What Joseph Didn't Know

What Joseph Didn't Know

וימאן אביו ויאמר ידעתי בני ידעתי

vay'ma'en aviv vayomer yada'ti v'ni yada'ti

his father stubbornly refused and said, my son, I know, I know (Gen. 48:19)


Four tense conversations between fathers and sons resonate in this verse, four generations seeking their destiny. Plagued with failing vision like his father in a similar situation (chapter 27), Jacob resists his son's attempt to lift his hand from his favored grandson's head; earlier, an angel succeeds in convincing his grandfather not to reach out his hand against his favored son (chapter 22). In each encounter, a metaphysical knowledge trumps custom and logic; in the case of Joseph, the seer, his sudden ignorance is especially stunning.

Jacob's testaments (chapters 48 and 49) casts the future of all of his sons, and in chapter 50, wary of the revenge that could follow their father's death (the same fear attached to Isaac's death, 27:41) the brothers inform Joseph of one last verbal request that Jacob made before dying, that he forgive his brothers' sin. Joseph has no way of knowing what Jacob knew, nor do we. When he saw Joseph's blood-stained coat, he deduced Joseph had died, but he never believed it, and stubbornly refused to be comforted (וימאן להתנחם vay'ma'en l'hitnahem). Did he figure out his sons' guilt and the fragility of Joseph's forgiveness? Or did fear bring them to confess, but also to give it the authority of Jacob's voice? In any event, Joseph complies, responding to the invocation of Jacob's will with Jacob's words to Rachel (30:2), התחת אלהים אני hatahat elohim ani -- am I instead of God? Comforting his brothers (וינחם אותם vay'nahem otam) and speaking to their hearts (50:21), perhaps he finally achieves that which his clairvoyance had always denied him.

There's more to the story that we don't know, and questions of how to apply it. Here are my top three:

1. What do we do with Jacob's deathbed revelation of his violent Amorite conquest (Gen. 48:22)? How does it fit with his condemnation of Simeon and Levi, first stated in chapter 34 and expanded in chapter 49? Rabbi Yehudah's answer is to spiritualize the violence: בחרבי ובקשתי' במצות ובמעשים טובים'--b'harbi uv'kashti – b'mitzvot uv'ma'asim tovim--for “my sword and bow” read “commandments and good deeds” (Genesis Rabba 97:6)



2. Why doesn't Jewish tradition use the Joseph story to teach forgiveness? Jonathan Sacks, the exception who proves the rule (http://www.chiefrabbi.org/thoughts/vayigash5766.pdf ), brings Maimonides to show that forgiveness can be granted without an apology.



3. “When people lack the ability to forgive, they are unable to resolve conflict. The result is division, factionalism, and the fragmentation of a nation into competing groups and sects. That is why Joseph's forgiveness is the bridge between Genesis and Exodus (Sacks, ibid).”

“He (Jacob, on his deathbed) indicates that Simeon and Levi should be allotted such a position in the future Jacob-Israel nation, that political and military powers of decision should never lie in their hands.” “It is of the most profound importance that here, at once, at the laying the foundation of the Jewish nation, a curse is laid on any and every transgression of the laws of morality and justice even if done in the interests of the public and the state. All other states and nations justify themselves by the principle that public and state interests sanctify everything. Cunning, trickery and force, which, in private life would be punished with prison and gallows are rewarded with civic honours and medals; the laws of morality only exist for private life, but in politics and diplomacy the only code recognised is the interests of the party or state. The original testament for the Jewish nation here lays a curse on all trickery and violence even if practiced for the most justified cause in the public interest, and perpetuates the teaching that even in public life and in the public interests, not only the ends but the means, too, must be pure. In no case does the end justify the means.” (S. R. Hirsch on Gen. 34: 25ff and 49:7).

Although these quotes could be the basis for polarizing questions, I'd rather leave them as unifying prayers.

posted for Rabbi Jeremy Milgrom