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From: "Yeshivat Har Etzion's
Israel Koschitzky Virtual Beit Midrash"
To: yhe-parsha@vbm-torah.org
Subject: PARSHA61 -11: Parashat Vayigash
YESHIVAT
HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
*********************************************************
PARASHAT
VAYIGASH
Why Did Yosef Not Send Word to his Father?
A
Solution
By
Rav Yoel Bin-Nun
Last week, we explored a variety of explanations for
Yosef's puzzling behavior vis-a-vis his brothers and
father. None of these could adequately answer
the
glaring question: Why, during all his years of servitude
and his rise to power, did Yosef not send a letter to his
father telling him that he was still alive? What could
possibly justify the anguish he caused his aged and
loving father?
I would like to propose a solution which
accounts
for many perplexing aspects of the story.
Our entire outlook on this story changes
if we
accept the fact that Yosef did not know that his brothers
had fooled his father with the coat, the blood, and the
lie that Yosef had been devoured by wild animals. Such
thoughts never occurred to him! Hence it was Yosef who
spent thirteen years of slavery in Egypt and
the
following years of greatness wondering: "Where is my
father? Why has no one come to look for me?"
All the factors are now reversed, when seen
from
Yosef's point of view. Egypt is, after all, close to
Canaan, and Ya'akov was a rich, important and influential
man, with international familial and
political
connections. The Midianites or Yishmaelites who brought
Yosef to Egypt were his cousins; is it possible that no
one from that caravan could be located in all those
years? Yishmael, Medan and Midian were all children of
Avraham; even after they had migrated to Eastern lands,
they certainly could be located. Ya'akov had manpower
enough to marshal herds and flocks as a gift for Esav;
surely he had manpower to search for Yosef. We know that
Ya'akov does not search for his son, as he thinks Yosef
is dead, but Yosef has no way of knowing this.
Yosef's wonder at his father's silence is joined by
a terrible sense of anxiety which grows stronger over the
years, as seasons and years pass by and no one comes.
Yosef's anguish centers on his father: the voice inside
him asking "Where is my father?" is joined by another
harsh voice - "Why did my father send me to my brothers
that day? Why did they strip off my coat the moment I
arrived and throw me in the pit? Didn't he know how
dangerous Shimon and Levi are, especially since I had
brought him negative reports about them? What did my
brothers tell him when they returned? Can he really have
had no idea at all of what they had done?"
The voices resound and
intertwine, eliciting
alternating waves of fear and helplessness, of anger and
hatred. Being thrown into the pit, the kidnapping to
Egypt, slavery - a few months would be enough to drive
him mad - and no one ever comes.
Finally, a quiet acceptance of his fate replaced the
anguish. His brothers must have succeeded in convincing
Ya'akov, and HE HAD BEEN DISOWNED. Leah must
have
convinced Ya'akov that his vain and arrogant son, who
dreamt of ruling over them all, had to be disposed of
before he destroyed the household. Had Avraham
not
consented to Sarah's insistence that he expel Yishmael,
despite his love for Yishmael? Had not God
Himself
sanctioned this? Had not Esav lost his birthright? And
had not Yitzchak capitulated to Rivka in choosing one son
over another? Perhaps God Himself had told Ya'akov that
Yosef had sinned and had to be expelled.
Thirteen years of torment brought in their wake
a
quiet acceptance of his fate. He would live according to
his father's traditions but apart from his home. He would
not sin against God even though He had rejected him; he
would not be seduced by his master's wife. Years later,
when Yosef rides in the viceroy's chariot, when he shaves
his beard and stands before Pharaoh, it is clear to him
that God must have decreed that his life would be lived
separately from his family's.
Yosef gives expression to this feeling expression in
the name he gives his eldest son, born of an Egyptian
wife:
He called him Menashe, because "God has
made me forget (nashani) all my labor and
my father's house." (41:51)
To forget his father's house! Yosef is more subdued when his second son is born:
[He named him] Efraim, because "God has
made me fruitful (hifrani) in the land of my
suffering." (41:52)
***
Yosef's entire world is built on the misconception
that his father has renounced him, while Ya'akov's world
is destroyed by the misconception that Yosef is dead.
Yosef's world is shaken when his brothers stand before
him, not knowing who he is, and bow down to him. At that
moment, he must question the new reality he has created
for himself; "he remembers the dreams he dreamt about
them" and he is thrown back into the past.
Stalling for time, he begins a line of inquiry - and
action - which is geared to one end: to find out why his
father had rejected him, if at all. He aims to keep
Binyamin behind, so that his maternal brother can tell
him all that has transpired. After the conversation with
Binyamin, he will be able to decide whether to remain
silent or to speak out.
All Yosef's actions from this
point onward -
including arresting Shimon - are directed towards this
goal. He wanted both to get information (could Shimon
have been interrogated in prison?) and to force Ya'akov
to send Binyamin to Egypt. The cup was planted in his
sack not to test Yehuda - how could he have predicted his
older brother's outburst? - but just the opposite. Yosef
assumed the brothers would not be able to save Binyamin,
and this would be his means of keeping Binyamin with him,
ostensibly as his prisoner.
This was Yosef's plan to find out what had happened
and how to deal with it.
Yehuda's response was an
attempt to obtain
Binyamin's release by appealing for mercy for his aged
father. In so doing, he tells Yosef
- totally
unintentionally - exactly what Yosef
wanted so
desperately to hear, thereby freeing him and eventually
Ya'akov, from their mutual errors.
Your servant our father said to us: You know that my wife bore me two sons. One has left me; I said he was devoured and I have not seen him since. [If] you take this son too and tragedy befalls him, you will bring my old age down to She'ol in agony. (44:24-30)
Yosef needs to hear no more. He finally realizes the naked truth: No one has cut him off at all! Not Leah, not
his brothers and, least of all, his father. He has not
been forgotten!
Yosef could no longer restrain himself before
all who were standing before him, and cried: "Have every one leave me!"... and he cried out loud... and he told his brothers: "I am Yosef; is my father still alive?" (45:1-3)
Does he live? Is he yet my father, who loves me and
has not forgotten me? Is it possible?
Each of the players in our scene had a plan,
and
pursued that plan. But the plan which was
finally
revealed was a higher plan, geared at bringing Ya'akov's
family to Egypt and creating the Jewish people.
All the "forgetting" is revealed to
have been a
tragic mistake. Ya'akov symbolically acknowledges the
divine plan when, even though he is blind, he knows that
he must take his hand off the head of Menashe (whose name
connotes forgetting) and place it on the head of Efraim
(whose name connotes fruitfulness).
The misunderstanding, however, does
have its
results. Not Yosef, but his two sons, will replace him in
the list of twelve tribes.
And now, your two sons born to you in the Land
of Egypt before I came to you iEgypt are mine; Efraim and Menashe, like Reuven and Shimon, belong to me. (48:5)
The ten tribes who were exiled and not heard
from since (see the dispute in Sanhedrin 110b-111a about
whether they will return), the division of the Israelite
kingdom into two, all the "forgetting" of our ancient
forefather - are but illusions. All of what we consider
reality is revealed as secondary to the Divine plan -
"Our father is still alive."
***
If we look at the text, and the text alone,
this
conclusion is well-nigh unavoidable. This interpretation
is directly based on Yehuda's words, paraphrasing his
father: "I said he was devoured and I have not seen him
since." Now we see why these words caused Yosef to break
down and reveal himself - for he learned for the first
time that his father was deceived; his father did not
reject him! Now we understand why Yosef names his son
Menashe, "forgetting." Only this interpretation is free
of the assumption that Yosef meticulously planned exactly
what transpired, while the Torah itself presents the
climax as a total surprise to all who were involved in
it.
This explanation is also mandated by the historical
paradigm, as it is presented in the Torah's view of
Jewish history:
Is Efraim My cherished son, the child I played with, that when I speak of him, I should be reminded
of him? But My insides pine for
him; I will be compassionate toward him, says the Lord. (Yirmiyahu 31)
Jewish history reverberates until our times
with questions of forgetfulness and dispossessment (see esp.
Yirmiyahu 3 and 31) - and, on the other hand,
the
discovery of errors and repentance.
"Twelve brothers are we" - not one is
missing! If one seems missing, it is only an illusion, a tragic
misconception which will, at the correct time,
be
revealed.
And finally, only this explanation merges with the
Jewish mystical tradition, which differentiates between
the revealed and the hidden, between the best-laid plans
of even the purest of men and the plans of Providence,
and weaves even failings and misunderstandings into the
light of the Redemption, bringing all twelve tribes
together at last.
YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH
ALON SHEVUT, GUSH ETZION 90433
Copyright (c) 1999 Yeshivat Har Etzion
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