Joseph, as the viceroy of Egypt, had set his brothers up in a situation where their youngest brother Benjamin would have to remain in Egypt, as a slave to Pharaoh. Yehuda stood before Joseph and begged him to have mercy on their elderly father who could not bear the loss of another son. He spoke to him respectfully yet firmly, offering to serve the viceroy in Benjamin’s place.
When Joseph saw how his brothers were concerned about Benjamin and Jacob, he realized they had repented since the days when they had tormented him without regard for their father’s feelings. He no longer had any reason to hide his identity from his brothers. He ordered all the Egyptians out of the room, to spare his brothers the shame, and then revealed his identity to them.
The brothers were so dumbfounded they could not say a word. All the pieces of the mystery of their Egyptian experience now came together. They were ashamed of their earlier treatment of Joseph. Joseph, however, consoled them, telling them that although their intentions had not been proper, G-d had used the incident as a means of putting Joseph into the position of being a benefactor to his family. Joseph sent his brothers back to Canaan with wagons to bring their father and families down to Egypt, where they would be protected from the famine. This would be the beginning of the exile foretold earlier to Abraham.
When Jacob heard that not only was Joseph still alive, but that he had also been able to maintain his level of righteousness in the palace of Pharaoh, his spirits were revived. He immediately made plans to travel to Egypt to see Joseph before he would die.
Jacob and his family came to Egypt, where Pharaoh cordially greeted them. They settled in Goshen, a suburb of Egypt, where they would be able to live apart from the Egyptian culture.
The Torah relates that as the famine became worse and the Egyptian resources were depleted, Joseph took all the Egyptians’ land for Pharaoh, in exchange for food. He resettled the whole nation in different areas. This was done in order to make his brothers feel more comfortable. They would not feel like strangers if everyone else had also been relocated. He also extended an exemption to the priests. This would serve as a precedent for the exemption of the Levites once the Jewish slavery in exile began.
...Joseph sustained his father and his brothers…according to the children (Gen. 47:12)
Joseph did not take advantage of his position, but used the same criterion in distributing to his brothers as he did to everyone else. He did not even send for his father until authorized by Pharaoh.
When the Ponovezher Rav’s wife passed away, he ate his meals in the Ponovhez yeshiva with the students. He insisted, however, on subtracting the cost of his meals from his salary, not wanting to take advantage of his position.
Similarly, when Rav Chaim Schmelczer would rent a car on fundraising trips for his yeshiva, he would rent a compact-sized car, despite being of a rather large build, so as not to spend more of the yeshiva’s money than necessary.
Did You Know...
The tenth of Teves is a fast day, commemorating a few events:
- the siege on Jerusalem during the first Temple,
- the passing of Ezra and Nechemia, the leaders who built the second Temple, and
- the Egyptian King Ptolemy forcing the rabbis to translate the Torah into Greek (Septuagint), during the second Temple period. This was tragic since the other nations would now misinterpret the Torah, as they did not have the Oral tradition.
