THE STORY OF YOSEPH

The story of Yoseph being sold to Egypt, ending up in prison and then being appointed the viceroy to the king of Egypt is well known. Nine years later, ten of his brothers, all of them except Binyomin, were send by Yaakov, their father, to Egypt to replenish their supplies.

At the same time, bearing in mind how their father had for 22 years grieved over the loss of his beloved Yoseph they decided that they would try and find him and make extensive enquiries in Egypt in order to do so.

When they finally arrived, they split up and went into the country via ten different entry points. As Yoseph received lists of all the foreigners who were entering Egypt to try and buy food to take back abroad, the fact that ten people called Reuven ben Yaakov, Shimon ben Yaakov etc all arrived on the same day at different entry points did not escape his attention.

He, therefore, instructed his employees to look out for these people and when they finally were discovered, searching for Yoseph, they were brought before him.

We are told that his brothers bowed down before him and Yoseph recognised them and spoke to them harshly. They explained that they had come from Canaan to buy food and then the Torah repeats “Yoseph recognised his brothers and they did not recognise him.” Rashi comments that he had left as a 17 year old boy and his beard had not yet grown whereas now he was a 39 year old man who had a full beard.

Yoseph then went on the attack. He suggested that they were, in fact, spies and they had come to spy out the land. They denied it, but Yoseph stuck to his line pointing out that they had entered at ten different places. The brothers then tried to explain that originally there were 12 brothers, one of them was young (Yaakov had said he would not let him go down for fear of the same thing happening to Binyomin as had happened to Yoseph, namely disappearing) and they continued, that as being 10 brothers they would not all be sent as spies.

The Medrash as quoted by Rashi explains that Yoseph then asked them what would happen if they would find their long lost brother. They answered, “We would take him back with us to our father”. “And what happens if you were not allowed to do so” “Oh, we would find a way of doing it, even if we had to fight to achieve this.”

“Ahh” said Yoseph “I did say that you were spies and wanted to spy out the land. Now you are contemplating fighting as well, you are troublemakers.”

Yoseph then continued “I am only going to let you go if your younger brother comes here to prove that you are telling the truth. Chose one brother to go back to Canaan and he should go and fetch Binyomin here.” Meanwhile, he put them all in prison.

Three days later, he called them in again and said, “On reflection, nine of you can go home, but I am going to keep one as a hostage”. He then had Shimon, who was kept by him, bound up in chains in front of them. The nine brothers then proceeded to return home. On the way, Levi opened his sack and found the money that had been used to pay for the food in his sack and then they all opened theirs and also found money. This shook them considerably.

When they returned to Yaakov and he saw that Shimon was not there, he was extremely upset. He had lost Yoseph, he lost Shimon and now they wanted to take Binyomin as well, “I have had enough” declared Yaakov.

Reuven suggested that his two sons should be a security that he would make sure that Binyomin would come back. Yaakov flatly refused.

However, when they once again ran out of food, and Yaakov suggested, please go and bring some more from Egypt, Yehuda stated “there is no way that we could go down, if we do not bring our brother Binyomin with us.” To which Yaakov Avinu retorted, “Who asked you to mention that you had another brother”. At that stage, Yehuda said, “the man, the viceroy, asked about everything to do with our family and knew the details of our babyhood and childhood. We are not to blame.”

Finally, very reluctantly, Yaakov allowed them to take Binyomin with, also sending presents and they appeared once again before Yoseph. Yoseph saw Binyomin and, therefore, instructed that all the group should be taken to his own house. That was done.

When Yoseph finally came home, and the brothers were brought into his house, they bowed down to him. He greeted them and asked how their old father was and was his still alive, and they said “Yes, he is” and they again bowed down to him. He then saw Binyomin and blessed him. He ordered that food should be brought in and the Medrash tells us that he, using his goblet as a diviner, stated that the oldest six sons, Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Yissochar, Zevulun, all having one mother, should sit at one table, that the four others, Gad, Osher, Dan and Naftali should also sit together. Finally, he turned to Binyomin and said “you have no mother, I have no mother, you are going to sit with me.”

I find all this incredible!!

Ten brothers who have been looking for Yoseph, could not collectively or at least individually, one or two of them at least, have picked up on the fact that this person, the viceroy of Egypt, knew too much. To the extent, that when Yoseph finally revealed himself to his brothers, they were gobsmacked, unable to say anything, shocked to the core.

I mentioned, earlier on, that Rashi states that Yoseph had left them without a beard and now had a beard. But to me, this does not seem to be a sufficient reason for them to not even consider the remote possibility that they were speaking to Yoseph. We know that at that time, people believed in astrologers, psychics etc. and as Yoseph used his goblet as a “diviner” it might have explained his knowledge of the family etc but, alternatively, it might not!!

I have even heard it suggested that what might have passed through their minds, was that Yoseph had met this person who was now the viceroy and had been told his life story. Therefore, he knew so many intimate facts about their family.

Furthermore, why had the brothers not asked anybody about this viceroy and his antecedents? You would have thought, that after all the trouble that he caused them, putting them in prison and then sending them home without Shimon etc. they would have questioned people as to his background, if only to understand how to deal tactically with him. We do not find this, at all. The whole episode is most puzzling and for years I have wondered as to how it could be that the penny did not drop for at least one of ten brothers namely, that maybe, just maybe, the person who was their adversary was, in fact, their own brother, Yoseph.

We know that Yoseph never spoke to them directly because there was an interpreter involved. That interpreter we are told, was his son Menashe, and we also told by the Medrash that when Shimon tried to struggle whilst being tied up, Menashe came and gave him such a blow between his shoulder blades that he was forced to stop struggling and said “That blow came from somebody connected with our family.” Even then, the penny still did not drop!!

On Shabbos Chanukah, I had the pleasure of having our children and grandchildren with us for Shabbos. Our seven year old grandson mentioned that he liked the stories in the Sefer HaYosher. This is an old Medrash which has certain stories and explanations which do not appear in other medrashim. I retrieved the sefer from my library and looked through it, and it was Parshas Miketz, I read about this particular incident.

I discovered something which gave me a key to an explanation which in turn has given me some satisfaction regarding my puzzlement.

In the Sefer HaYosher, it states that when Pharaoh appointed Yoseph as his viceroy, he not only gave him royal clothes and a crown, as well as a special chariot which originally belonged to Pharaoh on which to ride, he did more. Pharaoh gave him 100 servants and Yoseph acquired hundreds more. Yoseph also had 4,600 people who bore arms. In effect he had his own retinue, bodyguard and a small army. Thinking about this, I realised, that my idea of how the brothers met Yoseph and saw him, etc., was flawed.

I had assumed that they had been brought to Yoseph into a normal room. Perhaps they stood by the door with Yoseph was sitting maybe five or ten yards away from them and with an interpreter shuttling between them. However, bearing in mind the amount of servants and guards that Yoseph had as a private retinue, I therefore, revised my thinking and realised that he would, have, therefore, sat in a very large room, perhaps on a small throne with many servants there, as well as armed soldiers around guarding him as well as patrolling the whole room.

The Sefer HaYosher states clearly that when they came before him, he was sitting בהיכלו, in his state room. He was surrounded by גיבורים, warriors. The whole atmosphere created a feeling of awe and fear.

Perhaps one could compare this to the very large state rooms at say Windsor Castle or other such palaces, which the readers of this article might have visited. It is true that they appeared before him and bowed to him but his brothers were maybe 50 yards or more away from him and, at that distance, could not see clearly a person’s features. They saw a king or viceroy in all his royal glory with servants flanking him, and armed soldiers watching them intimidatingly. In addition, as Rashi states, the person they were looking at had a beard, whereas the Yoseph that they knew, was without a beard.

By Yoseph immediately suggesting to them that they were spies, he stopped an avenue of investigation by them. A spy asks people about things that he feels are important, and what could be more important if they were really spies than finding out about the person who was interrogating them, bullying them, and terrorising them. By virtue of him accusing them of being spies, they had to keep their mouths shut and not ask about him because otherwise, that would have more or less proved that they were spies. Remember, we are concerned with a viceroy who had the power of life and death in his hands and answerable to virtually nobody. Life was very cheap in Egypt.

Yoseph was afraid that as he had only been appointed to his position nine years before and, at that time, people knew he was an Eved Ivri, a slave and an Ivri, not a Canaani, this would easily get to his brothers’ knowledge unless he stopped them from asking, they would be able to put two and two together.

Furthermore, he used his goblet as a “diviner” to start telling them details about their life from the time they were small children, therefore, this reinforced the impression that he would almost a “divine” being rather than an ordinary human being.

He then put them in prison to sweat for a few days, changed his mind as to how many could stay or go back and, then to trump it all, instructed that the money they had paid for the food should be hidden in the sacks.

Not for nothing were they in a state of panic whilst they were travelling and when they got back to their father, even more so.

Yoseph had created a situation whereby they could not think straight, and completely put them off the trail. He mesmerised them,

When they came back the second time with Binyomin and the brothers were brought to his house, once again, I originally was under the impression that as it was his own house the tables would be set very near one another. Remember that he told six of them to sit at the table and another four at another table and he sat together with Binyomin at a third table.

But, on reflection, as he was the viceroy and bearing in mind the size of the state rooms at Windsor Castle and other such palaces, one can understand that they really did not sit near one another. There were still many yards between them and this viceroy who was leading them a merry dance. They must have been scared to look him in the face, because he had the power to have them put back in prison at any moment or even worse, take away Binyomin or even have them all killed. There was an interpreter shuttling between them all the time.

To cap all of that, once they went back home the second time, he, of course, had the goblet that he used, ostensibly as a diviner, hidden in Binyomin’s sack and this was finally discovered.

One revealing point is that Binyomin, at that stage, did not complain, he did not deny the fact that he had this goblet, did not deny the fact that he had stolen it, did not shout scream or otherwise object. The medrash tells us that Yoseph asked Binyomin if he had any children. Binyomin replied that he had ten of them all named, in one way or another in connection with Yoseph.

Once again, I turned to the Sefer HaYosher, which tells us that when he was sitting with Binyomin at the meal on his throne, with Binyomin sitting next to him, also on a throne, Yoseph then produced a type of globe, a star gazing instrument. He suggested to Binyomin that he should try and find Yoseph on this globe. Binyomin finally exclaimed “I can see my brother Yoseph sitting near me.” Yoseph then said to him “Shhhh, yes, it is me, but don’t tell the other brothers. I am just trying to make 100% sure that they really regret what they did when they sold me originally 22 years ago.” In view of that, Binyomin just played along with the whole story.

We then come to the final episode, Yehuda, who had undertaken to bring Binyomin back and if not, lose both worlds, stepped up to Yoseph to beg him to have mercy and if necessary take him in place of Binyomin.

Yehuda was obviously in a state or turmoil. He realised that this test had been sent by Hashem and was struggling to find the right words with which to address Yoseph. He was not concentrating on looking this viceroy in the face, who had caused such misery to him and his family. He was trying to clarify his thoughts on the best way of retrieving this horrible situation. The atmosphere of awe and fear was, if anything, even more intense than when they first stood before Yoseph.

Not for nothing was it, therefore, that when Yoseph finally said to his brothers “I am Yoseph” they were shocked and gobsmacked.

I would like to hear people’s comments on this possible explanation of a very interesting and strange episode.