For Indeed I Was Stolen From the Land of the Hebrews
Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh | December 19, 2024
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For Indeed I Was Stolen From the Land of the Hebrews

Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh | June 27, 2025

For indeed, I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and here, too, I did not do anything that they should have put me into the pit."

The Ohr Hachaim explains the double expression of the possuk with an explanation of what had happened to Yosef.

First, his body had been stolen. He had been taken away from his home and sent to a foreign land. Besides that, another theft had occurred. When Yosef was sold as a slave, the buyers had thought he was a slave and were tricked with that sale.

He was never a slave, and he did not belong to the buyers. He was forced to act as a slave, against his own rights.

His true intent was to send a message to the Minister of Par’oh. Mitzrayim had a rule that a slave cannot act as king or wear royal clothing. But Yosef was not a slave, he was stolen.

Additionally, Yosef had nothing in Mitzrayim to justify his having been thrown into the dungeons. He could prove it, the clothing that the wife of Par’oh had no stains on it. The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel writes that the priests of Mitzrayim checked the clothing themselves and vouched for Yosef. Yosef repaid them during the famine by providing for their needs.

For indeed, I was stolen from the land of the Hebrews, and here, too, I did not do anything that they should have put me into the pit."

The Ohr Hachaim explains the double expression of the possuk with an explanation of what had happened to Yosef.

First, his body had been stolen. He had been taken away from his home and sent to a foreign land. Besides that, another theft had occurred. When Yosef was sold as a slave, the buyers had thought he was a slave and were tricked with that sale.

He was never a slave, and he did not belong to the buyers. He was forced to act as a slave, against his own rights.

His true intent was to send a message to the Minister of Par’oh. Mitzrayim had a rule that a slave cannot act as king or wear royal clothing. But Yosef was not a slave, he was stolen.

Additionally, Yosef had nothing in Mitzrayim to justify his having been thrown into the dungeons. He could prove it, the clothing that the wife of Par’oh had no stains on it. The Targum Yonasan ben Uziel writes that the priests of Mitzrayim checked the clothing themselves and vouched for Yosef. Yosef repaid them during the famine by providing for their needs.

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