Why Didn't Yosef Phone Home by Rabbi Shmuel Goldin

okay so as I say this is one of my favorite shim because it um allows us to view story that is very familiar to us in a very different way by the time we're finished the problem is on page one and it's a very deep problem very very critical problem raised by many commentaries but the ramban is the one that we're quoting klit MOA one could Wonder after y has been in Egypt already for a number of years and he's talking about potifar he is living in potifar house and is a is has been placed by po over all his household how is it possible that given the opportunity because of of his standing that yoseph did not send at least one small written note somehow to let his father know what's going on no communication whatsoever I'm sorry because MIM is a six day Journey away from Canan and it would be appropriate says the ramban even if it were a year Journey for Yosef to send word to his father and to beim him to comfort him so what we have to do is we have to put ourselves in yosef's place and we have to try to figure out why he why is there silence during the years when it could well he could well have sent a message so take a look at the second section on your page the classical approach first two sentences all right we're at the point now where the brothers have come down to Egypt sent down by yako and they re they are recognized by Yosef ysf recognizes them but they don't recognize him why not V variety of possible reasons uh he's older he looks Egyptian and who would possibly think that yose would be in this position giving out food to people from parro makes no sense for liru they don't recognize him but now look at the second sentence this is pivotal sees his brothers and what does he remember the dreams what would you remember if you were yoseph and you were seeing your brothers for the first time i' flash back on on uh on the on the scene of the pit right makes no sense why is it that yoseph immediately thinks of his dreams so the r B says the following he quotes Rashi and Rashi says that what Yosef realized was that his dreams had come true that's rashi's position the ramban says the opposite is true says the ran what happened was yose remembering his dreams looks at the scene before him and says this isn't it yet all the people that have to be here are not here yet Benyamin has to be here and then my father has to come down so the dreams are on the way towards being fulfilled but they're not fulfilled and he therefore sets out on a path of manipulating the brothers mercilessly really manipulating them very very harshly because what does he do immediately calls them spies tells them that they're not going to get any food then he gives them the food then he puts the money that paid for the food back in their satchels so they'll find it and they'll say oh we can't go back we we stole the money and finally he puts binyamin in the position of being the the sole brother who will remain because he hides a goblet in in yose's Satchel so what You' got is a manipulation of events by yose that every detail every detail is is very very thought through for example when he when the brothers go back and recognize that they have the money that paid for the food they are not willing to go back to Egypt they're not willing to go back because they're afraid they're going to be thrown into jail as soon as as soon as he sees them what Yakov continues to to say no you have to go down he asked you to come back with Benyamin we have no food finally they go as soon as they get to Egypt what does Yosef do he holds a party for them he puts them in in a banquet hall at reserved for the royalty they can't they can't figure this out right they're off balance every single thing that he does puts them off balance as as they were trying as he's trying to make his dreams come true says LAN the second classical approach which isn't on your sheets is not that he wants to make his dreams come true but that he wants to give his brothers the opportunity to do chuva sorry I haven't been looking in this side all right the the opportunity to do Chua he wants them to have the opportunity to repent for what they did the rambam says that the true repentance what's true repentance being put in the same situation you were in before where you sinned and choosing not to sin right so what what is the end result of all the manipulations of of yoseph that his brother his only full brother the only other son of Rael is now being threatened with imprisonment they he says the rest of you can go back home and Yehuda stands up and says we can't go and finally yose reveals himself but the point is that he manipulates events so that true Chua can take place there is no other scene that would be as as comparable to the scene of his sale than the scene that he manipulates and allows to happen or enables to happen there's a problem however with both of these interpretations the ramban's interpretation and and the other classical approach what would you say the problem problem is there you go there you go who pointed you Chief cook and bottle washer right what you see the dreams were does a prophet make his prophecies come true no he interprets the dreams and and then allows events to bre to come a prophet a real noi will go and talk to the community and say God's going to do X Y and Z and you've got to do X ABC but the point is here what he's doing is he's saying I not only had the responsibility to dream these dreams I had the responsibility to make them come true it's my job or I have the responsibility to make my my my brothers do chuva who who who gave you that responsibility top of the page the first question is why never contact jaob right the bottom of the page is he stabbing yob again correct right righto I hear you and he he's prolonging the the the time away without uhuh in other words if someone would not have stood up and said we can't go would he have allowed the brothers to go back without B we don't know we'll see yoseph ysph yoseph yoseph has imprisoned Shimon in the last visit he took one brother and he took Shimon we don't know why but we can assume perhaps that Shimon was high up there in the sail of of Yosef which is a whole another discussion about who actually sells him yes when you asked the question I was going back to when he went to Egypt and then he didn't have power but when he got to power even then he also that's correct responding that's what the ramban says the ramban says when he the first time he had the power according to the ramban was in the house of potifa already before he becomes Viceroy and says the ran why is it that given the opportunity to do this to to to send some message to his father we have total silence and I remember when I first saw this question I said wow this is this changes the whole the whole scene here we've got to figure out why y is insisting on this silence all right so the problem with the two classical approaches is who appointed you to make things happen raim Rafel hsch has an interesting twist he says that yoseph is not motivated by the dreams to make them come true nor is he motivated by the desire to make them do true those are issues that hopefully will happen what he desires is the establishment of a real relationship between himself and the brothers and he knows that can't happen the way things are if he were to reveal himself right away what would the brothers see immediately we threw them into the pit right it he will look at them as the people who threw them into the pit the only way that relationship can be created says the refer is if the brothers are in the same situation and react differently then yoseph can say they're not the people they were before and they can say to about themselves thank God we've changed so that is that is the driving force says HS that's what gives him the right because he has to he's he's looking at the family and he wants the family to be whole he wants the family to be at peace and that's why he embarks on these manipulations all right so that those are the classical approaches very very fascinating approach is suggested by Ravel bin n turn to page number two run is a is a um scholar who uh is well known with within uh Scholars of of of that that of that Community he says you've got to when you look at the Torah you've got to put yourself in the position of the people that are there and you have to say what do they know what do I know and are they the same says says y does not know that his father thinks he's dead right all he knows is that he was sold into slavery by the brothers right or or someone at at the scene that's a whole discussion but the point is he thinks his father must know he must know what happened to him that he was kidnapped that he was a hostage that he's something says if it's a six- day Journey from from Egypt to Canan it's also what a six- day Journey from Canan to Egypt why hasn't his father put up a poster why hasn't his father come and tried to find out where he is this Praise on his mind says Ron up to the point where he comes to this inescapable conclusion that his father was somehow complicit in what happens now this is a this is powerfully difficult right I mean yeah that Joseph is the is is the cherished son of all the Sons right dafa so Rob suggests a few things he says it's possible that he thinks that the that there is a pattern in the family that there is always one individual who's on the outside right asov right Ishmael maybe his father is placing him outside because this is something he's supposed to do in that role maybe May who knows why but why hasn't my father contacted me right he sent them to meet Brothers right correct correct why would he send right he perhaps he knew what was going to happen perhaps he he he created the scene right he sent him alone to meet the brothers not just sent him to get the brothers but sent him alone say if you look at the speech that Yehuda gives which causes y to reveal himself so the first thing we said is yoseph sees Yehuda changed but there's something else that that he sees in that speech Yehuda says our father our our brother is lost and our father thinks what he's dead the minute yoseph hears that he knows that that things are different right if he knows if he thinks I'm dead that explains why he hasn't tried to to contact me we know that he thinks that so that realize what is saying to us we know that Yakov thinks yoseph is dead because we read it in the text but the people who were there the brothers were I mean yoseph is who's there does not know he is the only one that does not know in the family right he doesn't know whether or not they they're looking for him and why they're not looking for him and the truth that his father thinks he's dead only emerges when Yehuda stands to protect bamin and that is what causes yose's Revelation to the brothers another very prominent R in thei community rakov madean takes the position that is one of the classical approaches we said he takes the position that um he wants the brothers to have the opportunity to do chuva and he's creating a situation that will enable them to do that but I'm going to give you um a new approach all right an approach that that occurred to me many many years ago I think that it's hinted at in the text and I'll show you how I'd like to suggest that Yosef does not contact his father because he can't and that the years that he is vice Roy in Egypt are actually the most dangerous years of the whole sojourn all right now what what what's my proof take a look for a minute at Roman numeral number three on page two yes the scene is yosea is standing in front of the king and yoseph has offered his interpretation of the dreams last session we spoke about why parro accepts that interpretation given that there were other interpretations presented what does parro do when y after y presents his his interpretation right this this this interpretation this young man he's good we see him as good in our in our view parro turns to his servants and says have you ever met anyone else who has the spirit of God in him now why is Carro doing this what what what's you know uh just say I I I I accept that interpretation and and and move on he's doing it because this is a dangerous moment what he's about to do in the presence of all his his uh servants and officers what he's about to do is he's about to Leap Frog a Hebrew slave over them and over all of Egypt and that is something that's extremely dangerous right but we have to remember that parro's Palace is a palace of manipulation the proof of that is what happened with the Butler and the baker right they were accused of trying to poison parro so parro turns to his underlings and he says to them you see what I see You Hear What I Hear if there's anyone El who objects to this speak up now other than that you will have you will be held complicit in all of the all that's about to occur you were here you had the opport I'm giving you the opportunity giving you the opportunity to object and if you fail to object you have yourselves to blame all right so that's the first the first indication that perhaps what is happening is a dangerous event what is happening is Yosef is being leapfrogged all over all of the Egyptian officers to this position of power what about the simpl Frank that's the question maybe because he sees his father as complicit well that's what say right right he sees his father as comp that is that's y y suggest to you so far so far all right all right I hear you all right keep going all right yes what has occurred to me y's position is precarious he's an outsider he didn't want to be seen by the court as reaching out to his old rooms they may think he's more loyal to them than to him I'll come back to you I'll come back to you that's listen did you hear that excellent excellent excellent possibility in fact it's going to come out in the discussion we'll see in a moment all right so now we go to the next scene that we're looking at the next hint in the Torah yes I'm sorry the language that it's amazing un right a right that what do we make of that as a matter of isn't doesn't he make of himself a guy what we make of that is that yoseph we said last time we met injects God into all of the events that occur so what we're say what we're seeing is that parro is moved by that and in that one instant is willing to say he has his God and His God is helping him so that's what that's how the the kazal see it they see it as yosef's successful introduction of God into the Palace of parl all right but absolutely it's very unusual it's very unusual turn now to the scene at the banquet hall right when yose when the brothers come back and they're afraid they're going to be thrown into jail and what happens instead the banquet this is the first example I think the Torah of assigned seeding all right take a look they gave to yose a place alone and to the Egyptians a place for them and and and the Israelites it's the Hebrews by themselves it's an Abomination for Egyptians to eat with Hebrews so what am I going to do I'm going to set a place for the Hebrews but but who who else do I have to set a place for yoseph the text is telling us they don't want to sit with yoseph right he has his own isolated place they are not willing to sit with him and we they won't sit with the brothers so once again he's alone and in a palace of intrigue a palace of intrigue that's what we have to remember turn to the next and here we're going to come to your suggestion Joseph reveals himself to the brothers it's amazing event people see it witness it somehow the news gets back to parro that yose's Brothers have come down to Egypt and what is this a soap opera no parro is happy that Joseph's brothers have come back come to him why is parro in any way reacting to this Prophet what say again what do you mean profit for what way okay good all right so you so his brothers may have the same the same opportunity to do so okay he wasn't a slave family excellent excellent come back to you all right we'll come back to you anybody else we've heard two reasons suggested here one that he's not they now know that he's not a Hebrew slave they now know that he comes from a a royal family of of of of Israelites also they so that's one explanation that explanation is the ramban if I remember correctly the sporno suggests what you suggested which is they always thought he was D he had dual loyalty as long as his family was still in Canan part of him is still there but if now we get all the all the brothers to come down then he will only have loyalty to to Egypt and we won't have this issue with him that he's really dreaming of going somewhere else now think of these think of both of these and and recognize how much of what we're hearing is is so relevant to us in terms of how Outsiders view us right in other words dual loyalty the uh you know the Jews etc etc etc what identity right correct all right so that's that but the real the real um indication that Yosef is facing very difficult times and very difficult role can be found when the issue of yakov's burial comes about now we're going to see a few sources of this take a look at the third Source on page number three excuse me for a moment I just need to third paragraph turns to Y I want you to do what we have today is we call it right which is doing taking care of someone who's passed away Jakob says I'm going to I'm getting close to to leaving don't bury me here and so y he's asking y individually partially I think because he recognizes that the only one of the brothers who's going to be able to do this will be yose right so and yose agrees but then he does something strange Mar shali swear to me Yosef that you're going to do this wait a minute again yoseph is the is the beloved Son the the favorite do I do I think that he he's going to say I'll do it and not do it what does he have to make him swear for so we'll take a look at that in a moment turn to the next page I got it the brothers are all now around jakob's bed he says to them I'm going to be gathered to my nation I'm going to die and he offers a whole series of of reasons as to what he's asking them right k e t l o aai bury me with my fathers El in in the cave that is what's the cave right which is in the and so clearly the legacy of Abraham and the knowledge of aram's accomplishments has made it down to further Generations in the family right in the in the in the the cave in where it is right that I want you to bury me in the in the in the plot that was purchased by my grandfather and I want you to bury and where are buried other members of our family and our and our antecedants and please right I'm pointing all of you that this is what you should do so the question is why does he do it first to ysep alone and then to the brothers together I think just suggesting he feels that as they said Yosef is the only one who has the ability to perhaps do this and secondly he then wants the brothers not to argue with yoseph about it right so in other words he's appointing Yosef to get it done and then he's bringing the brothers into the system to show that this is what he wants it's not Joseph's own idea really thinking of em okay it's possible it's possible uh um again I find it difficult to think that he really suspects yoseph of not that yoseph won't carry out what what he does but you're you're correct Yosef may may want him to be buried in Egypt so he says I want you to swear I mean buried in Israel yoseph may want him to be buried in Egypt right um no he is suggesting y yoseph may want I'm sorry oh he Joseph wants to be in moras Mak too Rael all right he wants to find rael's K which is a debated Kev to this day and okay all right that's an interesting idea that's a very interesting idea and it it explains something that happens in the the conversations that take place between yob and ysep and yov and the brothers where he injects at some point he says I I had to bury ra so that that that's very good but yeah St when enter so the Egyptians were enamored of yakob and Y when you know this from the was yakob was very afraid that they would make him God of him if he buried and used his sh as a shrine so yako was afraid y was really under the influence of considered him as a son right was a conflict of fathers with so in other words he doesn't know how much ysep has become an Egyptian was the one who gave him a new name and gave him a wife so ysep was really indebted and I think jaob was also afraid that yoseph could be influenced by pressure from farro therefore he made him swear and therefore he said that under no circumstances to both Yos and the brothers I don't want them to the god of me get me out of here I only want to be very good right and the possibility is that he thinks that Joseph has taken on some of the Egyptian culture that also ties in to something else again it's amazing how these suggestions are trying in doing great uh group all right so the idea is the fallowing when he sees Ephraim and Masha Yakov the Torah says that first he says your children are FR speaking to yoseph your children are are going to be like my children they're going to become schim they're going to become tribes they're going to be part of the of the of the N the national um structure but then the Torah says that he lifts his eyes he sees epim and manashe and he turns to yoseph and says who's that all right now and then the Torah says he has trouble seeing but it doesn't say he has trouble seeing before the who's that so in other words it wasn't the trouble seeeing that created the issue what was the issue he sees two Egyptian kids right and yoseph actually answers him by saying these are the kids the children that God has given to me here right so in other words what he's saying to to um to yov is they're okay they're they're part of us they're they're going to be all right they will they will keep keep the faith and the fact that you don't recognize them that's normal because they have lived in Egypt the whole time I I just want to say one thing I I think I've told you before flipping it flipping it to us m is often described as receiving from one generation and giving to the next right that's an incomplete definition Miss Heritage is given to us from one generation it flows through us we add change shape right chent is not in the Torah right Kil the fish I'm thinking of food because we just came from all right there very good all right so the point is that every generation makes its contributions to the Miss before handing it down every family does every individual does so what we're seeing here is now they are going to be an Egypt they're going to be somewhat Egyptian that's going to that's going to happen and there's going to be a struggle what can we accept and what can't we accept and and that will lead into to the next events where they become slaves yes what's the significance of okay it seems to be out of position should be before right let me [Applause] see um l b yeah all right so I understand what you're saying lamid bet should come after lamid after lamid right whether he's talking about the me I I think it's sensible for it to be here as well because what he's doing is he's piling on reasons for doing this so one of the reasons is that this s was purchased by Aon another reason is they Sor buried etc etc so that he gets rid he deals with the first reason and deals with the purchase of Mor M and then he deals with the next reason now they're bu there that's also why I want to be there that's what I would suggest yeah what is the Practical translation apparently it was a a a thing that you placed your your hand that's what is the is it an oath it's an oath that's right does he sarce where does he swear twice when he yeah yeah right correct I don't know why I I didn't um just taking a look yes right when the first one is right so so no so that sentence is asking him to do it he hasn't done it yet but then he ask him again he sh me right correct he's he's he's saying put your put your hand under my my my thigh I want you to swear I'm they making this a real and now swear it now swear it other words it's not to separate it's the it's the Fulfillment of what he is indicating in the previous section right okay so now wait yeah I want go back to the idea of Egyptian concerns with through loyalty right as being possibly a reason why ysep was asked to swear right because his father may have felt that the Egyptians would pressure him and say watch you got to go back there you're egptian and if y can say all right good good good we're we're going to hit it we're going to hit it yes all of these uh explanations by the commentaries explain why Joseph didn't do didn't but yeah what I don't hear is any statement saying that he made a mistake because children should be explaining things to their parents and giving them significant information instead of hiding them and so that it was a problem whatever the reason well that is the that's the impetus for the question that's but that they're they're not but they they're not saying it explicitly see impetus for the question in other words I why doesn't Yosef contact his father because the ran said it would be appropriate because of the covo of his father to to make a a year journey to to see him then they find the reason why but then what they're doing though is they're trying to see why if that's true why if that's true yose behaves the way he does your explanation is made a mistake was he made a mistake they don't necessarily think it's a mistake oh okay because you know given his power and given where he was and given the fact that the Egyptians knew that he was coming from a different country and was captured and in prisoned ETC they didn't think he was like a some person who had no problems and no issues so if he had said I have a father living in the church and I'm going to contact him they probably said okay go ahead I don't think so all right we'll get to that we have to let me let me continue and then take the comments afterwards all right hold on take a look now at yose's interchange with parro turn to page four the bottom of the page yov dies and all of all of Egypt Mourns right as you said they think he's a god they think he's an unusual person yoseph speaks to the house of parro and says if you have if I found favor in your eyes please go to parro and tell him this what does that tell you that he can't go himself right that that as what we would have thought right his vice Roy the one that he's treating as a son the one that that he would all he would have to do is knock on the door and say parro I need to talk to you no no he has to go and and by the way I believe that what he's doing is he's doing scratch my back and I'll scratch yours in other words what I think he's saying is you do this for me and I'll owe you and you'll get paid back at some point along the way it's that's probably a hidden issue here right but it's clear that he can't go to parro alone what he's not Esther right correct correct well said so now take a look and and and you suggested that the Shu was perhaps necessary for the king to hear about take a look at the next line Joseph is choosing his words very carefully my father made me swear now you said that parro might see that as as an important piece of information think even more how much more so when you when you recognize Egypt how does Egypt feel about people that have passed away what do they do they build pyramids they they they afterlife this so saying that my father who passed away and is now no longer with us made me swear ayro cannot break that cannot break that because he believes that that it'll come back to haunt him if he does so keep going what my father made me swear saying and look at the next underl line I'm going to die Kanan sh my father made me swear that I would bury him in the grave that he dug for himself right um in in in in the Canan now stop for a minute he changed the whole story right I mean what what what did yakob say to the brothers and to yoseph bury me with my relatives bury me with with the family yoseph knows that if he goes and he tells any of that to parro he's he's a dead duck right in other words you can't what mitam isn't good enough for you you have to go back there he's right good point excellent excellent idea okay excellent idea that I didn't even think of that that they the the the monarchs built their own pyramids right in other words they they were their resting place so when he says in the grave that I dug Yakov says in the grave that I dug it's an additional reason to do it now let me please go and bury my father vua what do he say I'll come back right in other words that's that's a concern right it's concern that that that yose may take advantage of this exit from Egypt and run away or do whatever he wants so says the Tor is very clear here right says I have to recognize that Shu I have to I I go bury your father as he made you swear right and sure enough right ysep goes to bury his father and who went with him all of parro's servants right all of the zik baso all of the elders in his home parro's home and all of the Elders of Egypt are going now with yoseph why make sure he comes back right could in other words I'm not I'm going to let him go what it's an awful lot of people awful lot of people awful lot of people and that the Torah tells us that people that that makes an impression on the people of the area they say this is Av MIT this is a place where where mourning Egyptians mourned or Egyptians so yoseph has to yoseph has to be very very careful when he makes this is this is probably the most dangerous moment of all and only because he swore and had these arguments that would ring in parro's ear could he turn to others and ask them to go to the King on his have so now let's take a look at what all of these hints in the text are telling us the hints in the text he sat alone at the banquet right the hint in the text um that was it was pleasing to parro and and the brother and the and his his servants that the brothers have come back the explanation that it was an issue of dual loyalty or an issue of um that he didn't come from an honored honored family what's what you see is I think that Yosef could not he didn't have anybody to trust what would he do imagine he go to one of the servants and say to him I want you to go to my father and bring him this message what would the servant do as soon as he leaves the house go to parro right go to parro and say parro you know what he's still or right or whatever it is there is no one that Yosef can trust and therefore he does not send a note to his father because he can't it's a suggestion in addition to all the other suggestions that that were made and it underscores for us that we shouldn't feel that the ysep story or understand ysep story is a fairy tale we shouldn't assume oh yoseph becomes Vice Roy and he's now Yosef is still yoseph and yoseph the sad truth about yoseph is that he's always alone he's always isolated he's all right isolated from his brothers right isolated from the Egyptians he's and the brothers by the way are concerned after Yakov dies they go to Yosef and say please don't take it out there even though yoseph has said God made me come here don't worry etc etc the brothers are still frightened and what's also fascinating is that he gets a reward for being Yosef by his two sons being shim but that means that what's not going to be name Yosef is not going to be part of the right once again yoseph is outside outside learn from himle stay true to ourselves we can't listen to the us we can't list right right right right you're going where I want it to take us which is that understand the truths that emerge from stories in the Torah and recognize their relevance to our own situation today and over and over and over again you will see that the stories that are in the Torah are not just stories but they are the reality yes I think I think again we have to understand that though though he was pushed by poar to become the the uh one responsible for all the for all the for all the things in the house sold nonetheless he's still a slave and he who is he going to get do this and how do I know that that who I get to do it isn't going to just turn around and go to potifa and say do you know what Yosef is doing it's the same thing it's just just increased when he becomes the vice he his father's concerned I mean what happens if picture this he sends a message otherb the of so what you're saying which is a good suggestion what you're saying is that one of the other reasons that Yosef goes through all of the machinations that he goes through is because he can't reveal until after the Brothers have themselves to be be different [Music]