Parsha of the Week

At the end of two full years after the chief cupbearer was released from prison, Pharaoh had a dream. In his dream, there he was, standing by the Nile River,

when seven good-looking, robust cows emerged from the Nile River and started grazing in the marsh.

Then seven other cows, ugly and scrawny, emerged after them from the Nile River, and they stood next to the good-looking cows on the bank of the Nile River.

The ugly, scrawny cows ate up the seven good-looking, robust cows. Pharaoh then woke up.

He fell asleep and dreamed a second time. In this dream, there were seven ears of grain, healthy and good-looking, growing on a single stalk.

Then seven ears of grain sprouted after them, gaunt and parched from being battered by the east wind.

The gaunt ears then swallowed up the seven healthy, full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was clear to him that he had dreamed a complete dream that now needed to be properly interpreted.

In the morning, his spirit was agitated, so he sent for all the necromancers and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but none of them were able to interpret them to Pharaoh’s satisfaction.

The chief cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, “I must mention my transgressions today.

Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and he put the chief baker and me into custody in the house of the chief butcher.

We both had a dream on the same night, he and I, each having a dream that accorded with its interpretation.

And there, in custody with us, was a person who interpreted our dreams. Despite his abilities, he is not fit to hold any political office, for firstly, he is an unsophisticated youth; secondly, he is a Hebrew, who cannot speak our language fluently; and finally, he is a servant of the chief butcher – and as you know, Egyptian law does not allow anyone who was ever a slave to hold public office or even don royal raiment. We told him our dreams and he interpreted them for us, interpreting them for each of us according to his dream and its details.

And just as he had interpreted them for us, so it transpired: Your Majesty reinstated me to my post, while Your Majesty hanged him, the chief baker.”

Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was hurried out of the dungeon. He had his hair cut in honor of his audience with Pharaoh, changed from his prison clothes into ordinary clothes, and then appeared before Pharaoh.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, but none of my necromancers or wise men can interpret it, and I have heard reliable reports about you that you can understand a dream and interpret it.”

Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not by my own power; God will provide an answer through me for Pharaoh’s welfare.”

Pharaoh then spoke to Joseph: “In my dream, I was standing on the bank of the Nile River.

And then, out of the Nile River emerged seven cows, robust and well-formed, and they grazed in the marsh.

Then seven other cows emerged after them, meager, very ill-formed, and emaciated; I have never seen such bad-looking ones in all Egypt. They stood next to the robust cows on the bank of the Nile.

The emaciated, ill-formed cows then ate up the first seven robust cows.

These were ingested whole inside them, but it wasn’t visibly apparent that they had been ingested whole inside them: their appearance was just as ill-formed as before. Then I woke up.

I fell asleep again and saw in my second dream that seven full, good-looking ears of grain were growing on a single stalk.

Then seven ears of grain, shriveled, gaunt, and battered by the east wind, sprouted after them.

The gaunt ears of grain then swallowed up the seven good-looking ears. I told this to the necromancers, but not even one of them could explain it to me.”

Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The two parts of Pharaoh’s dream are actually a repetition of one and the same dream. God has told Pharaoh what He is about to do.

First of all, both the cows and the grain symbolize sustenance. Next, the seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are the same seven years; it is all one dream.

The seven emaciated, ill-formed cows that emerged after them are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears of grain that were battered by the east wind. They will be seven years of famine.

With regard to these years of famine, it is also as I have told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is going to do after the years of plenty.

Seven years are coming during which there will be great abundance in all Egypt. The fact that the seven robust cows were ‘fine-looking’ means that there will be so much abundance that no one will be jealous of anyone else’s wealth; everyone will ‘look favorably’ upon each other’s prosperity.

These seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine, when all the abundance in Egypt will be forgotten, just as the scrawny cows ate up the robust cows and yet remained scrawny. The famine will ravage the land.

The former abundance will not be discernible in the land, due to the famine that is to follow – just as the scrawny cows remained scrawny even after swallowing up the robust cows – for it will be very severe.

As for Pharaoh having dreamed the same dream twice, this is because the matter stands ready before God, and God is moving quickly to carry it out.

So now, let Pharaoh seek out a man of discernment and wisdom and put him in charge of Egypt.

Let Pharaoh take steps to appoint officials over the land and prepare Egypt for the seven years of famine during the seven years of plenty.

Let them gather all the food during these coming good years, and let them store grain to be under Pharaoh’s control for food in the cities, and guard it. Preparing for the seven years of famine during the seven years of plenty will fulfill the dream’s indication that the seven years of famine and the seven years of plenty will occur ‘simultaneously’ (as symbolized by the robust cows and scrawny cows standing simultaneously on the bank of the Nile).

The stored food will then be held in reserve for the land for the seven years of famine that will occur in Egypt, so that the land not be depopulated by the famine.”

The way in which Joseph explained the dream according to its obvious reference to Egypt’s sustenance while simultaneously resolving the anomaly of the robust and scrawny cows standing together on the bank of the Nile pleased Pharaoh and all his courtiers,

and Pharaoh said to his courtiers, “Could we find another man like this, who clearly has the spirit of God within him?” Pharaoh paid no heed to the cupbearer’s remarks about Joseph’s unfitness to hold public office.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you to be in charge of the operation that you recommend we undertake.

You will be in charge of my court, and by your orders will all my people be provided for. Only by the throne – i.e., by the fact that I am king whereas you are only viceroy – will I outrank you.

Except for this,” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby confer on you the same power that I myself have over all Egypt.”

As a sign that he was making Joseph viceroy, Pharaoh removed his signet ring from the finger of his own hand and put it on a finger of Joseph’s hand. He had him dressed in robes of linen, a fabric highly prized in Egypt, and placed the gold chain of office around his neck.

He had him ride through the capital city, alongside his own chariot, in his second royal chariot, and they proclaimed before him, “The king’s counselor! How wise he is for his young age! Bend the knee to him!” He was thus given kinglike authority over all Egypt. Nonetheless, Pharaoh commanded his subjects to only bend their knees to Joseph and not to prostrate themselves before him (as would befit someone with kinglike authority) because he wanted to retain some indication that Joseph owed his position not to his birth but to Pharaoh’s goodwill.

Pharaoh then said to Joseph, in the presence of the crowd, “I am Pharaoh; only I now wield authority higher than yours. By my authority as Pharaoh, I decree that without your say, no man may lift his hand to bear weapons or his foot to mount a horse in all Egypt.”

Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Tzafnat Pa’ne’ach [“He who deciphers the cryptic”], and gave him Asenat, daughter of Joseph’s former master Potiphera, lord of On, as a wife. Joseph thus went out to oversee Egypt.

Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph left Pharaoh’s presence, and he traveled all throughout Egypt in order to implement his program of storing up produce from the seven years of plenty.

During the seven years of plenty, the inhabitants of the land gathered grain and deposited it in the storehouses in unending handfuls, for there was so much that as soon as one person deposited a handful, the next person in line deposited his.

Joseph collected all the surplus food during the seven years that had now come to pass in Egypt, and he placed the food in storage complexes in the cities. It was a well-known fact that the soil of each locale possesses its own unique properties that enable it to sustain different crops. It was further known that, because of this fact, the crops of any specific locale are best preserved when stored with some of the soil in which they were grown. Joseph therefore placed with the food some soil taken from the fields surrounding the city where it had grown.

Joseph amassed quantities of grain as abundant as the sands of the sea, until the treasurer had to stop counting it since there was too much to count.

Two sons were born to Joseph before the first year of famine arrived, borne to him by Asenat, daughter of Potiphera, lord of On.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh [Menasheh, “causing to forget”] – “because,” he said, “by granting me success, God has made me forget all my past hardships, but this could also cause me to forget all I held dear in my father’s household.” Joseph knew that prosperity carries with it the danger of assimilation; in order not to forget his family and heritage, he gave his firstborn son a name that would constantly remind him of this danger.

He named the second son Ephraim [from peri, “fruit”] – “because,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

The seven years of plenty that came to pass in Egypt came to an end.

The seven years of famine then began, just as Joseph had said they would. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout Egypt there was bread, thanks to Joseph’s storage program.

Nonetheless, even though everyone had stored up some grain for themselves, it all rotted; all that remained was what Joseph had stored in the official granaries. When all the inhabitants of Egypt therefore were starving, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread, so Pharaoh announced to all Egypt, “Go to Joseph, and do whatever he tells you to.”

When the famine became so severe that it even affected all the wealthy people of the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses containing grain and sold it to the Egyptians. Meanwhile, the famine in Egypt continued to intensify.

People from the entire region came to Egypt, to Joseph, to buy produce, for the famine had grown severe in the entire region. The Torah will continue the narrative of Joseph’s administration of Egypt during the years of famine further on. In the meantime, it will describe how Joseph’s family came to settle there.

The famine struck not only Egypt; it also affected the Land of Israel, whose inhabitants were going hungry just as were the inhabitants of Egypt. Jacob heard that there was produce in Egypt, and, at the same time, he saw in a prophetic vision that there was some type of hope for him in Egypt. Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you pretend to the Ishmaelites and Edomites that we have enough provisions to last us through the famine, when in fact we only have enough for a short while? Why should you draw attention to yourselves by not actively seeking some means of providing for yourselves before our provisions run out? There is no guarantee that God will continue to sustain us miraculously, so if you do not make provisions for the future, you may well end up going hungry. Why should you allow yourselves to risk becoming lean through hunger?”

He then said, “Look, I have heard that there is produce in Egypt. Go down there and buy us produce from there, so that we may live and not die.” The numerical value of the word for “go down” (רדו) is 210, alluding to the 210 years that they and their descendants were destined to reside in Egypt (2238–2448). He further told them, “Enter the city, each of you by a different gate; since you are all of impressive appearance, it is imperative that you avoid arousing the evil eye against yourselves.”

When the brothers saw that Jacob had a premonition that there was some kind of hope for him in Egypt, they understood that the time had come to ascertain Joseph’s whereabouts and status, and if possible, return him to their father. By this time, they had all regretted selling Joseph, although each one to a different degree. Joseph’s brothers thus went down to Egypt as 10 individuals, each feeling a different degree of brotherly love toward him, but equal in their resolve to redeem him at whatever price necessary, just as they were equal in their awareness that it was necessary to buy grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send along Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his other brothers, for he said, “Lest some disaster befall him.”

The sons of Israel came to buy produce, each entering the city by a different gate as their father had instructed them, thereby mingling among all those others who had also come to buy produce, for the famine had extended to Canaan and there were therefore many people arriving when they did.

Joseph, as viceroy of the land, was the one who sold produce to all the people of the region, and Joseph’s brothers came and prostrated themselves before him with their faces to the ground.

Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he did not reveal his true identity to them. He understood that he first had to ascertain whether they regretted having sold him and were ready to take the next step in the development of their family into the chosen people. Therefore, he acted like a stranger toward them and, playing his role as viceroy of Egypt, spoke to them harshly. At the same time, in the ensuing interactions with his brothers, Joseph also made it a point to occasionally act congenially toward them, and even to hint that he knew who they were, so that when he would eventually reveal his identity to them, they would recall these displays of kindness and therefore be more inclined to believe that he really was their brother. Pretending to not understand their language, he asked them, via his interpreter, his seven-year-old son Manasseh, “Where are you from?” They, not knowing the Egyptian language, replied, also via an interpreter, “From Canaan, to buy food.”

Although, as stated, Joseph recognized his brothers – for all their beards had been fully grown before they had parted and their appearance had therefore not changed drastically in the interim – they did not recognize him, for when he left them, his beard had not yet grown, and now, some 21 years later, it was fully grown. Nonetheless, Joseph did not take advantage of the fact that his brothers did not recognize him. Even though they were now in his power and he could have easily taken revenge on them for having sold him, Joseph treated them as his brothers, pitying them, despite the fact that they had not treated him as their brother, pitying him, when he was in their power.

Joseph recalled the dreams that he had dreamed about them, and saw that they had now prostrated themselves before him in a matter regarding grain, just as they had in his first dream. Understanding that the dreams were coming true, he realized that he had to contrive some way for Benjamin to join them so that he, too, could prostrate himself before him, completing the rest of the dream. Therefore, he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where the land is vulnerable.”

They said to him, “No, my lord! Do not say such a thing, for we, your servants, have come just to buy food.

We are all the sons of the same man.” They chose these words under the influence of Divine inspiration, unwittingly implying that he, too, was a son of their father. “We are truthful men; your servants have never been spies!”

He said to them, “No! I’m sure you are spies! You have come to see where the land is vulnerable! If, as you say, you are brothers, what other reason could you possibly have had for entering through different gates? And if you are not brothers, then you are liars!”

They answered, “No! We can explain. We, your servants, were 12 brothers, the sons of one man who is in Canaan. The youngest is today with our father, and the other one has gone missing, and we separated in order to look for him.”

Joseph said to them, “And if you find him, and his captors demand a huge sum for his release, will you pay it?” They answered, “Of course.” He then asked them, “And if they refuse to release him, even for a huge ransom, what will you do?” They answered, “Then we will take him by force, even if we have to kill to save him or be killed trying!” He said to them, “Then it is exactly as I told you before: you are spies, and you have come to kill the people of this city. Don’t think I don’t know that you are capable of murder; I have divined by my goblet that two of you destroyed the city of Shechem!

By this you will be put to the test: I swear to you by the life of Pharaoh that you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

Send one of you to bring me your youngest brother, while the rest of you remain imprisoned here, so that the veracity of your words may be put to the test. If he does not bring him, then by the life of Pharaoh, you are indeed spies!” Whenever Joseph swore falsely, as part of his imposture, he did so in the name of Pharaoh.

He then held them all in custody for three days in order to give them time to consider their situation calmly and rationally.

On the third day, Joseph said to them, “I have decided to make my test easier than I had originally planned. Do, then, as follows, and you will live. You can trust me, for I am a God-fearing person.

If you are being truthful, prove it in the following way: Let one of your brothers remain as hostage in your present place of detention, while the rest of you go back to your homeland and bring the produce you have purchased in Egypt for satiating the hunger of your households.

You must then bring me your youngest brother, and thus your words will be substantiated and you will not die.” They agreed to do this.

They moved away from the interpreter so he would not hear them speak, although remaining within earshot of Joseph, whom they assumed could not understand them anyway. They then said to one another, “We are indeed guilty regarding our brother, for we saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this misfortune has come upon us.”

Reuben responded to them and said, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you would not listen. And now that he is apparently dead, we are being called to account for spilling his blood. We will be called to account for our father’s death, too, if he dies of grief when he hears that Joseph is dead.”

They did not realize that Joseph understood them, for, as above, whenever they conversed, there was an interpreter between them.

He turned aside and moved away from them so that they would not see him, and wept over the fact that they regretted having mistreated him. But then he resumed his act in order to get them to bring Benjamin to Egypt. He came back to them and spoke to them, and took Simeon away from them and imprisoned him before their eyes. He chose Simeon because he was the one who had instigated the brothers’ plot to kill him and who had thrown him into the pit, and also in order to separate him from Levi so that the two not devise some way to kill him.

Joseph then gave orders that when their containers were filled with grain, each one’s money should be returned to his sack, and that they should be given provisions for the journey. This order was carried out for them. Although Joseph detained Simeon, he did not detain his donkey; he had Simeon’s container loaded up with provisions for his family, placed on his donkey, and sent back with the other brothers.

The brothers then loaded their produce onto their donkeys and departed. After they left, Joseph released Simeon and fed him a meal.

As Levi – the one of them who was now left without his usual companion, Simeon – was opening his sack at the inn to give fodder to his donkey, he saw his money, right there at the opening of his pack.

He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Not only is the grain here, but it, too, is here in my pack!” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us? The money can only have been put back into his pack as a pretext to accuse us of not having paid for the grain!”

When they came to their father Jacob in Canaan, they told him about all that had happened to them, as follows:

“The man who is the lord of the land spoke to us harshly and accused us of spying out the land.

We said to him, ‘We are truthful men; we have never been spies.

We were 12 brothers, sons of the same father; one of us went missing, and the youngest is today with our father in Canaan.’

The man who is the lord of the land said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are being honest: Leave one of your brothers with me, take the grain you have purchased for satiating the hunger of your households, and go home.

But you must bring me your youngest brother, and then I will know that you are not spies, but are being honest. I will give your brother back to you, and you will be able to move about in the land freely.’”

While they were emptying their sacks, there, in each one’s sack, was his money-pouch, containing the money he had paid for the grain! When they and their father saw their money-pouches, they became afraid.

Their father Jacob did not believe their story. Now that two of his sons were missing, he began to suspect that the other brothers had behaved either maliciously or negligently: they had either killed Joseph and Simeon or let them be killed. He said to them, “You are bereaving me of my sons! Joseph is gone because of you, Simeon is gone because of you, and now you would take Benjamin away from me as well?! All this has befallen me!”

Reuben then said to his father, “You may put my own two sons to death if I do not bring Benjamin back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I promise that I will bring him back to you.”

Jacob ignored Reuben’s offer. He thought, “How foolish are my firstborn’s words! Does he think that I would really kill his sons, my own grandsons?!” He replied, “You have shown yourself to be irresponsible! My son Benjamin will not go down to Egypt with you! For his brother Joseph is dead and he alone remains from his mother, and should disaster befall him along the road you travel, due to your malice or negligence, you will bring my white-haired head down to the grave in grief.” Judah had additional arguments he could have used to convince his father to let them take Benjamin back to Egypt with them, but seeing Jacob’s obstinacy, he understood that they would prove more effective when there would be almost no food left. So he told his brothers, “Let us not trouble our elderly father now; let us bide our time until the food runs out.”

The famine in the region continued to be severe.

When they had fully consumed the produce that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back to Egypt and buy us a little food.”

So Judah said to him, “The man in charge of the food supplies there sternly warned us, saying, ‘Do not appear before me again unless your brother is with you.’

If you agree to send along our brother with us, we will go down to Egypt and buy you food.

But if you do not send him, we will not go down there, for the man told us, ‘You may not appear before me again unless your brother is with you.’”

Israel said, “Why did you do me such a terrible disservice by telling the man that you have another brother?”

Although the brothers understood the viceroy of Egypt’s harsh behavior toward them as a Divine response to their having sold Joseph, they obviously could not explain it that way to Jacob. They therefore presented his behavior as the result of a natural sequence of events. They replied, “The man kept asking about us and our families, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ He even told us what kind of wood our cradles were made of. We told him that we had a father and another brother in response to his questions. Could we have known that he would say, ‘Bring down your brother’?!”

Judah then said to his father Israel, “If you send Benjamin with us, he might be seized or he might not be. But if you don’t send him, we cannot go buy food and we will all surely starve to death. Therefore, send the boy with me and let us set out and go, so that we should live and not die – we, you, and also our little ones.” When Judah said, “that we should live,” including his father, he unwittingly prophesied that Jacob’s Divine inspiration would be restored to him as a result of this journey.

Judah continued: “I understand that you suspect us of malice or negligence. In order to assure you that we will protect him at all costs, I offer myself as a guarantor for him; you can demand him from me. If I do not bring him back to you and present him to you alive, I will have sinned against you, and I hereby forfeit the privilege of being associated with you for all the rest of my lifetime, both in this world as well as in the afterlife.

For had we not lingered here due to your exaggerated caution, we could have been there and back twice by now. We could have long ago returned Simeon to you, and you would have thus been spared the ordeal of worrying about him all this time.”

Their father Israel said to them, “If it is so, as you say, that the viceroy’s attitude is the result of a natural chain of events, leaving me no choice but to send Benjamin with you, then we must use all natural means at our disposal to ensure the best chances for success. Therefore, this is what you must do: Take some of the land of Canaan’s most celebrated, choice products in your containers, and bring them down to the man as a gift – a little stacte, a little honey, and some beeswax, lotus, pistachios, and almonds.

Take along a double amount of money, for the price of food there might have risen in the meantime; and take with you the money that you found returned at the opening of your packs; perhaps it was an oversight on the part of Joseph’s assistant and he forgot to take the payment due him.

And take your brother, and arise and return to the man.

These are all the natural preparations we can do; besides this, we must also ask God for His help. We all know that prayers offered up by those who need them are more effective than prayers offered up by others on their behalf. But since you feel that our situation does not indicate any extraordinary Divine involvement, I know that you will not overly exert yourselves when you pray. I, however, sense that God is involved here in a more-than-natural way, and therefore, I will also pray for you. I will pray that God Almighty – for whom nothing is impossible – grant that the man be merciful to you. And that God – who, when creating the world, stopped the process of creation by saying, ‘Enough!’ – say ‘enough!’ to my troubles, for I have had nothing but trouble my whole life: trouble with Laban, trouble with Esau, trouble over Rachel, trouble over Dinah, trouble over Joseph, trouble over Simeon, and trouble over Benjamin. And finally, I will also pray that the man release for you your other brother, Simeon, from his captivity and send him and Benjamin back unharmed.” When Jacob used the word “other” when referring to Simeon, he unknowingly prophesied that Joseph, too, would be “released” from obscurity. “As for me,” Jacob concluded, “just as I have been bereaved of Joseph and Simeon, so, too, will I be bereaved of Benjamin until he returns safely with you.”

The brothers took this gift, and also took along a double amount of money, as well as Benjamin. They set out and went down to Egypt, and they presented themselves before Joseph.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the overseer of his household, “Bring the men into the house and have animals slaughtered and their meat prepared, for these men will dine with me at the first meal of the day.”

The man did as Joseph said, and the man escorted the people into Joseph’s house.

The men were fearful because they had been brought into Joseph’s house, whereas travelers typically lodged at inns around the city. They said, “It is on account of the money that was returned to our packs when we were here the first time that we are being brought here, so that we may be falsely accused, attacked, imprisoned, and seized as slaves, along with our donkeys. We will not even be able to use our donkeys to send food back to our families.”

They approached the overseer of Joseph’s household, backing him out of the interior of the house, and spoke to him at the entrance of the house

as follows: “If you please, sir, we originally came down to buy food. Believe us, the very fact that we had to do so is humiliating to us; we are used to giving food to others. So you see, we would not have done this were it not necessary.

Then, when we arrived at the inn and opened our packs, we saw that each man’s money was at the opening of his pack, our own money, in its exact weight. We have brought it back with us.

We have also brought down additional money with which to buy food. We do not know who replaced the money into our packs.”

He replied, “All is well with you; do not be afraid. Your God, in your own merit, and if your own merit be insufficient, then the God of your father – in your father’s merit – has placed a hidden treasure for you in your packs. Your money reached me.” With that, he brought Simeon out to them. Their fears allayed, they agreed to follow the overseer back into Joseph’s house. In the meantime, Simeon related to them that Joseph had unbound him and fed him a meal as soon as they had left, and that he had treated him well. As was noted above, this kind treatment was another way Joseph was preparing them to accept him as their brother when he would eventually reveal his identity to them.

So the man brought the men once again into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he provided fodder for their donkeys.

They readied their gift for when Joseph would come for the first meal of the day, arranging it in elegant dishes, for they heard that they would be dining there.

When Joseph arrived home, they presented him with the gift they had brought into the inner chamber, and they prostrated themselves on the ground before him.

He inquired as to their welfare and asked, “How is your aged father of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

They replied, “Your servant, our father, is well; he is still alive.” They bowed their heads and prostrated themselves once again, in acknowledgement of Joseph’s interest in their welfare.

Joseph raised his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and he said, “Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me?” And then he said, addressing Benjamin, “May God be kind to you, my son.” Benjamin had not yet been born when Jacob referred to his children as gifts of God’s kindness, so Joseph wished to bestow upon him this distinction, too.

Joseph hurried out, for he was overcome with compassion for his brother and was on the verge of tears. He went to another room and wept there.

He then washed his face and came back out, restraining his emotions, and said, “Serve the meal.”

They served him and his family separately, and them separately, and the Egyptians who were eating with him separately, for the Egyptians could not eat a meal together with the Hebrews, since the Hebrews ate meat from animals worshiped by the Egyptians, and this was an abomination for the Egyptians. Thus, Joseph could not eat with his brothers since he was pretending to be an Egyptian, and the Egyptians could not eat with Joseph since they knew he was a Hebrew.

Pretending to divine by use of his goblet, Joseph struck it and announced, “Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun were all born, in that order, to the same mother, so they must sit at one table. Dan and Naphtali were born, in that order, to a second mother, so they must sit at a second table. Gad and Asher were born, in that order, to a third mother, so they must sit at a third table. Benjamin’s mother is no longer alive, and neither is mine, so he must sit at my table.” The brothers were thus seated before Joseph, the firstborn according to his seniority and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at each other in amazement, wondering how Joseph was able to know all this exact information about their family and how he could seat Benjamin, a Hebrew, next to him. Joseph did this once again with the intention of planting the thought in their minds that they knew each other, so that they would then be more inclined to believe him when he would eventually identify himself.

He had portions served to them from his table. After they all had been served, Joseph announced, “The ten others came here of their own free will, but Benjamin came only because I forced him to, so he deserves another portion.” He sent him another portion. When Joseph’s wife Asenat saw him do so, she also sent Benjamin an additional portion, and then Joseph’s sons Manasseh and Ephraim did likewise. Benjamin’s portion was thus five times as much as the others’. Ever since the brothers had sold Joseph, neither they nor he had drunk wine. On that day, however, they drank with him and became intoxicated.

Meanwhile, Joseph gave orders to the overseer of his household, as follows: “Fill the men’s packs with as much food as they can carry, and place each man’s money at the top of his pack.

And put my goblet – the silver goblet I use for divining – at the top of the youngest one’s pack, together with the money for his produce.” He did exactly as Joseph instructed him.

With the first light of morning, the men were sent on their way, together with their donkeys. When the brothers had previously left Egypt, they had taken Simeon’s donkey and sack with them; thus Simeon now left on foot and empty-handed, intending to buy another donkey on the way.

They had barely left the city and had not yet gone far, when Joseph said to the overseer of his household, “Set out and pursue those men, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why did you repay good with evil?

After all, this is the goblet from which my master drinks; indeed, he also uses it for divination. What you have done is an evil thing!’”

He caught up with them, and told them these very words.

They said to him, “Sir, why do you say such things? It would be a disgrace for us, your servants, to do such a thing! May God protect us from ever doing such a thing!

After all, we brought you back the money that we found at the top of our packs when we returned from Canaan. This is clear proof of our integrity. How then could we have stolen silver or gold from your master’s house?

Whichever of your servants with whom it is found will die, and the rest of us will become slaves to my lord.”

He replied, “Although it should be as you have now declared – for if a stolen object is found in the possession of one member of a group, the whole group is implicated – I will deal with you leniently: only the one in whose possession it is actually found will be my slave, and the rest of you will go free.”

Each man quickly lowered his pack to the ground, and each man opened his pack.

The overseer searched each one, beginning with that of the eldest and ending with that of the youngest, searching in this order that they not suspect that he already knew whose pack it was in, and the goblet was found in Benjamin’s pack.

The brothers rent their clothes. Each one loaded his donkey by himself, since they were all strong men and did not require each other’s help. They returned to the city. Convinced that they were victims of a plot, they began to formulate strategies for possible eventualities, and confidently noted that they could easily overcome the city if the need arose.

When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, anticipating their arrival, and they threw themselves on the ground before him.

Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Did you intend to undermine my power by stealing my divination goblet? Do you not know that people of rank rise to their posts by virtue of their own intelligence, and therefore such an important man as I can determine the truth as to who stole the goblet by logic, even without a divination goblet?”

Judah replied, “What can we say to my lord? We know we are innocent of this crime, but how can we speak convincingly, and how can we prove our innocence? Since we have no way to do so, it is clear that God has uncovered your servants’ old transgression and found a way to punish us for it. Here we are, then, slaves to my lord, we together with the one in whose possession the goblet was found.” Seeing that they were trapped, Judah assumed that God was now fulfilling His prophecy to Abraham that his descendants would be slaves in a foreign land.

But Joseph replied, “It would be a disgrace for me to do that! The one in whose possession the goblet was found will be my slave, and the rest of you will go up in peace to your father.” When Judah heard that Joseph only wanted to enslave Benjamin and not the rest of the brothers, he understood that God was not yet fulfilling the prophecy of slavery, as he had assumed. He therefore resolved to do whatever was necessary to keep Joseph from retaining Benjamin.