A Thought on Parshas Miketz

"...v'hem lo hiki'ruhu..." "...and they did not recognize him..." (42:8) "...ben immo v'yomer ha'zeh achi'chem..." "...the son of his mother and he said, "is this your brother?..." (43:29) When the brothers appear before Yosef in his Egyptian court, he recognizes them despite the passage of time since they last met. The above verse alerts us, however, that they did not recognize him. Rashi cites the most well known interpretation, namely, that Yosef had been quite young at their final encounter, whereas he now had a beard. This was the reason that he looked different. The Panae'ach Raza offers a different interpretation. I will preface with a thought of my own: we all remember the midrash, so often quoted at the Pesach seder, about the merits with which our people deserved to be redeemed from exile in Egypt. They were careful to retain their original Hebrew names, they were careful to retain their Hebrew language, and they kept their form of attire. These decisions kept them distinctive and blocked them from blending in and assimilating. The Egyptians would look at them and be reminded that those slaves were an independent race unto themselves, and this probably led to further taunting and persecution. The Jews did not blend in. That is what gave them solidarity. Now, the Panae'ach Raza suggests that the reason that the brothers were not able to recognize Yosef is along the same lines. Yosef now went by the name Tzafnas Panae'ach. This means that he had changed his name. He wore the attire of Egyptian royalty. This means that he no longer retained his native clothing. He spoke to the brothers in Egyptian. This means that he changed his language. (He adds that Yosef also had a beard, meaning that his body had changed as well). The selfsame elements which our people held on to in Egypt as a means of maintaining ethnic identity were the elements which Yosef had altered in adopting his identity as a ruler of Egypt. This is why his brothers could not recognize him. He no longer displayed the signs of being one of them. *********************** The second verse cited above is actually five words taken from a larger statement there. The broader verse says that Yosef recognized his brother Binyamin, who was the only other son of Yosef's mother Rachel, and he then asked the others, "Is this your little brother?" HaShem should guide you, my son." In the spirit of Chanukah which is now upon us, I will share with you the comment of the Panae'ach Raza. He notes that the last letters of these five words in Hebrew (ben immo v'yomer ha'zeh achi'chem) are the Hebrew letters nun, vov, raish, hae, mem. If you put them together they spell out the word menorah. This is of course an allusion to Chanukah which almost always falls out during the week of our parsha MiKetz. Probing deeper, though, the Panae'ach Raza ponders the placing of this sofei teivos allusion in this verse. He notes that the menorah was a key implement in the Bais HaMikdash. The region where the Bais HaMikdash was built was shared by the tribe of Binyamin! Thus, within the words chosen by Yosef, we catch a glimpse of his ruach haKodesh - his inspired vision. As he looked at his younger brother Binyanim, he knew that his descendants would merit the gift of housing the Holy Temple, symbolized by the menorah. He hinted at this, as does the Torah itself, through the alliteration which spells it out. Good Shabbos and Chanukah Sameach. D Fox

A thought on Parshas Vayeshev

"...v'hinei archas Yishamaelim..." "...a caravan of Ismaelites..." (37:25) Once the brothers decided to hoist Yosef out of the well and sell him as a slave, we have a variety of verses referencing that sale. Some verses reference the "Yishmaelim" as the slave mongers who purchased Yosef. Other verses reference the "Midyanim." Ultimately the Torah says he was brought to Egypt and sold there. Later still (45:4), however, we have Yosef asserting to his brothers that "you were the ones who sold me." Who did what in this cryptic saga? The Panae'ach Raza offers the following sequence of logic to explain the variance among the verses: The brothers sold Yosef to the Yishmaelim. However, being that Yosef was in the dry well (about which we are told that it held no water, which our sages take as a sign that it did house scorpions and serpents), the Arabs who purchased Yosef were afraid to descend into that pit lest they be bitten by the vermin creeping down there. So, they waited until a caravan of Midianites passed near. The Arabs of Midian, we are told elsewhere (BaMidbar 22:24), were versed in the occult arts. They could charm snakes and were able therefore to enter the pit and draw Yosef up. They handed him over to the Yishmaelim, who had to tend to Yosef's distress after his having been subjected to the traumatic ordeal among snakes and poisonous scorpions. How do we know that Yosef had become ill with fright? The Panae'ach Raza reasons that on the one hand, the Torah considers Yosef to have been a very attractive man (39:6), but on the other hand, he was purchased for only 20 silver coins (37:28), which is very cheap by Torah standards (see Shmos 21:32). He was apparently sick with stress when the Midianites handed him over to the Yishmaelim. That lowered his value on the slave market, for who would hire a sickly servant? The Yishmaelim had to revive Yosef to make him marketable. How did the Yishmaeli Arabs know how to treat his transitory illness? It is, as we learn elsewhere (37:25), because they were versed in the healing arts. They bought him for very little money, then restored his health to a robust state. In his now recovered healthy condition, he was a prize catch, which is why he was purchased by a royal officer (37:36) who put him in a position of responsibility, something unlikely to occur had Yosef still been frail and sickly. So, even though it was Yishmaelim who actually sold him (39:1) to that Egyptian, it was only through the agency of the Midianites who rescued him from the well that they had been able to acquire Yosef. Hence, the Torah writes that it was the Midianites who "made" that sale (37:36). If so, the brothers' sale to the Yishmaelim was facilitated by the Midianites, which is why one verse (37:28) is somewhat open-ended, implying that the brothers sold Yosef to the Midianites. This approach of the Panae'ach Raza is profound, not for its spiritual or moral lesson, nor for any mystical nuance, but because it gives us a deeper sense of how a Ba'al Tosafos applies the tools of analysis and precision to understanding the Written Torah, much as he approaches the Talmud. Wishing you a thought-filled Shabbos. D Fox