‘Toil and Trouble’ Parashat Mikketz 5785

Joseph has well and truly hit the jackpot. After years spent languishing in jail, Joseph is summoned to the Pharaoh to interpret dreams that have befuddled all of his wizards. Joseph satisfactorily interprets Pharaoh’s dreams. He then proposes a system that will restructure the Egyptian economy in preparation for a worldwide famine, he marries Egyptian royalty, and he is elevated to the position of Royal Vizier, second only to the Pharaoh.

After Joseph’s rise to power, his wife bears him two sons. He calls the first one “Menashe”, saying [Bereishit 41:51] “G-d has made me completely forget (nashani) my hardship and the home of my father.” He calls his second son “Ephraim”, saying [Bereishit 41:52] “G-d has made me fertile (hiphrani) in the land of my affliction”. One could argue that Joseph should have called his first son Ephraim. After all, gratitude (hakarat hatov) is burnt into Jewish DNA. Hakarat hatov is more than simple gratitude –  it is recognizing and appreciating the good that another has done for us. With G-d’s help, Joseph had gone from a life sentence in prison to Vice President of the world’s only superpower, in the course of one morning. While Joseph eventually does acknowledg G-d’s kindness, why does he wait for his second son to do so?

Before addressing this question, we will pose another one. Rabbi Isaac Samuel Reggio[1], writing in “Be’ur Yashar”, asks how Joseph could possibly forget his father’s home? While a child can be angry with his parents, while he can cease communicating with them, he cannot purge the memory of his family or his childhood. Further, calling his son “Menashe” meant that every time he called his name, he would willy-nilly be forced recall his past.

We will tackle the first question first. Joseph is not the first person in the Bible to defer thanking G-d. His stepmother, Leah, does the very same thing. She names her fourth son “Judah”, saying [Bereishit 29:35] “This time I will praise (o’deh) G-d”. Why does she not call her first son Judah? Considering that G-d had given her the ability to bear children while her sister, Rachel, remained barren, a “thank you” would have been in order[2]. The answer to this question concerns Leah’s relationship with her husband, Jacob. Jacob falls madly in love with Rachel and works for seven years for her hand in marriage. On their wedding night, Rachel’s father, Laban, switches her with Leah. When Jacob discovers that he has married the wrong woman, he is livid. Laban allows him to marry Rachel, but only if he agrees to work for him for another seven years. It is only natural that Jacob would love Rachel more than Leah. After all, she was his intended bride. And it is only natural that Leah, in her forced role as a fifth wheel, would feel scorned by her husband. The thing she wants most in the entire world is for him to love her, or at least show her some love. The names of her first three sons express the pathos of her plight. She calls her first son “Reuben”, saying [Bereishit 29:32] “G-d has seen (ra’a) my affliction; Perhaps now my husband will love me”. Her second child she calls “Simeon”, saying [Bereishit 29:33] “This is because G-d heard (shama) that I am unloved and has given me this child also”. Her third son is named “Levi” [Bereishit 29:34]: “This time my husband will become attached to me, for I have borne him three sons”. Let us take a closer look at precisely who named Leah’s first three children. Reuben is named by Leah, as the Torah tells us [Bereishit 29:32] “She called (va’tikra) his name Reuben”. Simeon is also named by Leah, as we are told [Bereishit 29:33] “She called (va’tikra) his name Simeon” Levi, on the other hand, is named not by Leah, but, rather, by Jacob [Bereishit 29:34]: “Therefore, he called (kara) his name Levi”. When Jacob calls his son Levi, he is acknowledging to Leah that he has been terribly remiss, that she is the mother of his three sons, and that he must show her the same love that he shows Rachel, if not quantitatively, then at least qualitatively. When Jacob comes to this recognition, all of Leah’s prayers have finally been answered. With infinite gratitude to G-d, she then calls[3] her next son Judah.

With this explanation in our pocket, we can revisit Joseph’s apparent deferral of gratitude. Recall that Menashe was so-named because G-d had made Joseph forget his “hardship and the home of [his] father”. The word “hardship” is a translation of the Hebrew word “amal”. But “amal” has another, far more common, meaning: toil. Indeed, of the twelve English translations on the Sefaria web site, four of them translate the verse as “G-d made Joseph forget his toil and his father’s house”. What “toil” did G-d make Joseph forget? Our Sages in the Midrash take Joseph to task for asking the Royal Butler to put in a good word for him with the Pharaoh after his release, asserting that Joseph did not fully trust in G-d. This just doesn’t seem fair. Why should Joseph be excoriated for using all means at his disposal to gain his release from prison? Here is one reason: When Joseph reaches out to the Royal Butler, he has one goal – he wants to get out of that stinking dungeon and breathe the air of freedom. What is important to him is the place he is leaving, not the place he is going to. But after rotting in prison for two more years, after he is summoned by none other than the king, after he discovers that the entire Middle East will be struck with a once-in-a-millennium famine, and after he realizes that he has been put in a position where he can rescue the entire world, including his family back in Israel, he understands that getting out of jail was not the end of his odyssey, it was only the beginning. G-d had far greater things in mind. Tectonic changes were occurring, with or without his willing participation.

Looking back, he now sees history in a completely different way. His sale into slavery, while criminal, was a necessary evil. His father’s affection that had soured his relationship with his brothers was also a necessary component. For had he not been sold into slavery, there was a real chance that humanity would not have survived the famine. Had he not been framed by his boss’s wife and thrown into jail, he never would have met the Royal Butler and, again, the world might not have survived. Joseph realizes that he is just cog in the great machine, that G-d is guiding history, and that all of his toil has had no material effect on the outcome. He names his first son “Menashe” in recognition of this epiphany. Only after he has been freed from his “I am the master of my destiny” mindset, can he look back at all that has happened and thank G-d for allowing him to play a part. He names his second son “Ephraim” in gratitude.

On October 7, Israel underwent an upheaval. Twelve hundred of our sons and daughters were brutally murdered and another two hundred and fifty were taken hostage to a Gazan dungeon. Things we believed we could hold on to slipped out of our hands. People we believed we could trust betrayed that trust. We found ourselves completely surrounded by what we believed to be insurmountable foes. We were fighting for our lives and the prognosis was not promising. I remember the helplessness we felt that day, certain that Moreshet would soon be ruthlessly attacked by our Arab neighbors. Now fast-forward by fourteen months. Tectonic changes have occurred before our eyes. Hamas has been reduced to a handful of guerillas. The vaunted Hezbollah has been decimated, stripped of their weapons and their leadership. The Baathist Assad regime in Syria fell in little more than one week. And the mother ship, Iran, has been defanged: it can no longer defend its airspace, leaving it at Israel’s mercy, its currency is crashing, it no longer has sufficient fuel to power its electric generators, its citizens are on the verge of revolt, and in less than one month, Donald Trump will become President. G-d is reshaping the Middle East in ways that could very well provide Israel with peace and security for generations. All we are asked to do is to hold on tight, play our part and trust in G-d. We are truly living in historical times and the best is yet to come.

Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5785

Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Shlomo ben Esther, Sheindel Devorah bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, and Meir ben Drora.

[1] Rabbi Reggio lived in Italy in the nineteenth century..

[2] Rashi suggests that Leah thanked G-d only after her fourth child because she knew through her powers of prophecy that Jacob would have twelve children with four wives. Using simple arithmetic, Leah calculated that she should have been allotted three children. When she bears her fourth child, she recognizes that she has received more than her fair share and hence she thanks G-d. Notwithstanding that many of us learned this explanation in primary school, it is not the simple explanation of the verse. Not by a long shot.

[3] Scripture writes [Bereishit 29:25] “Therefore she called (kar’a) his name Judah”.