BY: Josh Trachtenberg
The final two parshiot of Sefer Bereishit provide the narrative of one of the most eloquent and humane expressions of emotion and love in all of the Torah. Yosef is a figure whose character signifies transition. As such, Parashat Mikeitz can be viewed through the dramatic, touching, and beautiful shift of Yosef’s disposition towards his brothers.
In the broader narrative of Jacob’s sons, Yosef experiences many transitions. His role lacks consistency; within the span of only a few parshiot, Yosef possesses numerous and differing roles. He is introduced as both a beloved son and a hated brother; he segues from these opposed positions within his own family to the roles of slave, prisoner, and dream interpreter in his life after exile from his family. His final experience with his brothers before beginning a new life is one in which his role is decidedly negative, and in which his social standing is painfully low.
In Egypt, Pharaoh seeks Yosef in a moment of weakness and fear. The Torah describes the reaction of Pharaoh to his own dreams as being one of desperation. " וַיְהִי בַבֹּקֶר, וַתִּפָּעֶם רוּחוֹ, וַיִּשְׁלַח וַיִּקְרָא אֶת-כָּל-חַרְטֻמֵּי מִצְרַיִם, וְאֶת-כָּל-חֲכָמֶיהָ; וַיְסַפֵּר פַּרְעֹה לָהֶם אֶת-חֲלֹמוֹ, וְאֵין-פּוֹתֵר אוֹתָם לְפַרְעֹה."1 "It was the morning [immediately after having his second dream] and Pharaoh’s spirit was agitated, and he sent for all of the magicians and wise people of Egypt, and he told them his dreams and they did not interpret them for Pharaoh."2
The great Hassidic master Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev deduced a powerful message from a description of one of Yosef’s many transitions.3The Berditchever was perplexed by a redundant use of language in the verse that tells of the moment in which Yosef first saw his brothers in Egypt: "וַיַּרְא יוֹסֵף אֶת-אֶחָיו, וַיַּכִּרֵם; וַיִּתְנַכֵּר אֲלֵיהֶם"4" When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them; but he acted like a stranger toward them.”5 In this verse, the root הכר, to recognize, is employed twice. The second appearance of the root is in the form of a transitive verb, and, as such, the act of recognizing specifically denotes a recognition of the brothers that is more profound than the simple seeing and recognizing described in the first part of the verse. This verse arguably signifies another transition for Yosef; in this verse, a change in Yosef’s disposition towards his brothers becomes realized.
The Berditchiver points out that the moment in which Yosef sees his brothers bowing and pleading for food to survive the famine is one in which the dreams he dreamt in the house of his father become reality. The Berditchiver suggests that the redundant use of the verb “to recognize” signifies that when Yosef saw his brothers anew, he recognized them as approaching him from a position of pain, trying and discomfort, and was suddenly aware of how callously he had spoken to his brothers about his dreams.
When Yosef initially dreamt in his father’s house, he was not at all sensitive to his brothers. In his youth, Yosef was not quiet or humble about his dreams; he exhibited little humility when boasting to his brothers that they will one day bow to him. The Berditchiver contends that Yosef could have recognized the moment in which his brothers bowed to him in Egypt as the realization and manifestation of his dreams as he understood them while still living with his brothers. At that earlier point in time, he disparaged his brothers by clearly implying his superiority, that he felt he was greater than them. To the Berditchiver, Yosef’s transitive recognition of his brothers is one in which he no longer wants them to experience pain in their own souls. When his brothers bowed to him in Egypt, Yosef was provided with occasion to express the merits of his egotistical perspective. Rav Levi Yitzchak frames the eyes of Yosef, the powerful Egyptian official, as having a beautiful difference from the eyes of Yosef, in his role as brother. Instead of seizing the opportunity to shame his brothers for not having believed him while in the home of Jacob, he goes through great lengths to ensure that knowing his dreams had come true and that he had surpassed them in standing does not hurt them.
Earlier, Yosef provoked his brothers and fed them with desire to kill him. Upon the fruition of his dream in Egypt, Yosef does not exhibit the egocentric qualities that broke his family apart. Instead, he sees his brothers with sensitivity. With this new perspective, Yosef, albeit in a strange way, initiates the process of mending the wounds between himself and his brothers and repairing his father’s broken heart.
The intersection of Shabbat Chanukah and Parashat Miketz is potentially very meaningful, especially if considered in light of the altered landscape of Yosef’s relationship with his brothers. The Berditchiver describes Chanukah candles as providing a distinct type of light, and consequently Chanukah presents unique and holy opportunities in terms of sight and seeing.6
In Parshat Miketz, Yosef’s evolution and maturation allow him to see his brothers in a new light. His second recognition of his brothers is one in which he sees them entirely differently than he had before. Instead of existing as pawns for Yosef in his role of power, Yosef recognizes his brothers with sensitive, loving, and caring eyes.
When his brothers bowed before him in Egypt, Yosef had two possibilities of sight. His immediate disposition could have been to realize that his dream had come true, and he could have exclaimed in victory and triumph that he was Yosef. This would have revealed the same Yosef who had caused emotional pain to his brothers in the past; he could have compounded the insult of begging for food with the injury of being told, once again, that they were inferior to their brother. Instead, the new light that illuminated to Yosef the moment in which his brothers bowed before him allowed him to recognize his brothers with a disposition of sensitivity and love. Yosef could have seen the bows of his brothers in two radically different ways. He could have recognized his brothers as the Yosef who provoked his way into slavery. Instead, in a way that demonstrates the complex evolution and growth of his character, Yosef sees his brothers with a disposition of caring, and recognizes their bowing as an imperative to embark on a quest to repair a fractured relationship.
1 Genesis 41:8↩
2 JPS Translation↩
3 Kedushat Levi Parshat Miketz 4↩
4 Genesis 42:7↩
5 Translation ibid.↩
6 Kedushat Levi Derushim L’Chanukah 2↩
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