'I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?'
Why did Joseph ask a question to which he had already been give the answer?
Twenty-two years after (Vayeshev 37:29): ‘Reuben returned to the pit’, into which Joseph’s brothers had cast him, ‘and behold- Joseph was not in the pit!’, Joseph’s brothers discovered that the Egyptian viceroy, in whose hands their fate now lay, was their very same brother, Joseph!
We read in our Parasha (45:3) that Joseph "made himself known to his brothers, saying: ’I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ but his brothers could not answer him because they were startled by his presence."
A surprising question, literally understood, as we had read in the preceding passage, that Judah’s lengthy plea on behalf of his brothers, to ‘the Egyptian viceroy’, was (44:30-31): ’If I come to..my father, and the youth is not with us..he will die.’
So what place was there for Joseph’s query?
Rav Zalman Sorotzkin answers: Till now, when you answered me: ’All is well with our father’, you spoke whilst being accused of being spies, by an Egyptian high official, who was interrogating you, and, it is possible that you were not telling the truth then.
But now, when it is I, Joseph, asking: 'I am Joseph, your brother’, you will assuredly reply truthfully to my question:’Is my father still alive?’.
Haktav veHakabalah answers our query, as to his asking them: ’Is my father still alive?’, saying: Joseph thought that perhaps, in saying that their father would die from distress should Binyamin not return to him, was to achieve the release of Binyamin, and that, in truth, his father was no longer alive.
He therefore needed to know the truth, and asked his question now, of his brothers.
Perhaps in asking, by way of wonderment, he was musing, how could his father still be alive after all the troubles that had befallen him?
The Kli Yakar also expounds in this way, saying: Though they had said to him previously that their father was alive - being the basis of Judah’s plea - perhaps, he surmised, they did so to arouse his compassion for the old man, and not bring about his death, as they were joined by bonds of love.
He therefore asked, again: ’Is my father still alive?’, leading them to think that he did not intend to ask if he was alive, or not, but rather alluding to their sin against him.
Joseph, in his words: ’Is MY father still alive?’, alluded to him being his father - not theirs - because you acted without regard to his distress, as if he was not your father.
They were therefore startled, and unable to reply.
Abarbanel expounds: His question was not, as it sounds literally, if his father was still alive, as they had already told him that he was alive; his words were to engage them in conversation, as his thought in his heart, as that they might be ashamed of what they had done, he did not mention to them, his sale.
Instead, he would engage them in other matters, and, to that end, he started by asking as to his father, as to whether he was still alive, saying ‘MY father’, and not OUR father, who so loved me, is he still alive, or did he die, from his sorrow over me, imploring:Tell me the truth, intending after this, to enquire as to their wives, children and possessions, and all the matters of their households.
The Netziv also comments: Joseph’s question is not understandable, nor is the continuation of the passuk: ’They could not answer him because they were startled by his presence’ - what answer could they have given, had they not been startled by his presence?
Should you say that they were words of rebuke, what words of rebuke were there here?
Our Sages, however, indeed understood that the literal meaning of Joseph’s words were in wonderment - if indeed my father is alive, and did not die out of his worry for me, knowing that I, Joseph, was more beloved to him from all his sons - this wonderment was the rebuke to his brothers: even if they adjudged him rightfully, they should have had mercy on him, out of concern for the feelings of their father, knowing his love for Joseph.
This is why the Torah relates that they could not answer because they were startled by his presence.
The Beis Halevi focuses on the end of our passuk: ’but his brothers could not answer him, because נבהלו מפניו: they were startled by his presence’.
Comments the Rav: There is much to be contemplated in this passuk, as all of Judah’s words in his argument with Joseph now were solely on the concern for the sorrow of his father - yet, in the midst of this dialogue, Joseph asks of Judah:’Is my father still alive?’.
Not forgetting that immediately after their second descent to Egypt, Joseph asked as to the welfare of their aged father, and they responded that he was alive; what reason was there to now ask them this very question a second time?
Further, if it was asked as a question, why is there no answer recorded on this, as to what the brothers replied.
The baalei Midrash, provide the answer Joseph’s ‘question’ was uttered ‘in wonderment’, saying: I cannot understand how my father could live till now in his sorrow as to my fate.
In this there was a contradiction of all of Judah’s arguments that Binyamin be released, because of the distress his absence would surely cause their father to die.
This raised the very same question on them: Why did they not consider the distress that their father would surely suffer, by the absence of Joseph - and, if he was able to remain alive despite being without Joseph, he could equally remain alive without Binyamin!
When confronted with this rebuke, from their own deeds, they had no answer - the Midrash therefore concludes: When Hakadosh-Baruch-Hu comes, and judges each person ‘according to what he is’ - meaning: from his own deeds - each person has no answer for his other deeds, on the Day of Judgement.
Rav Yitzchak Caro opens his commentary with two questions: First: When Joseph asked his brothers: ’Is my father still alive?’, why did they respond to his question? Second: What need was there for this question, as they had previously informed him: Your servant, our father, is well, who is still alive.
Proffers the Rav:’Had Joseph immediately said: ‘I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold’, they would conclude that his intention was to kill them - this is why he did not mention his sale, immediately.
By saying:’I am Joseph, is my father still alive?’, to say that even the wicked Esav desisted from killing his brother, whilst his father, Yitzchak, was alive, to spare him sorrow - how much more, I, whilst my father is alive.
When his brothers were startled, Joseph thought that perhaps his brothers did not believe that he was being truthful with them, but was engaging in another ruse, as he had when he accused them of being spies.
He therefore then said: 'Please come closer to me..I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt’, and because the shock that a person has is either from that which is present before him, or from past events, as to the present, he said: ’But now do not be sad..that you sold me here, for it was to preserve life that G-d sent me before you.’
As to the past, he said: ’Let it not trouble you..’, as when you sold me, it was not you that sent me here, but G-d.
Should you still say: but they did bad, to this he replied, that it was not them, but G-d, who sent him to Egypt, the proof being that you sent me as a slave, but I am the Viceroy, proving that it was from G-d.
Rav Dovid Hofstedter adds another insight, into our subject: When Joseph announced: ’I am Joseph’, his brothers realized to their amazement, that if Joseph was the Viceroy over all of Egypt, his dreams had eventuated, and were therefore prophetic.
Since their adjudication of him was based on his dreams being false day-dreams, their judgement was incorrect, and they had wrongly condemned him to death - they were therefore startled from him.
They further realized that, therefore, their teshuva on their actions against him, was not the right repentance, they then thinking that their sin was their lack of mercy, to his cries - and not that they adjudged him as a ‘rodef’, and sold him to Egypt.
This is a clarion call to all of us, ‘not to be always righteous in his eyes’, as it is human nature to find justification for ourselves, whatever we may do.
Rav Yehonatan Eyebshitz sagely observes: The easiest person to fool is ourselves, as, unlike deceiving others this requires effort, not so to deceive ourselves, as it does not require any effort - and we do so, freely, all the time.
Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, a parting mussar lesson: Our Sages see in Joseph’s words to his brothers: ’I am Joseph’, a stinging rebuke, which led them to be ashamed, but here we ask: can these words be truly regarded as words of rebuke?
From here we learn the true essence of rebuke, it is to make the person rebuked realize that he was wrong, and to make him understand that his actions and ways were improper.
Therefore, Joseph’s words to his brothers:’I am Joseph’, WERE words of rebuke, as from them, his brothers realized that all the thoughts they had about him and his dreams, were fundamentally flawed, as the dreams all came to fruition, and they understood that they were true prophetic visions, and not as they thought.
This is what our Sages derived from this episode: ’Woe to us from the Day of Rebuke’, the ‘woe’ being when we are forced to confront, that all our ways and deeds were in error, and - at this time - we will be greatly troubled with the knowledge that our whole life was replete with errors; this will be a very difficult time, which is why, in this Midrash, our Sages likened it to the Day of Judgement.
לרפואת חיילי צה"ל וכן לנועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.
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