Rashi's sole comment on the following 4 verses
is that the expression of guilt feelings mentioned in the first three
verses caused the crying in the 4th verse. We have
indicated this Rashi comment using an interpolated underlined phrase.
Verses Gn42-21:24 states
And they [Joseph's brothers]
said one to another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and you would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spoke to them by an interpreter.
[ and hence because of this expression of guilt]
he [Joseph] turned himself away from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and talked with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
Sermonic points:The above Rashi paints the conflicting
emotions in Joseph. On the one hand he was sold into slavery for 13 years
because of one of his brothers. On the other hand the expression of guilt
changed a possible anger into crying. Here we see how repentance can
change and possible heal an emotional abusive relationship.
Note the alignment of the underlined
words in the following verses discussing Jacob's sons, coming down to buy food
in Egypt:
- And Joseph?s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.
....
- And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came; ...
- and Joseph?s brothers came, and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.
Note the deliberate shifting of description of the Jews: Jacob's sons vs
Joseph's brothers. Rashi comments
We hear the emphasis:
They were not only Jacob's sons; they were also Joseph's brothers.
They had repented; they no longer wished Joseph dead. They realized they made
a mistake selling him.
Rashi further elaborates with reasonable fill-ins. They told Joseph, whom they
did not recognize, that they were searching for their lost brother and wanted him back.
Sermonic points: The above Rashi studies the violent emotion of anger
and rage. Very often anger/rage is momentary. True, Joseph's brothers were angry at him
and wanted to kill him or sold as a slave. But time healed this anger. They now wanted
him back. We are all familiar with this change from anger and see it frequently
in our daily lives.
Note the contradiction in the following verses
discussing the world famine in Joseph's time:
- Verse
Gn41-54
states
54. And the seven years of famine began to come,
according as Joseph had said;
- and the famine was in all lands;
- but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
- Verse
Gn41-55
states
- And when all the land of Egypt was famished,
the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, Go to Joseph; what he said to you, do.
We see the contradiction: Which is it?
Did Egypt have bread or was it famished?
Rashi resolves this contradiction using the two-stages
method of resolution:
Initially Egypt prepared for the Famine by gathering
extra food the same way Joseph prepared for the famine.
Thus initially,in the first stage, Egypt had food. But the food that Egypt
gathered rotted while the food that Joseph gathered
had preservatives to prevent the rotting. Hence the
famine reached Egypt.
Sermonic points:
We see here God's providence. God wanted Joseph to be
leader of Egypt. Hence although the Egyptians followed
Joseph's advice and lead they failed in harvesting food.
God in effect forced them to accept Joseph's leadership.
When God wishes to raise a person to greatness it is God,
not man, who eliminates the competition.
Note the climactic nature of the following verse:
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and
- they brought him hastily out of the dungeon;
- and he shaved himself,
- and changed clothes, and
- came in to Pharaoh.
Here the Bible indicates requirements for a royal appearance:
- Status: Joseph was no longer a prisoner
- Appearance: Clean shaven and showered
- Appareil: Proper attire
- Royal appearance:
Sermonic points:
We normally think of the Bible as only indicating laws and moral
exhortations. However frequently the Bible will indicate how
to best handle social situations in the real world. In the above
example the Bible shows us how to prepare for a royal visit.
The great midieval commentator, Gersonides, The Ralbag, particularly
championed social inferences from the Bible.
When Rashi fills in commentary on a verse
that is not inferred from word meaning, grammar
or other verses we say that Rashi uses the
Spreadsheet method. A typical example of
fill ins is when Rashi makes numerical
inferences from a spreadsheet of Biblical
facts. Another typical example is when Rashi
supplies geometric diagrams. Any of these
three methods
- filling in numerical clarifications from a spreadsheet
- filling in geometric clarifications
- filling in with reasonable background information
is called use of the spreadsheet method.
When Rashi gathers a collection of verses
and infers from numerical computations we say
Rashi uses the Spreadsheet method. The
Table below shows it reasonable that Rivkah
was 15 years old when she married Isaac. After
reviewing the table we will explain its rows
line by line.
Biblical verses Gn43-32:33 describes how the
Egyptian food minister assigned seating to Jacob's children
at a meal:
And they served him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, who ate with him, by themselves; because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright,
and the youngest according to his youth;
and the men looked at one another in amazement.
Rashi ties these verses to other verses in the next paragraph dealing
with the magic of his goblet.
Verses Gn43-12,15 states
And he searched, and began at the eldest,
and ended at the youngest; and the goblet was found in Benjamin?s sack.
...And Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done?
Do you not know that such a man as I can certainly divine?
Rashi comments on the above verses by giving reasonable and
plausible background fill ins:
How did Joseph assign seats for the meals? He would tap his
goblet and pointed e.g. to Reuven and say He is the eldest of one
wife. He would tap his goblet again and pointed to Shimon and say
He is the 2nd oldest of this wife. He would continue and identify
the chronological position of each set of children from the 4 wives.
Since the brothers hadn't given this information they were amazed
The underline words in this Rashi fill in correspond
to underlined words in the above Biblical citation.
Advanced Rashi:
Every Rashi method has a flavor. A word meaning or
grammar method is typically punchy and to the point. On the
other hand a spreadsheet method by its very nature and
definition--- a method which does not make inferences from the
Biblical text---has a speculative flavor. Here is another perspective:
We need not (as religious Jews) believe that Joseph actually tapped
his cup and assigned seats. But given the story this is such a reasonable
interpretation it is believable and it would be foolish to deny it.
There are sermonic points to the story. The story shows how Joseph
got the brothers to confess: Joseph played on the emotions of the brothers.
He uses superstitions (the goblet) to evoke anxiety in the brothers.
These techniques are also used in modern police, detective and court
work to evoke confessions.
Rashi introduces the idea that a good symbolic dream
interpretation uses the motif method: One simple
symbolic equation is stated which generates the interpretation
of the whole dream.
In interpreting Pharoh's dreams Joseph introduces the
following motific symbolic equation:
- Each animal or plant = one year.
As shown below this single motific symbolic equation
generates the interpretation of both dreams. For convenience
we only interpret the cow dream, the interpretation of the
plant dream being similar.
In the next paragraph we present the first
Biblical statement of Pharoh's cow
dream,given in Biblical verses Gn43-01:04.
The symbolic interpretation of each phrase
is presented on its side in special font. Each symbolic
interpretation is either natural or flows from the symbolic
equation mentioned above. Those interpretations that are explicitly
stated in Rashi are identified as such.
- And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed; [Background material ]
- and, behold, he stood by the river.
[he reviewed the Egyptian economy which was supported by the Nile river ]
- And, behold, there came up from the river seven cows[seven years ]
- sleek and fat; [years of fat and plenty ]
- and they fed in the reed grass.[there was adequate support for the years of fat ]
- And, behold, seven other cows came up after them from the river, [another seven year period ]
- gaunt and thin; [years of emaciation ]
- and stood by the other cows upon the brink of the river.
[the second set of years came immediately after the first set of years ]
- And the gaunt and thin cows consumed the seven sleek and fat cows.
[Rashi: the memory of the years of fat was consumed by anguish of the years of emaciation ]
- And Pharaoh awoke.[Background material ]
Advanced Rashi: This approach of motific
dream interpretation was first introduced in my article
Maimonide's attitude towards Sacrifices.
This week's parshah contains no examples
of the
other verse,
method.
This concludes this weeks edition.
Visit the RashiYomi website at
http://www.Rashiyomi.com
for further details and examples.