Question #1: Exporting grain
Who authorized Yosef to export grain, the most important commodity in a famine year?
Question #2: Head of State
When is the first time in history that we see that the two positions, that of “head of state” and “head of government,” were separated?
Question #3: Bris Milah
Why did Yosef command the Egyptians to perform bris milah? After all, Jews do not proselytize.
Question #4: Retail
Why did Yosef only sell retail?
Question #5: Yosef’s Brothers
When did Yosef’s brothers realize how great he was?
Last week, we saw how Yosef presented an absolutely brilliant agricultural and financial plan for Egypt. We are going to continue from the point that we left off —
Let us look at three statements in the following pasuk (Bereishis 41:40).
Pharaoh continues talking to Yosef: “You shall be over my household, and by your orders will all my people be provided; only by my chair will I rise above you.”
What does “my household” refer to? It certainly doesn’t mean his domestic household.
In those days, a state, a country, ministries, cabinets – they were all one thing, run out of the household of the king. As I noted in last week’s article, Yosef had advised that they appoint someone who would have power over the entire country, including even the military and all construction projects. We explained why the economic overseer needed to be above all the other ministers of the land. Pharaoh now tells Yosef that he will be the highest officer of the entire government. “All of my ministers will be required to answer to you, either directly or indirectly. In addition, you will have a very specific responsibility in connection with this entire program: only according to your instructions will people be fed. You will be in complete control, the absolute ruler, the czar over the Egyptian economy. Your specific charge in that role is to make sure that everyone in the nation is fed, and, at the same time, no one will be fed without your approval.”
I would like to point out something curious: Pharoah authorizes Yosef to ensure that everyone in the country has food, but we do not see him authorizing Yosef to sell grain to foreigners. We are told later that Yosef does sell grain to foreigners. So, this must have been included in Yosef’s virtually absolute authority.
Let us dwell on this for a moment. If you are in a country where there is much grain or oil or the like, you only sell what is surplus and/or completely replaceable. You certainly do not sell what might be necessary for the country itself. Similarly, you only sell munitions that you can manufacture yourself, are unnecessary or are obsolete. You sell grain only when you know that have enough for this year and that next year you will be receiving more. Yosef’s fourteen-year economic plan that he presented to Pharaoh revolves around keeping enough grain to ensure that all the Egyptians are fed through the years of famine. Nevertheless, Yosef assumes control and sells grain to foreigners.
The explanation for Yosef’s actions is found in the pasuk which tells us that the Egyptians had stored more grain than they could count. Yosef realized that not only did they have enough grain for Egypt, but they had a significant surplus. Yosef may have been employed by Egypt, but he viewed himself as responsible for mankind. He did not see his obligation to ensure that only Egyptians survived. Of course, the basis of this was his realization that his “employer’ was not Pharaoh. It is G-d.
Moreover, his selling grain to other nations ensures that Pharaoh and Egypt became the most powerful nation in the world. Selling grain out of the country serves Egypt’s interests. Thus, we have successfully addressed our opening question.
The pasuk continues: “I will continue to have the royal throne over you.” This is reiterated to Yosef by Pharaoh.
My five-year-old grandson climbed up a stack of plastic chairs, and he said that “I am above everyone!” I told him that he was doing what Pharaoh did: “Only my chair I will keep above you.” Another peek into a complex personality of an absolute ruler…
However, let us note something significant. Pharaoh literally says: “only by the throne am I greater than you.” This implies that Pharaoh has limited himself to being only the Head of State, and given Yosef full powers as the Head of Government. Presumably, this is the first time in history where these two roles were separated.
Let us return to the Chumash:
Pharaoh continues to speak to Yosef and says: “Behold, I have placed you above the entire land of Egypt.” And the next pasuk: “Pharaoh gave his ring to Yosef.” We know from here and elsewhere that Yosef now has total authority to legislate anything that he wants in Egypt. Pharaoh has ceded to him absolute legal authority and control. All that is withheld from Yosef is the throne.
Pharaoh dresses Yosef in fine clothes and places him in the second chariot… and says to him: “I am Pharaoh,” Although you have complete authority, do not forget that I am Pharaoh and I am above you. “I am Pharaoh, and, without your permission, no one in the land of Egypt will move even their hand or foot.”
Aside from the homiletic midrashic passage on the words “the second chariot,” the rishonim and other early commentaries have two differing ways to explain what is meant by “the second chariot.” I had always assumed this to mean that there was a chariot reserved for the prime minister of Egypt and that Pharaoh gave that chariot now for Yosef’s use. Aside from some curious political problems that this creates (would not the previous user of this chariot now begin plotting against Yosef for taking away his position and honor), it does not fit particularly well into a literal reading of the pasuk. Literally, the pasuk states that “Pharaoh had Yosef ride in the second chariot that was his,” or more accurately rendered into English as “Pharaoh had Yosef ride in his (Pharaoh’s) second chariot. In other words, precisely because of concerns that the current chief minister would be jealous of Yosef, Pharaoh gave Yosef his own second chariot – the one that was used for when Pharaoh’s main chariot needed servicing. Pharaoh will have a new chariot manufactured for himself, but Yosef will use the chariot that no one ever used before – except Pharaoh.
Pharaoh gives Yosef a new name and a wife, and we are told that Yosef was thirty years old when all this happens.
Note that Yosef does not choose his wife — Pharaoh assigns Yosef a wife. Apparently, becoming head of government in Egypt means that you can rule over everyone else, but your own most intimate decisions are rendered by Pharaoh. We see this again in next week’s parsha, when Yosef needs to ask Pharaoh for permission to leave the country to bury his father.
Also note (as already noted by Ibn Ezra) that Yosef’s father-in-law is a priest – and therefore not from the ruling elite of Egypt. I presume that Pharaoh did not want any noble to be able to claim that he was Yosef’s father-in-law or brother-in-law. Pharaoh wanted Yosef’s personal life to be completely outside the view of Egyptian society. He would be above the social dynamics of the higher echelons of Egypt, as, no doubt, Pharaoh was.
It is not written in the text, but how many wives should we assume that Pharaoh, a king in an ancient Oriental monarchy, had? We can presumably assume that he had a large harem, possibly hundreds of wives.
How many wives did Yosef have? Only one. Yosef did not treat himself as an Oriental ruler. He acted as a typical Jewish husband, and this was the household he created. Even with all the power and control that he was given, he remained Yosef. This is why he could influence his sons to remain in his unique place in the world and not assimilate into Egyptian society. The chances of them not assimilating were almost nil, and yet we see that they did not.
Returning to the pasuk. The entire seven years of the tremendous bounty is mentioned in one single, small pasuk (v. 47). When something is well planned out, even in its minor details, carrying it out can be so smooth that there is nothing to report.
But this is not what normally happens. What usually occurs is what we see in Putin’s war in Ukraine. Everything was planned out, but nothing goes according to plan.
With Yosef, however, all went according to plan. “The seven years of plenty that were in the land of Egypt ended.” We are told what was happening in Yosef’s household (vv. 50-52) and that the plans that were put in place beforehand were happening. All the local cities were storing their grain but were doing so in national silos. Because Yosef had nationalized the entire economy, the local governments had smoothly become arms of the national government. Yosef had used his powers to take complete control of the country’s grain storage.
“And the seven years of famine started as Yosef had predicted, and all the surrounding lands were struck with famine.”
We see that the famine affected the lands surrounding Egypt. But did these lands have the seven years of bounty? It seems not. If we look back at Pharaoh’s dreams and Yosef’s interpretations, the seven years of bounty applied only to the land of Egypt, while the famine included the surrounding lands. The surrounding lands did not stockpile in advance, while Egypt did.
Now the famine has begun, but there is still bread in Egypt. The next pasuk states: “The whole people of Egypt became hungry, and they cried to Pharaoh.” Note that they went to Pharaoh, not Yosef. To them, Yosef was an outsider, even though, and perhaps specifically because, he had so much power and control. “And Pharaoh said to them: ‘Go to Yosef and do what he commands.’” After all, Pharaoh was no longer the head of government. Yosef was.
This is slightly off-topic, but the midrash, quoted by Rashi here, says that Yosef commanded them to perform bris milah. Why did Yosef make them circumcise themselves? It is a commandment for Jews, not gentiles, and we do not try and proselytize. I saw a sefer that had nine answers to this question, the vast majority based on kabbalah. I do not have the background to address those answers, but there is a beautiful answer from Rav Yonasan Eibeschutz in his Ye’aros Devash. Yosef knew that Bnei Yisrael would end up in Egypt for a significant period of time, for over two hundred years. He knew that they would assimilate to some degree with Egyptian culture, and he wanted to make sure that they would not lose the most basic mitzvah of bris milah. By having everyone surrounding them circumcised, he ensured that no matter how assimilated they became, Bnei Yisrael would continue to practice bris milah, just like everyone around them.
Continuing with the Chumash: “The famine was across the whole land. Yosef opened storage areas across the land, vayishbor to Egypt.” This word vayishbor is a very unusual word. Usually, vayimkorwould be used for “and he sold.” The word vayishbor means specifically, “and he sold retail.”
No one was permitted to purchase more than was needed for his family. Yosef absolutely would not permit it, and this prevented hoarding. No one could hoard if it was impossible to purchase more than was needed for their family’s immediate needs. It was a brilliant plan of Yosef’s, not only to ensure that there was enough not only for the Egyptians to survive, but also for the rest of the world. Yosef knew how much food there was, where it all was, and where it all went.
“The famine was very strong in Egypt.” And the next pasuk tells us, “All the lands came to Egypt to buy grain from Yosef.”
“And Yaakov saw that there was shever in Egypt.” Throughout this story we have been talking about grain, bread, and the like. We said about Yosef that vayishbor, that he sold retail. What does Yaakov now see? That one can buy retail in Egypt. One would not be able to go to the Egyptians and make a deal about becoming their agent in Canaan; one would only be able to buy retail in Egypt. This was how Yosef ensured that there would be no hoarding or racketeering. One would have to go in person and present himself; this would prevent even the most determined of racketeers.
“Yaakov said to his sons, lamah tisra’u?” There are many interpretations regarding what this means. One interpretation is that he told his sons, “Why are you looking at one another as if to see who will be the one to go down to Egypt? They will only sell each person enough for himself and his immediate family. For us to receive enough food, you all need to go.”
Here is an interesting question: The first pasuk says that Yaakov sawthat there is retail food in Egypt, while the second pasuk has Yaakov tell his sons that he heard that there is retail food in Egypt. Why the difference?
Rashi explains that Yaakov knew what was happening in Egypt through a prophetic vision. He saw via prophecy that there was food to be purchased in Egypt. But he tells his sons that he heard about this. Yaakov does not tell his sons that he had a prophetic vision — he is a humble man, even hiding his greatness from his sons. Instead, he tells them that he “heard” that there is food for sale.
The pasuk continues: “Go down, buy us a little food so that we can live and not die.” And so the brothers go down to Egypt.
I would like to share an idea with you about the next part of the story.
The story continues with the brothers descending to Egypt and their meeting Yosef. They do not recognize Yosef and Yosef recognizes them. Rashi famously says that this was because the brothers last saw Yosef when he was still a young man, without a beard. I believe there could be a simpler explanation as well.
The midrash says that, when the brothers descended to Egypt, they were searching for Yosef. They went through ten entrances so that they could search all over for him. Where did they expect to find him? Where you would find slaves. They searched in the work camps, the press gangs and other lowly slave workers. We see that even when they have their entire dialogue with Yosef, they keep saying, “Oh, we were too harsh on the kid.” But they do not at any point think that Yosef had been right, that one day he would be their ruler and they would bow down to him. Not for an instant. This is where the big shocker in Parshas Vayigash comes in.
The midrash on Yosef’s revealing himself is incredible. The pasuk says that Yosef sent everyone out of the room. According to the midrash, Yosef turns to his brothers and says: “You lied. You said that your brother is dead, but he is not dead.”
“He’s not dead? How do you know?” The brothers ask, surprised.
“He is alive. I know him. He is in this very room.”
The brothers, says the midrash, begin to search the room, looking for any place where someone could hide. Even with all the hints in front of them, they could not believe that this person in front of them, this person who has saved the world, is their kid brother Yosef. This is like the Gemara eloquently says: We can stare at the truth for our entire life and never see it — because we do not want to see it.
Seeing is not always believing…
We have now answered most of our opening questions. I recommend that you check back and see if you feel that they have all been answered to your satisfaction!
