The Cunning of Politico-Economics (d'var Torah by my husband)

as i was reading bits & pieces of this d'var Torah (commentary on the bible), "The Psychological Brilliance of Joseph," by Rabbi Ari Kahn, posted by Chana here, to my husband, he abandoned his home office & joined me by my computer, responding with thoughts that i found interesting enuf to ask that he write them down as a blog post.

so, without further ado . . .

THE CUNNING OF POLITICO-ECONOMICS

It all began with Joseph in prison. One fine night, the Pharaoh had two dreams. It being two dreams, even Pharaoh figured that there must be a deep purpose behind it. Neither he nor anybody else could interpret them. As it turned out, Joseph was brought out from prison and interpreted the dreams. There being two versions of the same dream, Joseph interpreted that there would be seven years of economic plenty followed by seven years of famine. Then, citing Joseph’s brilliant insight, the Pharaoh placed Joseph second-in-command to himself, essentially to run the economy of Egypt.

Joseph’s interpretation proved true. During the seven good years, Joseph had plenty of food stored away, so that, when the lean years arrived, Egypt was not short of food. The famine (depression???) being regional, not limited to Egypt, people from other nations went to Egypt to buy food. Thus, Egypt under the rule of Joseph became rich. That is the picture we see in the Torah. There is not much if anything said about the Egyptians themselves. The Egyptians were also faced with the famine and had to buy food from the storehouses maintained by Joseph. Those that did not have money had to sell themselves into servitude in exchange for the food.

Joseph’s brothers were among the foreigners who went to Egypt to buy food. That lead to a series of events whereby Joseph got his revenge for what his brothers had done to him some twenty years earlier. Eventually, Jacob and his community were invited to come and live in Goshen, with privileged status.

Now, let us stop for a moment and analyze the situation. The Pharaohs in power during the sojourn of Joseph were not Egyptian Pharaohs. They were Hyksos invaders, a Semitic tribe. In fact, these Pharaohs were more closely related to Joseph than they were to the Egyptians, and the Egyptian people knew it. The Semitic tribes were known to the Egyptians as “desert dwellers,” and considered to be on a lower level of society. Therefore, whatever good Joseph was doing for Egypt, it was only noted by the rulers, not by the people being ruled. In fact, the majority of the people being ruled had become servants (or slaves) of the Pharaoh. They hated Joseph. Meanwhile, the family of Joseph was situated in a community of its own with privileged status. What does it lead to when the majority are subservient to the small minority on top? In the last 250 years or so, what happened in America, France, Russia, and Cuba? A revolution!

It happened in Egypt too, when a militant group of Egyptians rose up and overthrew the Hyksos. Now, with the Egyptians themselves back in power, there arose a Pharaoh “who did not know Joseph.” Was this not a set-up? Now, the new dynasty of Pharaohs could do to Jacob’s descendants in Goshen what Joseph had done to the Egyptian people. Now, the Hebrews would be the slaves to build the cities and grow the food for the new rulers. Politico-economics had played its tricks.

Sun., Jan. 11, 2009 update: See The story of Yosef/Joseph for links to other recent posts re Yosef on my blog.