Miketz: guilt

Miketz: guilt

This year, I wonder about the great meeting of Joseph and his brothers.  

וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֗יו אֲבָל֮ אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים ׀ אֲנַ֘חְנוּ֮ עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר רָאִ֜ינוּ צָרַ֥ת נַפְשׁ֛וֹ בְּהִתְחַֽנְנ֥וֹ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ וְלֹ֣א שָׁמָ֑עְנוּ עַל־כֵּן֙ בָּ֣אָה אֵלֵ֔ינוּ הַצָּרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת׃ 

They said to one another, “Alas, we are being punished on account of our brother, because we looked on at his anguish, yet paid no heed as he pleaded with us. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

 This is the crux of the saga. The great world events: the international famine and  Pharoah's consolidation of power are all ancillary to this epiphany. The brother realize that they deeply wronged Joseph, they  damaged the concept of family. 

Why do they make the connection twenty years later? First, they went to Egypt. They knew that the caravan that had "bought" Joseph from them was headed for wealthy Egypt. It was highly likely that Joseph would be bought by someone  there. At some level, they were searching for their lost and betrayed brother: Joseph.

Although the text tells us that the brothers did not recognize Joseph, there may still have been some level of suspicion that, no matter how far fetched, this viceroy of Egypt was their long lost brother. The brother's surprise at the discovery is heightened by their secret suspicions

Being cast into a position of subservience reminded them of what they had done to Joseph. The brothers had used the strength that came from their unification against their hated sibling, cast him into a pit and sold him into slavery. Now they were subject to the far greater power of the Egyptian monarchy. This is what subjugation felt like: They were insecure, at the mercy of others, who had arbitrarily and incorrectly declared them enemies and spies.

I, the son of holocaust survivors and the grandson (and nephew) of Nazi murder victims, wonder how American Jews felt in 1949 when they read this verse.  Did it make them question whether they had done enough to rescue their siblings? The verse forces that question in every generation. Are we doing enough? Whose distress are we ignoring?

Designating the sons of Israel as dangerous spies for a foreign enemy was not without basis. These men had all been born in one country, Haran, and now dominated another,  Canaan. Soon after they  arrived in Canaan, they decimated Shechem. I suspect the news of  that clever conquest reached Egypt. The Israelites were a known regional threat. There is a kernel of truth in every great lie. Is it coincidence that Simon, the leader of the Shechem slaughter, was chosen for imprisonment? 

Casting their misfortune as a retribution reveals their worldview.  They believed in retribution for past sins. The simplest model for this involves Gd, but Gd is not specifically mentioned.  In the context of the Torah, this omission is not significant; in our modern world, we can note it. 

The brothers feel that they are being punished because a coercive power, far greater than their own, is threatening them. Like their great grandfather Abraham, two generations earlier, they went to the scary  land of the powerful monarch because of famine. The brothers were facing the terror and threats of the place that they had sent their brother. 

Egypt's economic dominance, in general was based upon the constancy of its water supply: the Nile.  Joseph had predicted ( and perhaps thereby generated) a famine. This prediction allowed the Pharaoh to place an all-in bet  on the future scarcity of grain.  Egypt became the source of grain for the region, thus increasing its wealth and power. 

Joseph's first dream had the sheaves of the brother: the symbol of their economic yield and the symbol of their sustaining cereal,  bowing to Joseph's. Joseph remembered his dreams.  Did the brothers?

The story illustrates how economic dominance plays upon the subjugated mind. Those in need review their past deeds seeking the transgression that brought them to this place. It is not the rationality  of logic , but the shame of guilt for past misdeeds that is evoked. Emotional manipulation  is important in preserving the structure that keeps the dependent enthralled. 

The enslavement of Israel started with the sale of Joseph. Be careful; you may, one day, stand before power.