Why do you think none of the sages could interpet Pharaoh's dream? What got in the way?
Why do you think Joseph responded as he did?
(25) And Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: Pharaoh has been told what God is about to do. (26) The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years; it is the same dream. (27) The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the east wind; they are seven years of famine. (28) It is just as I have told Pharaoh: Pharaoh has been shown what God is about to do. (29) Immediately ahead are seven years of great abundance in all the land of Egypt. (30) After them will come seven years of famine, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. As the land is ravaged by famine, (31) no trace of the abundance will be left in the land because of the famine thereafter, for it will be very severe. (32) As for Pharaoh having had the same dream twice, it means that the matter has been determined by God, and that God will soon carry it out. (33) “Accordingly, let Pharaoh find someonewho’s discerning and wise, whom you can set over the land of Egypt. (34) And let Pharaoh take steps to appoint overseers over the land, and organize the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. (35) Let all the food of these good years that are coming be gathered, and let the grain be collected under Pharaoh’s authority as food to be stored in the cities.
What enabled Joseph to interpret Pharaoh's dream? What did such an interpretation require of him?
(א) וַיַּ֣רְא יַעֲקֹ֔ב כִּ֥י יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יַעֲקֹב֙ לְבָנָ֔יו לָ֖מָּה תִּתְרָאֽוּ׃ (ב) וַיֹּ֕אמֶר הִנֵּ֣ה שָׁמַ֔עְתִּי כִּ֥י יֶשׁ־שֶׁ֖בֶר בְּמִצְרָ֑יִם רְדוּ־שָׁ֙מָּה֙ וְשִׁבְרוּ־לָ֣נוּ מִשָּׁ֔ם וְנִחְיֶ֖ה וְלֹ֥א נָמֽוּת׃
(1) When Jacob saw that there were food rations to be had in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another? (2) Now I hear,” he went on, “that there are rations to be had in Egypt. Go down and procure rations for us there, that we may live and not die.”
Chizkuni, Genesis 42:1:1
.וירא יעקב שיש שבר במצרים , “Yaakov heard (not saw) that there was grain in Egypt;” (this was not a spiritual revelation, but he had heard from people returning from there.) When telling his sons about it, he therefore used the words: “I have heard that there is grain to be had in Egypt.” The word ראה meaning “hearing,” instead of “seeing,” is not unique; we find it for instance in Exodus 20,15, where the Torah writes: וכל העם ראו את הקולות, “ all the people saw the thunder,” when the meaning clearly is that all the people heard the thunder.
After hearing that Egypt was selling grain, the text says that Jacob "saw" there were food rations. Why does the text refer to seeing?
Ibn Ezra on Genesis 42:1:2
WHY DO YOU LOOK ONE UPON ANOTHER. Lammah titra’u (why do you look one upon another) means, don’t show yourselves as having an abundance of food. Or it may mean, do not quarrel with each other, as in Come, let us look one another (nitra’eh) in the face (II Chron. 25:17).
Why do you think Jacob chastizes the brothers for "looking at one another"?
Tur HaArokh, Genesis 42:1:2
למה תתראו?, “Why are you looking so irresolute?” According to Rashi, Yaakov rebuked his sons for giving the impression to the surrounding people that they had so much food stored up that they could afford to sit still without traveling to Egypt to try and supplement their supplies....Had that impression been allowed to spread, all his neighbours would have invited themselves to eat at Yaakov’s table! He therefore instructed them to go down to Egypt in order to preserve the food supply they still had. Then he told them to buy additional supplies in order to forestall death through hunger after their supplies ran out.
Alternately, the word תתראו, is short for למה תתראו במקום זה “why do you display such indecision by remaining here, instead of getting going to buy supplies?” “You should have started to move as soon as you heard that grain was for sale in Egypt.” Yaakov and family already found themselves in imminent danger of starvation. Some commentators understand the rebuke as “why do you quarrel as to who is to go to Egypt to buy food, I want all of you to go.”
Yet another interpretation of the question למה תתראו, views it as a rebuke of their acting as if it were below their dignity to personally go to Egypt like the common people and to beg to be allowed to buy grain there....
(ז) וַיַּ֥רְא יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־אֶחָ֖יו וַיַּכִּרֵ֑ם וַיִּתְנַכֵּ֨ר אֲלֵיהֶ֜ם וַיְדַבֵּ֧ר אִתָּ֣ם קָשׁ֗וֹת וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ מֵאַ֣יִן בָּאתֶ֔ם וַיֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ כְּנַ֖עַן לִשְׁבׇּר־אֹֽכֶל׃ (ח) וַיַּכֵּ֥ר יוֹסֵ֖ף אֶת־אֶחָ֑יו וְהֵ֖ם לֹ֥א הִכִּרֻֽהוּ׃ (ט) וַיִּזְכֹּ֣ר יוֹסֵ֔ף אֵ֚ת הַחֲלֹמ֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר חָלַ֖ם לָהֶ֑ם וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ מְרַגְּלִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם לִרְא֛וֹת אֶת־עֶרְוַ֥ת הָאָ֖רֶץ בָּאתֶֽם׃
How was it that Joseph was able to see his brothers, and that they were not able to recognize him?
What prevents the brothers from seeing him?
Why does Joseph "act like a stranger"?
Or HaChaim on Genesis 42:8:1
ויכר יוסף את אחיו. Joseph recognised his brothers. Joseph had no trouble recognising his brothers since they all wore beards when he left them. Although it is normal for acquaintances who have not seen each other for a long time to recognise one another, i.e. that as soon as one person recognises the second person, he in turn suddenly is able to recognise the first person also, this was not the case here. Normally the heart communicates secrets as we know from Proverbs 27,19 "man's heart will be reflected by his counterpart;" the Torah reveals that in this instance this phenomenon did not work. The reason was that Joseph's exalted position stifled any glimmer of recognition there might have been on the part of the brothers.
Ramban on Genesis 42:8:1
BUT THEY DID NOT RECOGNIZE HIM. I.e., at all. And so he no longer needed to make himself appear strange to them. Now in this matter of recognition, our Rabbis have said that Joseph recognized his brothers because he had left them bearded, but they did not recognize him because when he left them he had no beard and now they found him with a beard.
Now Issachar and Zebulun were but a little older than Joseph, but having recognized the older ones, he recognized them all. Moreover, he recognized them because he knew they were bound to come, but they did not recognize him because it did not occur to them that a slave sold to the Ishmaelites should be the ruler of a land.
Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra says: And he recognized them. That is, at first he recognized them to be his brothers, and following that, he looked at each one and recognized him individually.
Siftei Chakhamim, Genesis 42:12:1
Why did you not all enter through one gate? Yoseif knew his brothers would come to buy food, and he told the guards of the gates to write the name and father’s name of whoever came to the city, and show it to him. Ten guards came and he found here, “Reuven son of Yaakov,” and there, “Shimon ben Yaakov,” and so in every record book. Thus he knew they entered through ten gates. You might ask: Why did Rashi not explain this before, on: “You have come to see where the land is exposed” (v. 9)? The answer is: The proof for it is here, because it is written in the next verse, “Your servants are twelve brothers... and one is no more.” How did this refute his assertion that they were spies? Perforce, Yoseif had said, “[You are spies,] for you entered through ten different gates of the city,” to which they replied, “No, rather we are all the sons of one man... and one is no more.” And it was because of the one who is no more that we scattered throughout the city in order to search for him, [as Rashi explains on v. 9].
(3) But Judah said to him, “The man warned us, ‘Do not let me see your faces unless your brother is with you.’
Bereishit Rabbah 91:7
AND JOSEPH SAW HIS BROTHERS, AND HE KNEW THEM, BUT MADE HIMSELF STRANGE TO THEM: Rabbi Joshua b. R. Nechemiah said: He made himself a stranger to them.
AND JOSEPH KNEW HIS BROTHERS: When they fell into his hand: BUT THEY DID NOT KNOW HIM: When he fell into their hands. The Rabbis said: He had left them bearded, therefore, AND JOSEPH KNEW HIS BROTHERS; but they had left him beardless, consequently, BUT THEY DID NOT KNOW HIM.
WE ARE ALL ONE MAN'S SONS: The holy spirit was enkindled in them and they said to him [unwittingly]: You and we are the sons of the same man.
Anaïs Nin
We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are.
Neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made
You may think that in everyday life, the things you see and hear influence what you feel, but it’s mostly the other way around: What you feel alters your sight and hearing.” People who are scared take in a scene differently. Our ears, for example, immediately adjust to focus on high and low frequencies—a scream or a growl—rather than midrange frequencies, which include normal human speech. Anxiety narrows our attention and diminishes our peripheral vision. A feeling of happiness, by contrast, widens our peripheral vision. A person who feels safe because of the reliable and empathetic presence of others will see the world as a wider, more open, and happier place.
David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen
“When you’re practicing Illuminationism, you’re offering a gaze that says, “I want to get to know you and be known by you.” It’s a gaze that positively answers the question everybody is unconsciously asking themselves when they meet you: “Am I a person to you? Do you care about me? Am I a priority for you?” The answers to those questions are conveyed in your gaze before they are conveyed by your words. It’s a gaze that radiates respect. It’s a gaze that says that every person I meet is unique, unrepeatable, and, yes, superior to me in some way. Every person I meet is fascinating on some topic. If I approach you in this respectful way, I’ll know that you are not a puzzle that can be solved but a mystery that can never be gotten to the bottom of. I’ll do you the honor of suspending judgment and letting you be as you are.”