This weeks Parsha Preview is co-dedicated to the refuah of Sara bat Hodda, Avraham Moshe Ben Miriam Tova and Kyla Chaya Bat Sarah Polsun may Hashem grant them all a complete recovery very soon.
Happy Birthday to my friends who will celebrate Birthday's this coming week:
Happy Birthday to:
Avi Bitton
David Rotstein
Mitchell Lipperman
“Ad Meyah Vesrim Shannah”
Mikeitz
Genesis 41:1-44:17
Rosh Chodesh will take Place Wednesday Night December 16 and Thursday December 17, 2009
Channukah
Candle Lighting in
Candle Lighting in Thornhill 4:24 P.M.
Last Night of Channukah is Friday Night December 19, 2009. Two Brachot, Lhadlik Ner (Shel) Channukah and Sheasa Nissim Lavoteynu. Light all eight lights. Channukah lights (candles) first then Shabbat Candles. Candles must burn a minimum of one hour and forty-five minutes after Shabbat Candle lighting time.
Main characters of this week’s Parsha
Yaakov
Yosef
Pharoah
Yehuda
Benyamin
Shimon
Yosef's incarceration at last ends when Pharaoh dreams of seven overweight cows that are swallowed up by seven thin cows, and of seven large ears of grain swallowed by seven lean ears. Yosef deduces that the dreams to mean that seven years of abundance will be followed by seven years of famine and advises Pharaoh to stockpile grain during the plentiful years. Pharaoh selects Yosef to govern
A food shortage spreads throughout the region, and food can be obtained only in
Yaakov agrees to send Benyamin only after Yehuda assumes personal and eternal responsibility for him. This time Yosef receives them kindly, releases Shimon, and invites them to an eventful dinner at his home. But then he plants his silver goblet, purportedly imbued with magic powers, in Benyamin's sack. When the brothers set out for home the next morning they are pursued, searched, and arrested when the goblet is discovered. Yosef offers to set them free and retain only Benyamin as his slave.
Food for further thought……….
In Parshat Miketz, Yosef rises to royalty in
Who Really Sold Yosef?
After throwing your brother into a pit to die, would you be able to sit down to eat? Yosef's brothers did, as the Torah tells us (see 37:24-25)
However, the Torah does not tell us if they sat near the pit, listening to Yosef's screaming and pleading, or if they sat far away from the pit, to enjoy some peace and quiet.
So what difference does it make?
Believe it or not, this tiny detail affects our understanding of almost every aspect of the story that ensues. In this week's question we will entertain each of these two possibilities - showing how this missing detail leads several commentators to conclude that the brothers may never have sold Yosef after all.
However, before we discuss that detail, we must first review the Torah's description of these events, making sure that we understand not only what everyone is doing and planning, but more important - what everyone is thinking .We should also point out, that the distance between Hebron, where Yaakov is living, and Dotan, where the brothers are grazing their sheep, is about 100 kilometers. Therefore, the brothers are probably gone for at least several weeks. Certainly, they have set up a 'campsite' in the Dotan area.
As Yosef arrives at Dotan, the brothers conspire to kill him (see 37:18-20). However, their plan concerning how to kill him is revised several times.
PLAN A-The Brother’s Plot
"They (the brothers) saw him from afar, and before he came close... they conspired to kill him. And they said to one another, behold the 'dreamer' is coming. Now, let's kill him and throw his body into one of the pits..." (see 37:18-20).
Reuven opposes Yosef's murder, he realizes that the brothers would not accept his opinion. Therefore, instead of arguing with his brothers, he devises a shrewd plan that will first postpone Yosef's execution, and enable him at a later time to secretly bring Yosef back home.
PLAN B – Reuven’s Plot
"... And Reuven said... 'Do not shed blood, cast him into a pit [in order that he die out in the Midbar (wilderness), but do not touch him yourselves --'
Then, the narrative continues by informing the reader of Reuven's true intentions..."in order to save him (Yosef) from them and return him to his father." (37:22).
Reuven's official and accepted plan certified by the brothers is to let Yosef die in a less violent manner, i.e. to throw him alive into a deep pit to die, instead of murdering him in cold blood. However, Reuven's secretly plans to later return to that pit and free him.
Reuven even suggests the specific 'pit' into which to throw Yosef - "ha-bor hazeh asher ba-midbar".
Unaware of Reuven's true intentions, the brothers agree. Yosef arrives, and - in accordance with PLAN B - the brothers immediately strip Yosef of his special tunic and throw him alive into the pit (see 37:23-24). Afterward, the Torah informs us, they sit down to eat (see 37:25).
Until this point, the plot is clear. Now, two important details are missing which affect our understanding of the rest of the story.
1) WHERE did they sit down to eat, i.e. close by or far away?
2) WHERE is REUVEN, eating with them, or off on his own?
Even though the Torah does not tell us, we can attempt to answer these two questions by employing some common sense reasoning.
(1) Where are the brothers eating?
The brothers are grazing their sheep in the Dotan area (see 37:17 today the area of Jenin, between Shechem and Afula), which is on the northern slopes of central mountain range of
We recall that the brothers throw Yosef into a pit in the Midbar. Would it not make sense for them to return afterward to their campsite in the Dotan area to eat (see 37:16-17). Besides, it would not be very appetizing to eat lunch while listening to your little brother screaming for his life from a pit nearby - see 42:21 for proof that he was indeed screaming.
And even should one conclude that it would have been just as logical for them to have sat down to eat near the pit, when we consider the whereabouts of Reuven, it becomes quite clear that they must have sat down to eat farther away.
2) Where is Reuven?
Considering that Reuven's real plan is to later save Yosef from the pit, it would only be logical from him to either stay near the pit, or at least remain with his brothers (wherever they may be). Certainly it would not make sense, according to his real plan, for him to go far away, and to leave his brothers by the pit. However, from the continuation of the story we know for sure that Reuven did not stay near the pit, because he returns to the pit only after Yosef is sold. Therefore, if Reuven left the pit area, then certainly the brothers also must have left that area. Hence, it would only be logical to conclude that the brothers are indeed eating away from the pit, and Reuven must be eating with them. After all, not joining them for lunch could raise their suspicion. Furthermore, the Torah never tells us that he left his brothers.
This interpretation does not follow Rashi's explanation that Reuven had left his brothers, as it was his turn to spend time with his father. The above approach is strengthened by the Rashbam and Chizkuni.
PLAN C – Yehuda’s Plan
Now that we have established that Reuven and the brothers are sitting down to eat at a distance far away from the pit, we can continue our study of the narrative, to see if this conclusion fits with its continuation:
"And the brothers sat down to eat, and they lifted up their eyes and saw a caravan of Yishmaelim coming from the Gilad carrying spices... to Egypt. Then Yehuda said to his brothers, 'What do we gain by killing our brother ... let us sell him (instead) to the Yishmaelim; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh, and his brothers agreed" (37:25-27).
From Yehuda's suggestion, it becomes clear that the brothers truly planned to allow Yosef to die in the pit. and were unaware of Reuven's intention to save him. If indeed Reuven is still sitting with his brothers, then this new plan (to sell Yosef) puts him in quite a predicament, for if the brothers would sell Yosef, his own plan to rescue him would be ruined. Reuven has only one alternative - he must volunteer to fetch Yosef from the pit, in order to free him - before his brothers may sell him.
What happens when Reuven returns to the pit?
Let's take a careful look at the next pasuk, noting its grammar:
"And a group of Midianite traders passed by, and they pulled, and they lifted Yosef out of the pit, and they sold Yosef to the Yishmaelim for twenty pieces of silver, and brought Yosef to Egypt." (37:28)
Based on the wording of this pasuk, it is quite clear that the Midianim and the Yishmaelim are two different groups of people. To support this, note how the Torah describes the Midianim as local traders (socharim), while the Yishmaelim are described as international movers (orchat Yishmaelim - a transport caravan). A simple reading of this pasuk implies that a group of Midianite traders happened to pass by the pit (they most probably heard Yosef screaming), and pulled him out. As these Midianim are traders, they were probably on their way to sell their wares (now including Yosef) to the Ishmaelite caravan.
If this explanation is correct, then the Midianim themselves pulled Yosef out of the pit and sold him. After all, the brothers are never mentioned in this pasuk.
So where were the brothers during all of this? Most probably, still eating. The brothers had thrown Yosef into a pit out in the midbar and returned to their grazing area to eat. They are far enough away that they do not see or hear what transpired between Yosef and the Midianim.
Where was Reuven? Again, as explained above, he must have been eating with his brothers. However, as soon as he heard Yehuda's new plan to sell Yosef, he would have to get back to the pit before his brothers to save Yosef.
"And Reuven returned (va-yashov) to the pit, and behold, Yosef was no longer in the pit; Then, he tore his clothes." (37:29)
Reuven is not the last brother to find out that Yosef was sold as commonly assumed. Rather, he is the first brother to recognize that Yosef is missing. Shocked, he immediately returns to his brothers probably by now eating desert (no play on words here lol) with the terrible news:
"And he returned (va-yashov) to his brothers and said, 'The boy is gone. And for myself, what am I going to do?" (37:30).
Note the word va-yashov (and Reuven returned in both 37:29 and 37:30). This verb proves that the brothers could not have been eating near the pit, for if so, Reuven would not need to return to them. However, based on the explanation above, va-yashov in both psukim makes perfect sense. Since Reuven and his brothers are eating away from the pit, Reuven must first return to the pit, then he must return back to his brothers to tell them the news - consequently the use of the verb va-yashov twice.
At this point in the story the brothers must be totally bewildered, for they have no idea what happened to Yosef. Assuming themselves that most probably was eaten by an animal, they don't want their father to think that he may be missing, nor would they want their father to accuse them of killing him - so they plot once again. They will trick their father into thinking that Yosef had been killed by a wild animal on his way to visit them. They dip Yosef's tunic in blood and have it sent to their father (see 37:31-32). This plan works, as when Yaakov sees the tunic:
"And he recognized it and said, My son's ktonet, "Chaya ra’a achalatu; tarof, taraf Yosef" - he was surely devoured by a wild beast (37:33).
The end result of this final plan resonates the brothers' original plan (see "ve-amarnu - chaya ra'a achalatu" 37:20 -compare 37:33). Yaakov reaches the same conclusion that the brothers themselves may have reached, but for a very different reason. Strangely enough the brothers final plan to sell Yosef came true, even though they never sold him; and how (they thought that) their original - for Yosef to die - came true, even though they never killed him.
In retrospect, one could even suggest that the brothers may have never been able to gather the courage to either kill or sell Yosef. Despite their various plans and intense hatred of Yosef, just as they had quickly retracted from their first two plans to kill Yosef (see 37:22 & 26), they most probably would have retracted from their plan to sell him as well. Nevertheless: they talked; they planned; they plotted - and in God's eyes - are considered guilty, even though they never actually killed or sold Yosef. Please keep in mind that this is just an interpretation based on the Pshat (literal meaning and translation of text) mixed in with some conjecture and supposition. It would be wrong to assume that we were to know the frame of mind of Yosef’s brother’s or what there intentions were. If you would like to discuss this further your comments are always welcome. If you totally disagree that is good to. We can always learn by hearing a different opinion.
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Yitzchak Alloul
Channukah Samayach
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