Vayigash: immigration

Joseph, in Vayigash, generates what the Jew will become: a sojourner-citizen.  Joseph's revelation: that his brothers have come, identifies his origin.  Oh yes, he is one of those people that came from Aram, entered Canaan in trepidation  and ready to fight the forces of the Esau hegemony, wiped out the Shechem clan with guile, spurning their invitation to assimilate.  Oh yes, Jospeh is one of those guys...and, by virtue of Joseph's special relationship with Pharaoh, we are inviting them into our land!

Furthermore, they are communists ( shepherds),  They hold grazing lands in common, they do not fence their territory for cattle, like good, individualistic Egyptians.  

Joseph encourages his brothers to stretch the truth, say that they are cattle men, to integrate into Egypt...and they do not do that, they tell the truth. They are settled in  Goshen the city of approach, nearby, but not quite there.    There is a Goshen  in New York State, but the real Goshen of America is New York City, islands off the coast .

Joseph was the model for  Einstein and Haber  and all of the Jews that saved the world. He was not above profiting from his insights, but he could never rise to the position of ruler.  He had to accommodate to the local customs. Ordinary Egyptians could not share his table.  Even as viceroy, he was an outsider, a Jid.   Yet, he was loyal to the Pharaoh that had brought him out of the pit, to sit near the princes of the land.

We know how the story ends,  In their quest to fulfill their dream, the Hebrews destroy Egypt, drown its army, and do not even return to reclaim the land along the Nile.  Now, even settled on their  Promised Land, they remain sojourner citizens. 

  Jews are dangerous...perhaps most of all... to themselves.