put into action by the
dreamer. Together with the sheer experience of prophecy,
these dreams grant us the power to wait. A dream which
comes true without our active involvement is one that we
can acknowledge, after the fact, as a prophetic dream.
Only an outright prophecy, such as God's word to Gideon,
should lead to action without first waiting. Certainly,
only an outright prophecy can suspend a commandment, and
only as a temporary measure (see Rambam, Yesodei HaTorah,
ch. 9); it is unthinkable that a dream, the outcome of
which is still uncertain, should suspend the fulfillment
of a commandment even temporarily. Nevertheless, it is
clear that Ramban considers these dreams to be full-
fledged prophecies. This position is
diametrically
opposed to that of the Gemara (Berakhot 55a).
Even if we accept the Ramban's position
on this
point, his explanation of Yosef's behavior is untenable.
The first dream was fulfilled when the brothers arrived
in Egypt the first time.
Yosef was the ruler of the land; it was
he who
provided for all the inhabitants Yosef's
brothers
came and bowed to the ground before him. (4:26)
There were ten brothers then, excluding
Binyamin,
who was at home. They had come to obtain grain - the
sheaves in the dream.
The second dream is fulfilled when
they bring
Binyamin and meet with Yosef at his palace for a meal,
honoring him and offering him gifts:
Yosef came home, and they brought him the presents
they had with them to his house, and bowed down to
him. (43:26)
After all eleven stars had bowed down to Yosef
in
his own right, as second to the king of Egypt, without
any direct connection to the grain, their father's turn
comes:
He greeted them and said: "Is your old father, whom
you mentioned, at peace? Is he still alive?"
They
said: "Your servant our father is at peace; he
is
still alive." They bent down and bowed. (43:27-28)
This painful scene, in which
Yosef's brothers
prostrate themselves before him in their father's name,
and refer to him as "your servant our father," is the
fulfillment of the second dream, in which the sun and the
moon bow down to Yosef. The entire family (other than his
mother, who was no longer alive) has bowed down to Yosef,
albeit indirectly - in Ya'akov's case - and without
realizing the full significance of their actions.
This scene will repeat itself when Yehuda begs for
Binyamin's safety and refers to Ya'akov four times as
"your servant our father" (44:14,24,27,30-31). It must be
noted at this point that Yosef arranged this episode in
order to keep Binyamin in Egypt (since he could not
foretell how Yehuda would react) AFTER the second dream
had been completely fulfilled. The dreams had all come
true before Ya'akov's arrival in Egypt, including the
dream in which Ya'akov bows down to his son. In fact, he
does not physically bow to Yosef when they are reunited
in Egypt; none of the commentators suggest that he did.
The Torah does tell us that when Ya'akov was on his
deathbed, Yosef came to see him, and "Yisrael bowed at
the head of the bed" (47:31). But it is not clear whether
his bowing is before Yosef or before God (Megilla 16b,
Sifri Devarim 6) - the simple reading suggests the latter
- and certainly, his bowing does not come about through
Yosef's initiative. It is precisely the verse cited by
Ramban in support of his contention which
actually
contradicts his theory:
Yosef recognized his brothers, but they
did not
recognize him. He remembered the dreams he
dreamt
and told them: "You are spies." (42:8-9)
It is clear that only at this point
does Yosef
remember his dreams, as he suddenly realizes that the
first dream has been fulfilled (see Rashi to 42:9).
Since Yosef remembers his dreams only
when his
brothers arrive in Egypt, why did he not send word to
Ya'akov before that? As ruler of Egypt, it was certainly
within his capacity to do so.
Ramban answers that the ten brothers' bowing down at
the first meeting was not the realization of the first
dream, as the eleventh brother had not yet bowed down to
him. Yosef's first dream, however, does not specify the
number of brothers making sheaves! Binyamin could not
have been in the fields with them at the time, as he was
eight years younger than Yosef and hence only nine years
old.
Thus, even in a dream Yosef could not
have seen
Binyamin working in the fields. Even if we
accept
Ramban's assertion that these dreams are prophetic, we
may not distort the content of the dreams. The second
dream is never completely fulfilled, as Ya'akov himself
did not bow down to Yosef, nor did Rachel, who had not
been alive for many years. The family's
economic
dependence on Yosef cannot be considered a
literal
fulfillment of the sheaves' bowing down before him.
Ramban himself apparently realized the difficulties
inherent in attempting to coordinate the story of the
goblet with the dreams. He therefore proposes a second
motive for Yosef's actions at this point:
The second affair, which he caused by means of the
goblet, was not intended to trouble them. Yosef was
afraid that they hated Binyamin, or were jealous of
their father's love for him as they had been jealous
of [Yosef] ... Perhaps Binyamin had realized
that
they had harmed Yosef and this had led to acrimony
between them. Yosef did not want Binyamin to go with
them lest they harm him, until he had verified their
love for him. (Ramban, 42:9)
Abarbanel agrees:
Even after Yosef tested his brothers by
accusing
them of espionage, he was still not certain whether
they loved Binyamin or whether they still
hated
Rachel's children, so he focused on Binyamin to see
whether they would try to save him.
(chap. 42,
quests. 4,6)
In the words of Akedat Yitzchak:
Yosef's intentions were evidently to see
whether
they still hated him or whether they regretted their
actions. (chap. 42, question 2)
This second solution is no less problematic than the
first. First of all, we cannot avoid the feeling that the
exegetes are attempting to explain away what seems to be
an accidental outcome as a preconceived plan of events.
The Torah itself indicates that Yosef simply had wanted
to keep Binyamin behind, after their brothers had gone
home. Possibly he feared that they would harm Binyamin at
some point, as Ramban suggests, or he may have wished to
reveal his identity to Binyamin alone and discuss with
him plans for bringing Ya'akov to Egypt. He may even have
intended to force Ya'akov to come to Egypt by holding
Binyamin hostage. It might be that he simply wanted to
hear from Binyamin all that had transpired since he was
sold. He may have wanted Binyamin's cooperation
in
establishing the tribes of Rachel as a separate entity.
But it seems utterly far-fetched that Yosef planned the
affair of the goblet so that Yehuda would intervene and
offer to be enslaved instead of Binyamin, forcing Yosef
into an emotional situation in which, losing his self-
control, he would finally reveal his identity,
All of this indeed came about, but none of it
was
premeditated. Yosef could not have intended to test his
brothers' attitude toward Binyamin. What would he have
done if, as was quite possible, they had accepted the
situation as God's will, as punishment for their sin, and
left Binyamin with him as they had left Shimon? Would
this have proven either that they were not sorry for what
they had done to Yosef or that they did
not love
Binyamin? Does submission to the power of a tyrant prove
anything? When Avraham agreed that Sarah be taken by
Avimelech, did that mean he did not love her? She herself
did not object to this unpleasant means of survival in a
strange land (Bereishit 12:10; see Ramban and Ha'amek
Davar ad loc.).
At no point in Yehuda's long speech is there
any
mention of the brothers' feelings toward each other or
toward Binyamin. Yehuda's expressed concern is with his
"old father" whom they left behind, and who interested
the ruler so much. Ya'akov is Yehuda's last resort, and
Yehuda plays it for all it is worth, hinting all the
while at Yosef's responsibility for any outcome.
Can we be sure that, had Yehuda
not committed
himself to his father under penalty of "eternal guilt,"
that this outburst would have occurred? It can certainly
be taken as a sign of repentance in general. But it was
not evoked by any feeling of love or pity toward Binyamin
or Yosef, but rather by a feeling of responsibility to
his father.
There are two explicit references in our story
to
the brothers' attitude toward Yosef. The first is during
their first visit to Egypt; the second is after Ya'akov's
death.
Yosef hears his brothers express regret at
their
behavior towards him, when they had only just arrived in
Egypt. This regret is coupled with the realization that
all that is befalling them is a result of that behavior:
They said to each other: This is our fault, because
of our brother;
we saw his suffering when he cried out to us and we
did not listen;
That is why this misfortune came upon us. (42:21)
Yosef restrains himself at this point,
apparently
with some difficulty, and maintains his deception. At no
later time does he acquire any new insights into their
character. This confession was elicited freely without
any pressure whatsoever; they never imagined hecould
understand them "because the interpreter was between
them."
After Ya'akov's death, the brothers return to Yosef
fearing retribution.
Yosef might wish to harm us. (50:15)
Most commentators believe that they then lie
and
invent the story of Ya'akov's deathbed charge, in order
to save their lives (Rashi on 50:16; Ramban on 45:27).
Their bowing to Yosef at this point, knowing who he is,
may be considered the final fulfillment of the dreams.
His brothers also bowed down to him and said:
"We
are your slaves." (50:16-18)
In our attempt to understand Yosef's motivation for
waiting so many years, and then deceiving his brothers,
we have ruled out the desire for forcing the dreams to
come true - as "dreams come to us without our consent" -
and certainly do not justify torturing old and suffering
parents. Furthermore, as we saw earlier, Yosef remembers
his dreams only when his brothers appear before him in
Egypt.
Testing their regret could also not have been
the
reason, as he had already heard them express repentance
in his presence. He revealed himself later only because
he heard of his father's suffering. True, the brothers,
especially Yehuda, were found to be repentant. This was,
indeed, part of a master plan. But the plan was devised
not in Yosef's court, but in a higher domain:
The brothers were occupied with selling Yosef, Yosef
was occupied with mourning and fasting, Reuven was
occupied with mourning and fasting,
Ya'akov was
occupied with mourning and fasting, and
God was
occupied with creating the light of the
Messiah.
(Ber. Rabba 85:4)
When Yosef does follow his own initiative and asks
the chief cupbearer to intercede before Pharaoh on his
behalf, he spends two more years languishing in prison.
In summary, I believe that our question
outweighs
all its proposed solutions.
What, then, do I believe
to be the correct
understanding of Yosef's behavior? The answer will have
to wait until next week's shiur.
*****************************************************************