The inner world of Yosef

1. Echoes of Eden
Rabbi Ari Kahn
Parashat Vayechi 5775
Take Me Home
As Yaakov nears the end of his life, he summons his son Yosef and pleads
with him to see to it that he is given a proper burial in the land of Canaan.
We are unsure why it is specifically Yosef whom he entrusts with this task:
Perhaps only Yosef, of all the sons of Yaakov, has the power to fulfill this
request. Alternatively, this may indicate that Yaakov still favors Yosef above
his other sons: It is Yosef that he trusts and, Yaakov believes, Yosef who will
return his love and tend to him, even after his passing.
Had the special relationship between Yaakov and Yosef been rekindled after
the long years of separation? Had father and son simply picked up where
they left off before their lives were so rudely interrupted, or had the events
that preceded their reunion served to make their relationship even closer?
After all, the violence that brought Yosef to Egypt, the years of
estrangement, loneliness and abuse Yosef suffered, as well as his eventual
success, all mirrored Yaakov’s own biography. Could father and son have
become even more alike as the years went by?
Perhaps, instead, Yosef had been changed by his experiences, and Yaakov
turned to him now as a subject pleading with a powerful foreign ruler. Had
the years in Egypt or the nearly-unlimited power he now enjoyed corrupted
him, or was Yosef still the most loyal son of
Yaakov, the most eager to please and obey
his father, the great protégé of Yaakov?
Externally, Yosef had certainly undergone a
transformation. Ever since he was brought
before Pharaoh, he dressed as an Egyptian.
His trappings and manner did not belie his
origins as a young Hebrew slave. He wore
the robes of Egyptian royalty, as did his
wife and sons.
1
Externally,
Yosef
had
certainly
undergone
a
transformation…
he
dressed
as
an
Egyptian.

2. When Yosef stands before his father to receive Yaakov’s blessing for his
children, Yaakov does not seem to recognize his grandchildren. Perhaps
Yaakov’s advanced years and failing eyesight are to blame; perhaps the
clouded vision is caused by a disturbing prophetic insight to which Yaakov
is privy, regarding the descendants of Menashe and Efraim. The most
straightforward explanation, though, is that these Egyptian princes seem
quite strange to him.
Nonetheless, the blessing Yaakov gives them is telling: Menashe and Efraim
are to be considered like Reuven and Shimon. First and foremost, this
indicates that Yosef is being treated as the firstborn; he alone receives a
double portion in the family’s most prized inheritance. On the other hand,
this blessing indicates that despite the years that separate Yosef’s sons from
the sons of Yaakov, despite the physical distance from their ancestral
homeland and from their saintly grandfather, despite having been raised in
the morally corrupt Land of Egypt, Yosef’s children are no different than any
of the sons of Yaakov. There is no generation gap. And this, more than
anything else, reflects Yosef’s greatness. Despite their strange garb, their
fidelity to the vision of Avraham was intact.
Later, as Yosef’s life comes to an end, he makes his extended family swear
that they will take his remains with them when they leave Egypt. Yosef
believed that the Children of Israel were not staying in Egypt. He was not
confused by his own political or economic security. His identity was
perfectly clear to him; his place was with the Children of Israel, in the
Promised Land, and not in the pantheon of Egyptian leaders. For Yosef there
would be no burial pyramid; no slaves and treasures would accompany him
to the Egyptian afterlife. Perhaps in this final act, more than any other, we
obtain a glimpse into Yosef’s inner world.
Yosef knew that this Egyptian sojourn was a “temporary gig.” He had no
illusions about the vicissitudes of fate. He had seen high-ranking officials
arrested, some quite suddenly plucked from death row and returned to
office and others put to death. He himself went from prince to prisoner to
slave and back again, only to find himself as the second most powerful man
in the ancient world. He was far too wise to believe that it would, or should,
last.
Echoes of Eden

3. Yosef had acute long-term vision; he knew that God’s control over the world
is as direct and immediate on the national scale as it is on the personal scale.
The Egyptian people, who had enjoyed years of plenty, suddenly found
themselves as indentured servants to
Pharaoh, in a policy Yosef himself had
orchestrated. Who better than Yosef knew
that such a reversal of fortunes could
happen to his own people, that the shift
from protected wards of the state to
downtrodden slaves could and would
happen, in no more than the blink of an
eye? And, Yosef knew, just as suddenly the
day would come when the Children of
Israel would leave this place and head
home, to the land promised to their
forefathers.
That future, that destiny - and not the riches of an Egyptian tomb - were the
stuff of Yosef’s dreams and aspirations. Yosef’s last request was that he be a
part of the great march toward the destiny he shared with his people – his
real people, his brothers. Although his allegiance may have been questioned
during his lifetime, in death Yosef left no room for doubt. Beneath the
Egyptian finery, he remained Yosef, the son of Yaakov. He was a Jew, and he
wanted to go home.
For
an
in-­‐depth
analysis
see
–
http://arikahn.blogspot.co.il/2014/12/audio-­‐and-­‐essays-­‐parashat-­‐vayichi.html
Echoes of Eden
Yosef
knew
that
such
a
reversal
of
fortunes
could
happen
to
his
own
people,
…
in
no
more
than
the
blink
of
an
eye…