Creative Conundrums: Vayigash

Note: email me at iwe@religiousliberalism.org to receive this sheet by email each week.

Why Accuse the Brothers of Espionage?

Why does Joseph accuse his brothers of being spies? After all, they know they are not spies. And Joseph knows they are not spies. So why make the accusation?

Might the answer be found when Joseph reveals himself? First, he clears the house:

Cause every man to go out from me. And no man stood with him, while Yosef made himself known to his brethren.

But it does not matter! Because as soon as he makes a sound…

And he wept aloud: and Miżrayim and the house of Par῾o heard. … And the report was heard in Par῾o’s house, saying, Yosef’s brethren are come: and it pleased Par῾o well, and his servants.

Hold on! How did Joseph clear the room, and yet Pharoah heard everything?!

Is it possible the real spies were working in Joseph’s household, reporting back to Pharoah? And Joseph must have known it!

What if the household spies (and Pharoah) were the real audience of the accusation that the brothers were spies?

But why would Joseph need such a ruse? Why did he need to lie to Pharaoh?

Maybe it was suspicious that Joseph spent lots of time with, of all people, and with all of his duties, 10 specific foreigners? Indeed, might it have been very hard to explain all the schemes Joseph was unleashing on those same foreigners?

What if Joseph dealt with the suspicion by making an accusation that would have made sense to Pharoah? If the brothers were spies, could Joseph’s actions have been explained as a matter of national security?

If so, did Joseph accuse his brothers of being spies because he was diverting the real spies, Pharoah’s agents, keeping an eye on Joseph from within Joseph’s own house?

____________________

Where is G-d?

When Jacob reaches out at Bet El and Be-er Sheva to talk with G-d, he brings sacrifices. But in between those two events, which are separated by decades, the Torah does not mention Jacob bringing any sacrifices at all.

Indeed, in all the time from the death of Rachel until Joseph is found alive, does the Torah mention Jacob reaching out to talk to G-d at all?

What might explain this?

Is it ironic that in this period the family was almost entirely in Canaan – but they felt that G-d was mad at them? On the other side of the coin, Joseph was in Egypt, and he felt (and told everyone) that G-d was blessing him, and was the source of all good things. In this period G-d was, perversely, more present outside the Promised Land, than inside it. It is Joseph who tells the brothers, who must have been quite confused by hearing it from a perfect stranger, that G-d is involved in their lives.

In this period is it Jacob or Joseph who are most proactive in how they live their lives? Might there be a connection to whether or not they sought an ongoing divine connection?

____________________

The Origin of “Chok”

רַ֛ק אַדְמַ֥ת הַכֹּהֲנִ֖ים לֹ֣א קָנָ֑ה כִּי֩ חֹ֨ק לַכֹּהֲנִ֜ים מֵאֵ֣ת פַּרְעֹ֗ה וְאָֽכְל֤וּ אֶת־חֻקָּם֙ אֲשֶׁ֨ר נָתַ֤ן לָהֶם֙ פַּרְעֹ֔ה עַל־כֵּ֕ן לֹ֥א מָכְר֖וּ אֶת־אַדְמָתָֽם׃ Only the land of the priests he did not take over, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh had made to them; therefore they did not sell their land. (Gen. 47:22)

What is this “allotment”? The word, transliterated as chok appears for the first time in the text here. Isn’t that crazy?

After all, isn’t a chok in the Torah usually a spiritual or symbolic commandment, one that separates us from others? Not in this case, though!

In this verse, a chok is something given by the king that sustains a people, something that they can eat.

In Egypt, everything is material. Pharoah gives the Jewish slaves a chok, too: a required amount of bricks that needed to be made. The measure of a man was the physical product he produced.

So, too, the Egyptian priests are sustained by the chok, which they live on. And the chok allows them to be separate from everyone else. Does that sound familiar?

Perhaps the Torah is also teaching us of the difference between Egypt and Israel? After all, all the chokim we receive from G-d are inedible, and they have nothing to do with work. Are they not, instead, all symbolic laws, like remembering to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt on Passover (which is the first time the text tells us of a chok given to the Jews).

Isn’t this different use of chok a way for the Torah to show us how Egypt is the counterpoint, the mirror image of what Jews are supposed to aspire to?

Is the Torah telling us that Jews are not sustained by bread or wealth? Is not sustenance through the Law, as given by G-d? Not – we should emphasize – the kinds of normal civil laws that any rational society might derive (mishpatim). But instead, are we not sustained by the laws that are uniquely Jewish, the laws given to us by our king that feed our souls, and allow us to be apart from all other peoples?

It is no coincidence that in that specific verse the Egyptian priests are even called Cohanim the Hebrew for “priests.” In virtually every case, “priests” in the Torah are Aaron or his descendants – but not here. Is the text drawing a contrast for us, because we Jews are commanded to “be a nation of priests?” Does not our chok, our portion, sustain us and keep us separate from the spiritual poverty that plagues the entire world, the world that measures wealth through material possessions?

Is the Torah telling us that Egyptians lived thanks to their chok from the king – and that Jews also live through the chokim given to us by our king? Is it essentially that the chokim of others are material, while ours are spiritual?

This parsha question sheet takes the approach of reading the Chumash very closely. It is assumed that every letter and word has meaning, and all questions can be answered. So you’ll find the questions offered every week are deeply textual, seeking relevance to our lives today from the foundational document for Judaism and indeed all of Western Civilization. 

This sheet is distributed with the general approval of Rabbi Rose.

See creativejudaism.org (use the search tool). Or email me at iwe@religiousliberalism.org. This sheet is emailed out Thursday evenings to those who have requested it.

• A BJSZ member