Joseph, Life and Mission
Transcript of Joseph, Life and Mission
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2008
The story of Joseph demonstrates a classic historic pattern
of the Jew in Diaspora.
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
Had Jacob married Rachel as he had intended instead of being tricked into
marrying Leah Joseph would have likely been his first-born son. But,
although he was Jacobs 11th son, Joseph dominates the biblical narrative of
the 12 brothers, and in his story, we see a great many historical patterns.
To begin with, the Bible tells us that Joseph had a key position in the family
as a result of his being the long-awaited first child of Jacobs beloved wife.
His father seemed to show him a considerable amount of favoritism for
one thing he bought him a special coat and this engendered jealousy fromhis brothers.
However, it would be a mistake to view their behavior simplistically, as
typical of a dysfunctional family. While these people without a doubt made
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mistakes, spiritually they were on an incredibly high level. So we have to
look deeply at what happened here.
Joseph was having portentous dreams, and he
interpreted those dreams. As we learn later in the
Bible, he had a special gift for dreaminterpretation, and his dreams and interpretations
were accurate and prophetic. He told his brothers,
for example, that one day they would bow to him
(which did indeed happen many years later). But, to his brothers, his
dreams appeared to verge on megalomania. And since they knew that they
were the family that was meant to build a nation to change the world, they
probably thought that he was endangering the whole future of humanity.
They knew the family history that in each generation there was one bad
apple first Ishmael, then Esau. It is possible that they concluded that
Joseph must be the bad one in this generation.1
They contemplated killing him, but instead they sold him into slavery. They
took his fancy coat, smeared it with goats blood and presented it to Jacob
as if Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Meanwhile, Joseph was taken
by a caravan of the Ishmaelites to Egypt, where he became a slave in the
household of a nobleman named Potiphar.
Ancient Egypt
At this juncture, we have to consider what Egypt was like at this time in
history when it was the second of the two great civilizations in existence.
(The first was the Mesopotamian civilization which we described in class
#3.)
Geographically, Egypt was then mostly desert except for the Nile River. TheNile is the greatest river in the world, and if it didnt flow through Egypt the
country would be just sand. In ancient times only 3% of Egypt was
inhabitable, arable land.
1See Sforno on Genesis 37:18.
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A huge desert is a great natural defensive barrier, making Egypt totally
isolated and virtually impossible to invade. (The Hyksos, invaded it once,
the Assyrians also, then finally Alexander the Great. But thats only three
times in 3,000 years.) Egypt was the longest-surviving civilization in human
history and it changed very little over the three millennia that it lasted. Youthink about how little Egypt changed in 3,000 years and how much the
modern world has changed in a few 200 years; its mind-boggling how
stable that society was and to a large extent this was due to geography.
Although we dont have exact dates for the
beginning of the Egyptian civilization, it is
believed to have started in the early period of the
Bronze Age, over 5,500 years ago. It was a very
sophisticated culture, considering the feats of
engineering that the pyramids represent. The
Great Pyramid of Khufu, known as Cheops, is the largest ever built,
covering 13 acres and reaching a height of 500 feet; it is composed of over
2 million blocks of stone weighing more than 5 million tons; and it was built
by people who did not have any iron tools. (It was also the tallest man-
made structure in the world for more than 4,000 years!)
Even with all of our modern technology, we would have a hard time
duplicating such a feat today. The Egyptians obviously had tremendously
sophisticated stone cutting techniques and engineering knowledge, enabling
them to move large blocks of stone. They had pulleys, they had levers, and
they had a lot of muscle power. It is estimated that Cheops took 100,000
men and 30 years to build.
Why spend so much effort on building a tomb? Because the Egyptians were
also spiritually sophisticated. It was a dark spirituality but not to be lightly
dismissed. They were preoccupied with death, which is why they perfected
mummification, and their holy book was called the Book of the Dead. Hows
that for a lively read?
They believed that the Pharaoh was a living god, he had absolute power,
and that the Pharaohs position in the after-life would affect the prosperity
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of Egypt. The future of Egypt was dependent on the Pharaohs proper entry
into the after-life. So you had to make a really good tomb for him, and you
had to give him the right gifts, and you had to make sure that he got into
the after-life correctly, otherwise things would go badly for everybody. And
this is why it was a national project of the entire Egyptian people to create
such extraordinary tombs for the Pharaohs.
Of course, this very sophisticated culture was antithetical to Judaism as is
humanly possible, because it practiced idolatry. They worshipped an
estimated 2,000 different gods in ancient Egypt. Gods with hippo heads,
and falcon heads, and crocodile heads. This was a civilization that was
idolatrous to the extreme very religious and spiritual in its own sense, and
yet very idolatrous at the same time. They were not primitive or
superstitious or stupid; they understood spiritual power and were a very
sophisticated people who truly believed in the power of idolatry.2
This is a crucial point to understand about ancient civilizations. In our
modern arrogance we often tend to look at the ancients as less
sophisticated or even primitive. We have science and modern technology.
What did they have thousands of years ago? The answer is: plenty. Ancient
civilizations knowledge of engineering, math, astronomy, medicine, etc.
was often very impressive. Spiritually, the contrast is even more extreme.
Jewish tradition and archaeology both show that the ancients were much
more spiritually connected than we are to today. Thousands of years ago
there was real spiritual power, both idolatrous and pure, that could be
tapped into. Today, we have largely lost this connection. This explains why
ancient civilizations put so much effort into religion and religious
construction, and why the idolatry portrayed in the Bible had such a
powerful allure.
2The fact that these ancient, sophisticated nations were so into idolatry is proof that there was really some kind of
power in it. Yet one of the most fundamental principles of J udaism is that there is no other power besides God that
idolatry is an illusion. So where did idolatry get its power from? The answer is God, Himself. The essence of being
human is to use free will to make choices, and the ultimate choice a person makes is to live with the reality of God. To
make this choice meaningful there have to be other real options. God put real power into idolatry to enable humanity to
exercise its free will in this most-meaningful of decisions.
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Jewish tradition teaches that ancient Egypt, besides being a place of
idolatry, was also a place of immorality a very licentious place.3 So to
throw young Joseph into this environment was bad news. Very bad news.
Mrs. Potiphar
Separated from the monotheistic influence of his family at an early age (he
was 17 when sold as a slave), Joseph had a further major disadvantage for
a licentious society he was very handsome. And his masters wife, Mrs.
Potiphar, found him very attractive.
Besides that, Joseph had a lot going for him he was very smart and hard-
working, and he rose from his position as lowly teenage servant to head of
Potiphars household. This is the classic historic pattern of the Jews in the
Diaspora which will be repeated over and over again for thousands of years
they arrive impoverished in a foreign land, deal with a bad situation, work
hard and very rapidly rise to the top.
Now Potiphars wife was not happy that Joseph refused her advances.
Eventually, she picked a time when everyone was out of the house
attending a national celebration, and she tried to rip his clothes off. He ran
away. Outraged, she screamed rape.
Mr. Potiphar came home, and though he clearly did not believe her or else
Joseph would have been executed on the spot, nevertheless to appease his
wife, he had Joseph thrown into a dungeon.4
From head servant, Joseph wound up on the bottom again. This again is a
model for the Jews in the Diaspora. They come into a country, they rise,
they fall and have to start at the bottom somewhere else.
Once in prison, Joseph rose quickly to become the head prisoner. (Even as
a prisoner you cant keep a Jew down.) And this is where he encountered
3See Rashi on Numbers 18:3.
4See Ibn Ezra and Ramban on Genesis 39:19-20.
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the Pharaohs wine steward and the Pharaohs baker who had offended their
master and been thrown into the same dungeon as Joseph. And it just so
happened that both men had dreams.
Now, as we know, Joseph was the master dream interpreter, and therefore,
not surprisingly, he interpreted their dreams. He told the wine steward thatthe Pharaoh would reinstate him into his position, and he told the baker
that he was going to lose his head. And thats exactly what happened.
When the wine steward was being released from prison, Joseph asked him
to put in a good word to Pharaoh, in the hope it would facilitate his own
release. But the wine steward forgot all about him, and Josephs had to sit in
prison for another two years.
Even in this little detail there is a pattern for the future. Historically Jews
have not been able to count on the non-Jewish world for help. It is the rare
gentile who has come forward to help the Jews in their time of need.5
Pharaohs Dreams
Then the Pharaoh himself had a couple of
disturbing dreams. He dreamt of seven fat
cows coming out of the Nile and being
devoured by seven thin cows. And then he
dreamt of seven fat sheaves of wheat being
devoured by seven thin sheaves of wheat.
These dreams were real nightmares, and the Pharaoh was very disturbed.
So, he assembled all his magicians and his soothsayers and his astrologers
and demanded an explanation, but none of them could figure out what the
dreams were about. And then, suddenly, the wine steward piped up, I
remember, there was a Jewish kid in prison who interprets dreams...
5Planted around Israels national Holocaust memorial -- Yad VaShem -- are approximately six-thousand trees. These
trees are known as The Forest of the Righteous Gentiles. The trees were planted in recognition of non-J ews who
helped J ews during the Holocaust, often at great personal risk. To date Yad VaShem has a compiled a list of
approximately 21,000 people listed as Righteous Among the Nations. As beautiful as this is, it is also sad. 200s of
millions of people lived in Europe during the Holocaust, yet only a fraction lifted a finger to offer assistance.
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This proved to be the ultimate Jewish success story. Joseph was taken out
of prison, given a shower and a shave, and brought before the Pharaoh.
When he heard the dreams, Joseph told the Pharaoh: Theres going to be
seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine.
What should I do? asked the Pharaoh. And Joseph instructed, Youd
better stockpile all the grain in Egypt so that when the famine hits, youll
have what to eat. Joseph then outlined an entire plan to prepare for the
famine. Impressed, the Pharaoh said, You thought of it, you do it.
And this is how Joseph, at age 30, became the viceroy of Egypt for all
practical purposes the most powerful man in the whole land in terms of
infrastructure of Egypt, then most powerful empire in existence. Hows that
for promotion from prisoner to viceroy.
Here, too, we see important patterns for the future. Throughout history,
when the Jewish people rise, this rise can be very dramatic. And the
situation they find themselves in, for better or for worse, can change very
rapidly.6
Joseph married Osnat, the daughter of Potiphar and had two sons,
Menashe and Ephraim. To this day, observant Jews use Josephs sons
names when they bless their male children every Friday night. Girls receive
a blessing that they should be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah the
great matriarchs of the Bible. One would assume that boys would receive
the blessing that they should be like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the great
patriarchs, but instead they are told they should be like Ephraim and
Menashe. Why? First, unlike all the previous brothers in the Bible Cain
and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and even Joseph and his
brothers they loved each other and there was no jealousy between them.
As we travel through Jewish history, we will see that a significant weakness
of the Jewish people is sinat hinam the causeless hatred of one Jew for
another. This hatred has been one of the driving forces behind the disunity
6See Sforno onGenesis 41:18. Examples of very dramatic changes for the worse can be seen in the expulsion edict of
the Jews from Spain in 1492 and the Nuremberg Laws in Germany in 1935.
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in the Jewish world until today; it is a flaw that has haunted the Jewish
people throughout history. Its primary source is rooted in the rivalry and
jealousy that constantly plagues the Jewish people. Ephraim and Menashe
stand as a model for the unconditional love essential for Jewish unity and
the success of the Jewish people.7
There is another extremely important lesson we have to learn from Josephs
sons. Throughout history Jews have been rich and poor, free and enslaved,
tolerated and persecuted, and it seems clear that it is much easier for Jews
to remain Jews when things are bad. Its not the poor persecuted Jews that
assimilate, but the comfortable, accepted ones. And more Jews have
probably disappeared through assimilation than through persecution. This
remains one of the great challenges of Jewish history how to stay Jewish
when things are good. Ephraim and Menashe had the inner spiritual
strength essential for Jewish continuity. These kids grew up as sons of the
viceroy, they could have become totally assimilated, spoiled, Egyptian
brats, yet its very clear that they grew up completely loyal to their family
mission in an incredibly hostile environment.
Once Joseph became viceroy the stage was set for his early dreams to come
true, when he saw his brothers bowing before him. And this is indeed what
happened next.
7It is precisely for this reason that I am a huge advocate for all J ews, religious, secular or anywhere in between, to learn
the laws oflashon hara -- correct speech. The pen is mightier than the sword and the damage wrought by slander is
incalculable. Correct speech is not just for Jews -- it lies at the foundation of all civil society.