Ziv : Parashat Miketz 2

Paying good for evil

This week’s parasha launches us into a new era in Joseph’s life, and with it, a new era in the life of the children of Israel. At the beginning of the parasha Joseph is brought before Pharaoh to interpret the latter’s unnerving dream. This event, happening on Pharoah’s birthday - precisely two years (Genesis 41:1) after the fulfillment of the dreams of Joseph’s fellow prisoners - will also set the stage for the fulfillment of Joseph’s infancy dreams (Genesis 37). The revelation provided by this dream shows that a period of great famine is to be expected: “there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land.” (Genesis 41:30). Joseph is appointed to rule the land of Egypt and prepare the land of this nefarious event.

However, Joseph never forgot his overarching mission - the one he received from his father Jacob - which is: “to see the peace of your brothers” (Genesis 37:14). It is clear that the revelation of the coming famine it directed not only to Pharaoh but also to Joseph himself. Indeed his brothers will have no choice but to eventually come to Egypt, to Joseph himself - in order to sustain themselves, their elderly father and their families. This is what Joseph is patiently waiting for and he has nine years to prepare himself for this encounter and how he would need to deal with his brothers. Fully realizing that this is also the fulfillment of his own dream, he sees that the fact that he was brought down to Egypt was the salvation of their lives: to gather grain - the sheaves of his dream - from which his brothers will be fed and feed their families. He realizes that these twenty-two years of suffering were a necessary evil for the sake of a much greater good. What Joseph decides to do is to teach them one of the main teachings of the Torah: that there is no evil that cannot be turned into good according to God’s will, and therefore evil is to be repaid with good. In order to teach them this lesson, he accuses them gratuitously of spying - being deliberately stern and unfair with them - and then turning around to the other extreme and being deliberately kind and generous. He plays the part of an Egyptian ruler who repents of his evil ways. After placing them unfairly in prison for three days he comes to them with words of repentance and says: “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” (Genesis 42:18-20). This role-playing continues to the very end of the parasha when Joseph instructs his steward to plant his “cup of divinations” in Benjamin’s bag. The brothers surely realized that Benjamin did not steal the cup - but the fact that it was found with him would make them think that God has caused this evil to come upon them because of their actions, and drive them to repentance - this is why he instructs his steward to ask them “why have you repaid evil for good?” (Genesis 44:4). These are the words that will lead Judah and his brothers in next week’s portion to repentance and to the reunification of Jacob’s family. This story teaches us that repentance comes from seeing good repaid for one’s evil deeds and that good deeds will always overcome evil. Shabbat Shalom.