{"id":40231,"date":"2018-09-16T16:35:45","date_gmt":"2018-09-16T13:35:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=40231"},"modified":"2022-04-11T15:43:24","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T12:43:24","slug":"joseph-saviour-and-slaver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joseph-saviour-and-slaver\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph: Saviour and Slaver"},"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":[523,436,503,438],"acf":{"old_id":"40231","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":37918,"related_cahpter":"47","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The Torah passionately prohibits the Israelites from doing to one another what Joseph does to the Egyptian people","content":"

Sometimes the line between heroism and cruelty can be difficult to discern. <\/span><\/p>\n

Faced with severe famine, Joseph brings the Egyptians back from the brink of starvation, and, at the same time, enslaves them. First, Joseph takes possession of the Egyptian\u2019s fields; then he takes a fifth of everything they own for Pharaoh (47:25); finally, he makes them slaves (<\/span>avadim<\/span><\/em>). In so doing, he runs afoul of the Torah’s vision of how an ideal society should function. <\/span><\/p>\n

How does Joseph understand his own behavior? Earlier, Joseph had told his brothers that \u201cit was to save life (<\/span>la-mihyah<\/span><\/em>) that God sent me ahead\u201d (45:5). When the Egyptians thank Joseph, they use strikingly reminiscent language: \u201cYou have saved our lives (<\/span>hehiyitanu<\/span><\/em>)!\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But how does the Torah view Joseph\u2019s enslavement of the Egyptians? Commenting on Joseph\u2019s decision to remove the Egyptian populace from their homes (47:21), Rashbam compares Joseph\u2019s actions to the Assyrian King Sennacherib\u2019s (2 Kings 18:32). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is Rashbam subtly condemning condemning Joseph\u2019s actions? Or is he merely explaining (one aspect) of what Joseph did by comparing his actions to those of another biblical figure? It is difficult to know.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yet I wonder. The ironic turns in the text are intense and powerful and thus require explanation: Brought to Egypt as a slave, Joseph now becomes Egypt\u2019s enslaver. <\/span><\/p>\n

And soon enough, a new Pharaoh rises and, in the words of Jon Levenson, \u201cthe House of Israel [finds] themselves once again on the wrong end of the enslavement process.\u201d Joseph displays remarkable administrative prowess, but he unleashes forces that eventually end up oppressing and degrading his own people. It is hard to imagine that the Torah makes no moral judgment at all on Joseph\u2019s setting this destructive process in motion. <\/span><\/p>\n

When the Torah imagines Israel\u2019s life in the land, it prohibits the permanent selling of land (Leviticus 25:23) and limits slavery to a limit of six years (Deuteronomy 15:12); permanent enslavement is unthinkable. In other words, the Torah passionately prohibits the Israelites from doing to one another what Joseph does to the Egyptian people as a whole. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is something to be said for administrative aptitude, but it is sobering to realize that it can be coupled with profound short-sightedness. It is also a great virtue to behave honestly and honorably with our superiors. But the greatest test of character may lie elsewhere\u2014in the empathy we display towards those who stand powerless before us. <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":40272,"id":40272,"title":"shutterstock_238068115","filename":"shutterstock_238068115.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_238068115.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joseph-saviour-and-slaver\/shutterstock_238068115\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"shutterstock_238068115","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":40231,"date":"2018-09-16 20:37:40","modified":"2022-04-11 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