Netvort Parshas Mikeitz 5771:    Out of Place
By Rabbi Joshua (contextually known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

The Torah tells us that when Yosef's brothers came to Egypt to buy food during the famine pandemic, they were taken to see Yosef, the viceroy of the country, to buy their provisions.  When they see each other, Yosef recognizes his brothers, but they don't recognize him (Bereishis, 47:8).  Why was this so?  Rashi, citing the Talmud, explains that when the brothers last saw Yosef, he was too young to have a beard, so that they could not recognize him now, with a beard. Yosef, however, was able to recognize them, because they were already older when he was among them at home. Ramban points out that some of the brothers, such as Yissachar and Zevulun, were not much older than Yosef, but since Yosef readily recognized the older brothers, he realized the younger ones as well.  In addition, says the Ramban, Yosef knew that they would be coming down to Egypt to obtain food, while the brothers never thought that the brother who was sold as a slave to the Yishmaelites would end up being the viceroy of Egypt. This additional comment of the Ramban provides us with a window toward understanding the entire drama that played itself out in Egypt between Yosef and his brothers as we will see.

Rashi, after explaining why Yosef did recognize his brothers while they didn't recognize him, mentions a midrash, which explains the verse somewhat differently.  The midrash says that Yosef recognized his brothers and had mercy on them when they fell into his hands, and were dependent on him for their sustenance, but they did not recognize him as a brother when he fell into their hands, and did not treat him with mercy.  While this midrash seems to offer a different interpretation of the verse than does the Talmud, as cited earlier by Rashi, I believe that the two explanations are related.  What the midrash is telling us is that because Yosef's brothers hated him and did not have mercy on him when they had the chance, they did not recognize him when they saw him in Egypt.  As Rav Reuven Katz elaborates on very beautifully in his Dudaei Reuven, people who get to know others within a certain context may not recognize them when seeing them in a different context, especially when that different context is one in which they could not imagine the other person to be found. Yosef's brothers were so filled with animosity toward him that they could not imagine that this person, whom they treated without respect, could possibly rise to the high position of viceroy of Egypt.  Ramban, in fact, writes that although the Torah tells us that, at first, Yosef disguised himself so that his brothers would not recognize him, he realized after their initial encounter in Egypt that he would not need to continue his disguise, because it was clear that they had no idea who he really was, and would not realize it, either. Their hostile attitude toward their brother still prevailed, and prevented them from seeing the reality that was before their eyes. Yosef, on the other hand, who was never hostile to his brothers, was able to recognize them immediately.

Ramban, and after him many other commentators throughout the ages, asked why Yosef, during his years in Egypt, never informed his father of his whereabouts. One of the most popular answers given is that of the Abarbanel, who says that Yosef wanted to bring his brothers to repent for their act of selling him.  In order to do this, he needed to put them into a similar situation as that in which they had originally sinned. He did this by placing Binyamin in dangle of being taken as a slave.   When they stood up for him, they repented, and that is when Yosef revealed his identity to them. Perhaps we can suggest, as a variation of this explanation, that Yosef wanted his brothers to repent, not so much for their act of selling him into slavery but for the underlying reason behind that act, which was their hostility toward him, which prevented them from recognizing him in the context of him serving as an Egyptian viceroy. That is why he continually dropped hints of who he was, for example, when he seated them in the order of their birth at a meal he invited them to in the palace. In the end, the brothers did not recognize Yosef on their own, and even when he did reveal his identity, they were terrified and had trouble believing it.  Perhaps this is part of the reason why the Ramban says that we do not really know whether Yosef and his brothers ever truly reconciled.  Our challenge today is to treat all of our fellow Jews with love and mercy, and not perpetuate the tragic saga of Yosef and his brothers.

We here at the Netvort nerve center wish a joyous and delightful Chanukah to everyone out there in Netvortland.

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