Parshat Miketz
by Rabbi Avi Billet
With the exception of Binyamin, the births of all of Yaakov Avinu’s children are recorded in Parshat Vayetze, in chapter 29 and 30. Half of Yaakov’s sons (the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah and Leah’s two youngest sons) do not have a speaking role in the Torah, and typically appear as part of the Bnei Yaakov, Bnei Yisrael, Achei Dinah, Achei Yosef, etc. Even the exception to this, when Yosef brings five brothers before Pharaoh (47:2) proves the rule. Firstly, they are not even identified in the text. Secondly, none are identified as specifically speaking.
[The identities of the five are disputed: One view is that they were Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yissachar and Binyamin (Pesikta, Rashi on 47:2). The other view is that they were Zevulun, Dan, Gad, Naftali, Asher (Sechel Tov, Targum Yonatan, Rashi on Baba Kama 92a). Everyone agrees that Yehuda was NOT brought before Pharaoh, though for different reasons. Note how the second view includes Leah’s youngest son and the 4 sons of Bilhah and Zilpah]
It is also worth noting that there is a fascinating dispute over the order of the births – contingent on when the different wives gave birth. The Torah’s order need not be taken literally. The wives could have been pregnant at the same time – which is certainly the case for when Leah was pregnant with Zevulun or Dinah (or both, if they were twins), and Rachel pregnant with Yosef. I first came across this in Aryeh Kaplan’s translation of the Yalkut Meam Loez, where he gives actual dates for their births, noting the possibility of the overlapping of the pregnancies.
See more on that subject at the following links, and follow the footnotes!:
https://alhatorah.org/The_Births_and_Relative_Ages_of_Yaakov's_Children/2 https://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/4724/order-of-birth-of-yaakovs-children
There is another theme which comes up in these discussions, and that is whether each of the shvatim was carried in the womb for a full 9 months, or possibly only six or seven months. How quickly did Leah (the most fertile of the 4 women) get pregnant after giving birth? Did she have the chance to nurse any of her children?
Unquestioningly, Reuven, Shimon, Levi and Yehuda are the most prominent of the brothers, and each carries a degree of controversy in his actions in Vayetze, Vayishlach, Vayeshev and Miketz.
Reuven brings flowers to his mother, causing conflict between Rachel and Leah. Reuven later switches his father’s bed (in a much discussed incident in 35:22), and plays a strange role in the sale of Yosef, first suggesting Yosef be thrown in a pit – with the Torah dictating to us his plan to save Yosef, and then when he goes back to the pit, perhaps to follow through, discovering the pit is empty and Yosef is gone. In front of Yosef (now as king), Reuven chastises his brothers for collectively not having pity on young Yosef who pleaded for his life and the brothers ignored him. He also makes a strange offer to Yaakov for how he will guarantee Binyamin’s protection in Egypt – which is rejected by his father.
Shimon and Levi are typically viewed as a pair, primarily on account of their reputation after killing the male inhabitants of Shechem. Virtually everyone identifies those who raise the idea of killing Yosef (in 37:19) as Shimon and Levi, due to their past (they’ve killed before) and also their being viewed as plotters. Reuven, as noted above, intercedes telling them “We are not spilling blood.”
Yehuda’s prominence comes to the fore in Vayeshev, first in his advocacy to sell Yosef, then in the story of his family, including his relationship with Tamar. In Miketz, Yehuda truly earns his stripes when he first offers his eternity in exchange for Binyamin’s safety (Reuven’s offer had been rejected), and becomes Binyamin’s protector, willing to give his own freedom and even life so that Binyamin can go home to their father.
Ultimately, Yehuda’s advocacy for Binyamin seems to be what “breaks Yosef,” causing Yosef to reveal his identity, and for the brothers to be reunited.
Two specific things stand out.
1. When Yosef takes a brother to remain as prisoner until Binyamin is brought to Egypt, he selects Shimon. Why?
2. At the end of our parsha, before we get to the monologue that opens Vayigash, the Torah refers to the brothers as “Yehuda and his brothers” (44:14) even though Yehuda is not identified as having spoken yet – the suggestion made by the brothers that “in whosever sack you find the cup will die” is credited to all of them, not a specific brother taking charge (see 44:7 – ויאמרו, and 44:10 – כדבריכם). Why is Yehuda thus identified as the spokesperson if he hasn’t spoken yet?
Shimon is taken prisoner for any one of the following reasons (or maybe multiple reasons):
- A need to separate Shimon from Levi (many Midrashim, Rashi, Rashbam, Rabbeny Bachaye)
- Shimon was the one who had suggested to kill him (Targum Yonatan)
- Shimon was the one who had thrown him in the pit (Sechel Tov, Rashi, Radak, Malbim)
- Shimon was the most callous towards Yosef at the time of the sale (R Chaim Paltiel, Haamek Davar)
- Yosef intended to take Reuven, the eldest, but when he heard Reuven tell the brothers that he had argued with them at the time not to harm Yosef, Yosef took Shimon, the second oldest instead (Chizkuni)
As for the second question, this is a simple example of the Torah foreshadowing of what is to come. Sure enough, Yehuda quickly becomes the only spokesperson (in 44:16). Seforno suggests that when Yehuda says “God has uncovered our sin” that this is not an admission of theft (although many Midrashim and commentaries go that route on each word Yehuda says – see below). Rather, Yehuda is coming to the realization that everything that has transpired is God’s way of punishing them for their treatment of Yosef 22 years earlier.
This admission, coupled with and followed by Yehuda’s monologue at the beginning of Vayigash give Yosef the opportunity to see things through a different light. He never quite understood what happened then, or how his family had been suffering in all the time he’d been away. Perhaps he felt there had been a conspiracy against him. But hearing the regret and the pain caused his guard to go down, and ultimately, as we’ll read next week, he was ready to reunite with the family.
Reuven is the most remorseful of the brothers. He openly admits to errors, and the Talmud tells us of his quiet Teshuva as well. Shimon’s failures came back to bite him because he never expresses remorse. Levi is strangely silent in all of this. Yehuda also has his own road of regret and resurgence as the choice leader of the siblings, ultimately because he learns that the greatest tool of growth is taking responsibility for one’s past actions, and taking responsibility in advance of action.
It is hard to understand the dynamics of the relationship of Yosef and Leah’s four oldest sons. Had they accepted him for who he was, perhaps even had pity on him for losing his mother at such a young age, the story of Am Yisrael would likely look very different.
As Yosef will say in Vayigash, this was all part of God’s plan.
Yet there is something to be considered of the ways in which Leah’s 4 oldest sons had their own journeys of growth and discovery, each of one contributing good and negative qualities to the dynamic of the emerging nation of which we are blessed to be a part.
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מדרש אגדה (בובר) בראשית פרשת מקץ פרק מד סימן טז
[טז] ויאמר יהודה מה נאמר לאדוני. במעשה תמר: ומה נדבר. במעשה בלהה: ומה נצטדק. בדינה: האלהים מצא את עון עבדיך. במכירת יוסף: ד"א מה נאמר לאדוני. בכסף ראשון: ומה נדבר. בכסף שני: ומה נצטדק. בגביע: ד"א מה נאמר לאדני. לאבא שבארץ כנען: ומה נדבר. בשמעון: ומה נצטדק. בבנימין: ד"א מה נאמר, אם נאמר חטאנו, שחטא גלוי וידוע לפני השם שלא חטאנו, ואם נאמר לך שלא חטאנו, האלהים מצא את עון עבדיך, מצא בעל חוב לגבות את חובו ד"א מה נצטדק. בלשון נוטריקון. נ' נקיים. צ' צדיקים. ט' טהורים. ד' דכוכים. ק' קדושים: ד"א מה נאמר לאדוני. כמשמעו: מה נדבר. לאבי שערבתי אותו: מה נצטדק לפני השכינה:
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