Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
When a famine hits אֶרֶץ כְּנַעָן (Eretz Canaan, the Land of Canaan), Yaakov tells his children to go down to מִצְרַיִם (Mitzrayim, Egypt) to buy food.
(ג) וַיֵּרְד֥וּ אֲחֵֽי־יוֹסֵ֖ף עֲשָׂרָ֑ה לִשְׁבֹּ֥ר בָּ֖ר מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃
Ten of Yosef’s brothers went down to get grain from Mitzrayim.
This midrash notices that the pasuk refers to them not as Yaakov’s children, but as “Yosef’s brothers.”
בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל צָרִיךְ הַמִּקְרָא לוֹמַר,
אֶלָּא בַּתְּחִלָּה לֹא נָהֲגוּ בּוֹ אַחְוָה וּמְכָרוּהוּ, וּלְסוֹף מִתְחָרְטִין וְאוֹמְרִים אֵימָתַי נֵרֵד לְמִצְרַיִם נַחְזִיר אֶת אָחִינוּ לְאָבִיו,
וּכְשֶׁאָמַר לָהֶם אֲבִיהֶם לֵירֵד לְמִצְרַיִם
נָתְנוּ כֻּלָּם דַּעַת אַחַת לְהַחֲזִירוֹ.
The Torah should have called them the children of Yisrael (= Yaakov)! These words teach us that, in the beginning, they did not treat Yosef in a brotherly way—they sold him. Then, they regretted it very much and said, “When should we go down to Mitzrayim and return our brother to his father?” When their father told them to go down to Mitzrayim, they all agreed that they should bring [Yosef] back.
According to this midrash, the Torah calls them “Yosef’s brothers” now to hint at the idea that they were finally acting like brothers. They realized that selling Yosef was not how brothers should treat each other. Now, they all agreed that this famine was an opportunity to be better brothers, and bring Yosef back from Mitzrayim.
- If the brothers were looking for Yosef in Mitzrayim, why couldn’t they recognize him?
- Are there other clues in the parashah that the brothers regretted selling Yosef? If so, what are they?
- If it is true that the brothers wanted to go searching for Yosef, why do you think they waited for so long?
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