{"id":40176,"date":"2018-09-16T14:29:42","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T11:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=40176"},"modified":"2022-04-11T16:19:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T13:19:29","slug":"joseph-the-court-jew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joseph-the-court-jew\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph the Court Jew"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[539,523,503],"acf":{"old_id":"40176","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34227,"related_cahpter":"47","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A position which is: precarious, vulnerable to the resentment of the people and to regime change, and also morally ambivalent \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0","content":"

Every Pesach, at the Seder, we commence the narrative of the Exodus with the words, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in the land of Egypt.” Do we notice, though, that the first time these words \u2013 or a variant of them \u2013 appear in the Torah is <\/span>before<\/span><\/em> the exodus story?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the second year of the great famine the Egyptian people come to Joseph, now Pharaoh’s chief minister, and say: “Let us not perish before your eyes, both we and our land. Take us and our land in exchange for bread, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh” (47:19). Joseph takes the people up on their offer. He concentrates ownership of the land in the hands of Pharaoh and, for good measure, implements a wholesale population transfer “from one end of Egypt’s border to the other” (47:21). The people declare their gratitude and, so there’s no doubt, confirm that they are now Pharaoh’s slaves (47:25). \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What are we supposed to make of this incident? What does the Torah itself make of this incident? One of the difficulties in making sense of this passage is that it occurs towards the end of Genesis. In short order, the Torah’s narrative shifts to a new epoch and the immediate ramifications of this event are left unrecorded.<\/span><\/p>\n

Are we to view this event as the crowning achievement of Joseph’s wise management of Egypt’s economic crisis? Should we regard the people of Israel’s subsequent enslavement by Egypt as a kind of measure for measure (“midah keneged midah<\/em>“)? Did Joseph’s dispossession of the people and concentration of property and power in the hands of Pharaoh unwittingly create the conditions which enabled Israel’s subsequent enslavement?<\/span><\/p>\n

If such thoughts belong to the realm of the speculative, what remains is the image of Joseph as the archetypal court Jew. In order to ensure his family’s security and prosperity, he becomes the loyal and indispensable adviser to the king. Yet his position is precarious, vulnerable always to the resentment of the people or to regime change, and also morally ambivalent. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Jewish people’s generations-long dream of redemption from exile was, among other things, the dream of a nation, sovereign on its land, which would be in a position to defend itself against the vagaries of its enemies, and also to liberate itself from the moral compromises that powerlessness imposed upon it. To some extent, the creation of the State of Israel has magnificently achieved this. Experience teaches us, however, that the dividing line between power and powerlessness, autonomy and dependency, is never absolute; and also that political power brings its own moral challenges. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Image: L\u00e4mmle Seeligmann, the court Jew \/ wikipedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":97731,"id":97731,"title":"dan4-court jew","filename":"dan4-court-jew.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-court-jew-does-it-again\/dan4-court-jew\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dan4-court-jew","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":97730,"date":"2021-09-20 13:00:20","modified":"2022-04-11 13:19:20","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Joseph the Court Jew","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"A position which is: precarious, vulnerable to the resentment of the people and to regime change, and also morally ambivalent \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":97731,"id":97731,"title":"dan4-court jew","filename":"dan4-court-jew.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-court-jew-does-it-again\/dan4-court-jew\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"dan4-court-jew","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":97730,"date":"2021-09-20 13:00:20","modified":"2022-04-11 13:19:20","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-683x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":683,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-683x1024.jpg","large-width":683,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":1200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":1200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-800x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/dan4-court-jew-280x420.jpg","home_baner-width":280,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"old_create_date":"","links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103892,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40176\/revisions\/103892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}