by Rabbi Avi Billet
Reading through Chapter 42 from a panoramic perspective of history – both looking at the narratives surrounding Chapter 42 of pre-Egypt through slavery and Exodus, and in the larger scheme of history – one can’t help but see much premonition, foreshadowing, and indication of many things that were and will be for the descendants of Yaakov.
The best way to do the following is with the original Hebrew, but what follows is much of the chapter in Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan’s translation (from the Living Torah), modified slightly by me, with my comments embedded in the text. Anything in quotes is the Torah translated. Not in quotes is my comment. At the end, there will be a small recap.
“When Yosef's brothers arrived, they prostrated themselves to him, with their faces to the ground” in fulfillment of his first dream. “Yosef recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.” This is sometimes the largest failing of the Jewish people. We are united when the world is united against us. Otherwise our disagreements, and our definition of what makes someone Jewish, make us not even recognize who is our brother.
“You are spies!' he said to them. 'You have come to see where the land is exposed to attack.” As Yosef is talking to ten brothers, sure enough some time in the not-too-distant future there will be ten spies who will prove that this is their exact intent. In that case, the ten spies will die, and those who listen to their report will be punished with being unable to enter the land.
“We are twelve brothers,' they pleaded. 'We are the sons of one man who is in Canaan. Right now the youngest brother is with our father, and one brother is gone.” Their inability to explain Yosef’s whereabouts shows they are still in a place of denial of their role in his disappearance. Though they certainly have no reason to suspect he is dead, they aren’t up front about what happened to him. Not that they need to be to the potentate before whom they stand, but for the purposes of the narrative, it would certainly be helpful for us to see they are changed.
“'There is only one way that you can convince me. By Pharaoh's life, [all of] you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.” What a strange idea for Yosef to tie their ‘not leaving’ to a mention of Pharaoh! One could argue whether the slaves (in the book of Shmot) were really bound, or whether they could have left at any time from Egypt, except that they wanted to leave with permission. There is a known Midrash that a good portion of Israelites tried to leave Egypt a little early. And the tribe they were from was… Ephraim (Yosef’s son!) Additionally, Moshe’s successor, Yehoshua, was from the tribe of Ephraim. So Yosef is showing that someone from his tribe will not be included in the 10 spies (though one of the ten spies was from Menashe), and that Ephraim might try to leave even without Pharaoh’s say-so, because Yosef is currently not including himself in whatever he is saying to the ten brothers standing before him.
“Let one of you go back and bring your brother.” This is an indicator that Yosef knows all it would have taken was one person to protect him back in the day. But while Reuven did suggest they not kill him, Yosef was unaware of anyone defending him in any capacity. The minute he showed up in Dotan, they stripped him of his clothes and threw him in a pit. When he was taken out, he was immediately sent off to Egypt with the traveling salesmen.
“Yosef had them placed under arrest (mishmar) for three days.” The last time we saw “3 days” was when Yosef interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s officers at the end of last week’s parsha. They too were in a Mishmar. They got clarity on the interpretations of dreams after three days. Yosef was giving his brothers a 3-day cooling period, after which he gives them clarity.
After Yosef lets them go, while keeping Shimon under arrest, “but they said to one another, 'We deserve to be punished because of what we did to our brother. We saw him suffering when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That's why this great misfortune has come upon us now.' Reuven interrupted them. 'Didn't I tell you not to commit a crime against the boy?' he said. 'You wouldn't listen. Now a [divine] accounting is being demanded for his blood!'”
This is the first time Yosef hears anything about anyone standing up for him. This is why he changes his plan and decides to put their money back in the bags.
In giving them money, with a promise he will not see them unless they bring Binyamin, he is recreating the scene, of the brothers being paid to bring the son of Rachel down to Egypt. This is the ultimate test of whether they’ll protect him or let him be sold into slavery.
When they return to their father and tell him the whole story, he says, “'You're making me lose my children! Yosef is gone! Shimon is gone! And now you want to take Binyamin! Everything is happening to me!'” I think it’s fascinating to consider why Yosef took Shimon. After all, Reuven is the oldest. Perhaps Yosef, having heard Reuven rebuke the brothers, saw Reuven was more innocent than the others, less involved, and so he took the next oldest as a prisoner.
Reuven, noticing his luck, tries to take responsibility for Binyamin, in a way he did not with Yosef 22 years earlier.
“Reuven tried to reason with his father. 'If I do not bring [Binyamin] back to you,' he said, 'you can put my two sons to death. Let him be my responsibility, and I will bring him back to you.'”
Reuven’s comment here requires explanation, because most will assume, as Rashi does, that he’s a fool for offering the deaths of his sons in exchange for Yosef and whatever might happen to Binyamin. As if Yaakov would be happy if two of his grandsons would be killed as punishment for Binyamin’s disappearance.
The Ta”z on the Torah explains that what Reuven was offering was to give up his portion of being like two sons – in other words, his being firstborn – if he did not bring Binyamin back. Of course, this ends up happening! (Wise people should be careful with the things they say!) The person who ends up having his tribe split in two (a blessing!) is Yosef!
“'My son will not go with you!' replied Yaakov.” Yaakov’s explanation continues, but the Ta”Z writes that Yaakov’s response, as recorded in the Midrash and Rashi, “My son is a fool, does he not think his children are my children as well?” means that Reuven would need to contend in the future with the fact that his children are not split into two separate tribes. This becomes a moot point, because in the next chapter, Yehuda’s responsibility for Binyamin is accepted by their father.
But Reuven’s comment, in light of Ta”Z’s explanation may explain why when Yaakov eventually blesses Yosef regarding Ephraim and Menashe, he notes that they “will be like Reuven and Shimon to me.” Yosef’s reappearance on the stage makes making him the first born an easy choice, while Yaakov’s claim regarding Yosef’s children removes all rights of firstborn from the actual Reuven’s hands and from his descendants.
Much of the Torah needs to be examined more carefully because these kinds of premonitions and prophetic hints are there for the finding.
Miketz is always read on the Shabbat of Chanukah. Where do we find references to the Chanukah story in the parsha? The experience of Yosef as ruler versus his brothers as subservient members of the Bnei Yisrael is a start. Read through the text, see what you find!
And be inspired by the reunion of this family afterwards, a reunion that should be the ultimate model of Jewish unity for all time.
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