Answers to Last Week’s Riddles

Answers to Last Week’s Riddles

1. The Torah doesn’t waste an unnecessary word or relate any extraneous details, telling only what is necessary for all generations to know. Why was it necessary to record (41:45) that Pharaoh changed Yosef’s name to Tzafnas Paneiach?
   The Chizkuni and Rav Chaim Kanievsky explain that this information is necessary to answer a very practical question: Even if Yosef’s brothers didn’t recognize him now that he had a beard (Rashi 42:8) and didn’t recognize his voice since he was speaking a different language, shouldn’t it have been a giveaway when they heard everybody calling him Yosef? To prevent this from happening and interfering with His Divine plan, Hashem caused Pharaoh to change his name to one that would disguise his identity.

2. To force his brothers to return with Binyomin, Yosef put one of them in jail and said he would only be freed if they returned with their younger brother (42:19-20). If Yosef’s desire was to be reunited with Binyomin, why was it necessary to incarcerate one of his brothers when he knew the famine would continue for several more years and he could have simply informed them that they could not buy more grain unless they returned with their younger brother?
   The Panim Yafos answers that if Yosef had done so, the brothers could have simply hired a random person off the street to accompany them to Egypt and claim to be Binyomin. Since they were unaware that the person they were speaking to was Yosef, there would be no reason for them to think that he could tell the difference, and for him to call them out on their deception would require him to reveal his true identity. Instead, Yosef devised an ingenious plan. He imprisoned Shimon and forced him to remain in Egypt. If the brothers returned with anyone but the real Binyomin, Yosef would be able to line up several men, including the one they claimed was Binyomin. If they returned with an impostor, Shimon would not be able to pick out the stranger from the lineup, and their ruse would be discovered. Accordingly, the brothers had no choice but to come back with the true Binyomin so that Shimon would recognize him, thereby enabling Yosef to anonymously lay his eyes on his beloved brother.

3. Shortly after Yosef’s brothers departed, he instructed his son Menashe to catch up to them, accuse them of pilfering his goblet, and search their possessions to find the perpetrator (44:4). However, rather than admonishing them for the grave crime of stealing from the viceroy, Yosef told Menashe to simply ask why they repaid his kindness with evil. Why did Yosef emphasize this aspect of the alleged transgression rather than the primary sin of theft?
   Citing the Altar of Slabodka, Rabbi Chaim Zvi Senter explains that knowing his brothers and the upbringing they had received, Yosef understood that the worst offense with which he could charge them was a lack of hakoras hatov [gratitude]. Although stealing is certainly a crime, it is a sin that a person may struggle to overcome in a moment of temptation. In contrast, being ungrateful reveals that someone’s entire moral foundation is defective. We are called Yehudim because the name Yehudah connotes feelings of gratitude (Bereishis 29:35) that are part of our very essence.
   Alternatively, gezel akum only became forbidden once the Torah was given, the middah of kafaui tova, being ungrateful, however, always applied, therefore, he accused them of being ungrateful.

4. How old was Yosef when he was put in jail?
   Yosef was 28. Since we know that he was 30 years old when he was summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams (41:46) and we know that it was after spending two years in prison, he must have been 28 years old when he was originally incarcerated. (Torah IQ)

5. Yosef accuses his brothers of being “meraglim” – “spies.” What parallels can you find between the brothers of Yosef and the meraglim that Moshe sent?
   There are at least three similarities and one difference:
   1) There were 12 sons of Ya’akov, but only 10 are accused of being spies; there were 12 spies but only 10 participated in the negative report.
   2) The only two times the word “diba” is mentioned in the Torah is Yosef’s report about his brothers (37:2) and the meraglim’s report about the land (Bamidbar 13:32).
   3) Chevron is mentioned in both incidents. Yosef went to find his brothers in Shechem by the way of Emek Chevron (37:14) and Kalev went to Chevron during his mission (Bamidbar 13:22)
   4) In the Yosef story, Yehuda stands up against Yosef (44:18) and in the story of the meraglim, Kalev, a descendant of Yehuda, and Yehoshua, a descendant of Yosef, are on the same side. (Torah IQ)