Of course the brothers of Yosef recognized him (Vayigash)

In my past notes on Parshat Miketz I left unanswered the question: How could it be that Yosef recognized his brothers, yet not one of his brothers recognized him? The answer is obvious if we read carefully the opening  of Parshat Vayigash .

Indeed, I believe the brothers recognized Yosef instantly. How could they not? But they felt paralyzed in his presence, and perhaps hoped against all odds that he did not recognize them. Indeed, each brother recognized Yosef but assumed the other brothers did not. They maintained the charade because their paranoia was both powerful and understandable. Not only were they terrified of Yosef, but they didn’t much trust one another.

After what they had done to Yosef, the best strategy would be silence, especially if Yosef chose not to acknowledge his recognition of them. It was even likely that Yosef – with few fond memories of his youth – chose to revel totally in his Egyptian glory and would not deign to acknowledge any kinship with this Canaanite riff-raff. (Indeed,when he  does finally bring them to Egypt he makes sure to put serious distance between where he and his family live and where his father and brothers would be settled.)

And so, an elaborate charade ensues in which each side knows that the other side knows, yet neither side blinks.

Things change in Vayigash.  The opening of the parsha features Yehudah, the natural leader, the family lion, addressing Zaphenat Paneah.  In the opening verse alone he refers to Yosef as ‘my master” and himself as ‘your slave’ four times . This obsequiousness is totally out of  character for Yehudah. And then, in the tenth (Bereishit 44:27) he ratchets the sycophancy up a quantum notch;

וַיֹּאמֶר עַבְדְּךָ אָבִי, אֵלֵינוּ:  אַתֶּם יְדַעְתֶּם, כִּי שְׁנַיִם יָלְדָה-לִּי אִשְׁתִּי
“And your slave our father said to us …”

 It is one thing for Yehudah, perched on the hot seat, to abject himself before Egypt’s viceroy. It is quite another to gratuitously degrade his absent father in the same language.

What in fact is happening here is Yehudah communicating in code to Yosef. By classifying himself (and his brothers) as well as their father as Yosef’s slaves he is referencing Yosef’s juvenile dreams, thereby declaring the validity and veracity of  those dreams. Thus he is attempting to achieve two goals; first to signal that the brothers know who Yosef is (while still leaving him the option of  passive denial); and second, that they have come full circle in accepting his congenital destiny to be lord and master over themselves and their father.

Yehudah’s soliloquy is a strategic bulls-eye. It is at this moment that Yosef loses his composure and makes the decision to acknowledge his brothers after all.

Yosef behaves with consummate noblesse oblige as he begs his brothers:

וְאַל-יִחַר בְּעֵינֵיכֶם, כִּי-מְכַרְתֶּם אֹתִי, הֵנָּה
…do not be angry with me for having sold me here…
(45:5)

He then brings the reference to his dreams to its denouement when he declares unequivocally:

וְעַתָּה, לֹא-אַתֶּם שְׁלַחְתֶּם אֹתִי הֵנָּה, כִּי, הָאֱלֹהִים; וַיְשִׂימֵנִי לְאָב לְפַרְעֹה, וּלְאָדוֹן לְכָל-בֵּיתוֹ, וּמֹשֵׁל, בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
And now it is not you who sent me here, but God, who placed me as a father to Pharaoh and master of  his household and governor of  all the land of  Egypt.
(45:8)

Pharaoh is delighted by the new developments, and presses for the entire clan to relocate to Egypt. Clearly – and perhaps rightly – he assumes that if one brother can be such a boon to Egyptian society, a fortiori the benefit of  having eleven more.

This is a sad precursor of  many instances in Jewish history in which the self-serving interests of a particular ruler opens the gates to Jewish migration. The Jews naively assume the golden era will last forever.  It never does. And we never learn.

Pharaoh, whether by intelligence or instinct, taps into another weakness of the Jewish people – the inability to let go of  material possessions even when their own lives are in peril. Urging the brothers to make haste, he says;

וְעֵינְכֶם, אַל-תָּחֹס עַל-כְּלֵיכֶם:  כִּי-טוּב כָּל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם, לָכֶם הוּא
Do not allow your eyes to take pity on your belongings…
(45:20).

How many Jews perished in the Shoah because they couldn’t part with their possessions? How often do we hear people spurning aliyah because “it isn’t the right time to sell the house”, or “the market conditions are not optimal for liquidating the business”?  Of course there never is a right time.  And we never learn.

As we will see later (46:6) Pharaoh’s suggestion falls on deaf ears, as it appears Yaakov’s family packs everything down to the chandeliers. Being obsessed with material possessions seems to be hard-wired into our DNA, and this is hardly something to be proud of. Already with Avraham we are told

וַיִּקַּ֣ח אַבְרָם֩ אֶת־שָׂרַ֨י אִשְׁתּ֜וֹ וְאֶת־ל֣וֹט בֶּן־אָחִ֗יו וְאֶת־כּל־רְכוּשָׁם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר רָכָ֔שׁוּ
And Avram too his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot and all the possessions they had acquired
(12:5)

Here too, Yaakov and his sons – despite Pharaoh’s suggesting otherwise – need to pack all their tchotchkes:

וַיִּקְח֣וּ אֶת־מִקְנֵיהֶ֗ם וְאֶת־רְכוּשָׁם֙ אֲשֶׁ֤ר רָֽכְשׁוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ כְּנַ֔עַן
And they  took all their cattle and all their property that they had acquired in Canaan
(46:6)

When they had returned to their father, the brothers informed Yaakov that:

עוֹד יוֹסֵף חַי, וְכִי-הוּא מֹשֵׁל, בְּכָל-אֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם
Yosef still lives and he is the governor of Egypt
(45:26).

At first, Yaakov refuses to believe this, coming around only when he sees the bounty they had brought with them.  Clearly the Patriarch has been in a serious eclipse. He is not the Yisrael who left the house of  Lavan.  He has become toothless, weak of  spirit, and easily manipulated. His next meal seems more important to him than destiny.  One can sympathize in light of the loss of  his beloved Rachel, and the lack of  closure regarding his favorite son.  He has reverted to being the Yaakov of  his earliest incarnation, a meek dweller of tents:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ לְיִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בְּמַרְאֹ֣ת הַלַּ֔יְלָה וַיֹּ֖אמֶר יַעֲקֹ֣ב ׀ יַעֲקֹ֑ב וַיֹּ֖אמֶר הִנֵּֽנִי
And God said to Yisrael in a nocturnal vision, and He said; ‘Yaakov, Yaakov’, and he said ‘hineni’
(46:2.)

Clearly, in his depressed state, Yaakov would not have responded to the name Yisrael. God’s repetition of the name Yaakov appears to emphasize the reality of Yisrael’s diminished state at this juncture. Indeed God has to remind Yaakov;

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָנֹכִ֥י הָאֵ֖ל אֱלֹהֵ֣י אָבִ֑יךָ
I am the God, the God of  your father…|
(46:3)

 –– this to the man to whom He had appeared in arguably the most seminal dream in the entire Torah, the man who had once successfully wrestled God’s own messenger. (Note how God makes no mention here of Avraham. It would be too much for Yaakov to register that this is both his ancestral God and his own God as well.)

Yosef manifests a certain ambivalence about the arrival of  his extended family.  Yes, he is pleased to be their leader and meal ticket. On the other hand he manipulates matters so that they should be close but not too close for comfort.

וְהָיָ֕ה כִּֽי־יִקְרָ֥א לָכֶ֖ם פַּרְעֹ֑ה וְאָמַ֖ר מַה־מַּעֲשֵׂיכֶֽם׃.וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֗ם אַנְשֵׁ֨י מִקְנֶ֜ה הָי֤וּ עֲבָדֶ֙יךָ֙ מִנְּעוּרֵ֣ינוּ וְעַד־עַ֔תָּה גַּם־אֲנַ֖חְנוּ גַּם־אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ בַּעֲב֗וּר תֵּשְׁבוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ גֹּ֔שֶׁן כִּֽי־תוֹעֲבַ֥ת מִצְרַ֖יִם כּל־רֹ֥עֵה צֹֽאן
And when Pharaoh shall call you and ask what is your business. And you shall tell him your servants have been cattle herders since our youth until now, we and our forefathers, so that you may settle in the land of  Goshen because every shepherd is an abomination to Egyptians
(46:33:34).

Pharaoh had been enthusiastic about the arrival of Yosef’s brothers. Yosef could easily have retooled their skill sets and catapulted them into instant aristocracy.  Instead he sidelines his brothers and father into the unpopulated Goshen and manipulates them into remaining shepherds despite the raging famine and the paltry grazing opportunities.

Further, as we shall see,  Yosef reduces contact with his family – his father included – to a bare minimum, to the degree that his own sons Efraim and Menashe first meet their grandfather when Yaakov/Yisrael is on his deathbed.  It is clear that he does NOT introduce the grandchildren to their grandfather when he first arrives in Egypt.

וַיֶּאְסֹ֤ר יוֹסֵף֙ מֶרְכַּבְתּ֔וֹ וַיַּ֛עַל לִקְרַֽאת־יִשְׂרָאֵ֥ל אָבִ֖יו גֹּ֑שְׁנָה וַיֵּרָ֣א אֵלָ֗יו וַיִּפֹּל֙ עַל־צַוָּארָ֔יו וַיֵּ֥בְךְּ עַל־צַוָּארָ֖יו עֽוֹד׃
וַיֹּ֧אמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל אֶל־יוֹסֵ֖ף אָמ֣וּתָה הַפָּ֑עַם אַחֲרֵי֙ רְאוֹתִ֣י אֶת־פָּנֶ֔יךָ כִּ֥י עוֹדְךָ֖ חָֽי׃
Yosef ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Yisrael; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while.
Then Yisrael said to Yosef, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”
(46:29-30)

The remainder of the parsha describes Yosef’s management strategy, and how he masterminded the concentration of all of Egypt’s wealth into the hands of  Pharaoh and his priests, thereby turning the entire nation effectively into slaves of the monarch.