Parashiot Miketz (the cliffhanger) & Vayigash, 5774/2013 edition

Slightly belated for Miketz, which we read this morning.

In last year's edition, I quoted from a few previous editions, included 2010's, in which I wrote, “"Yosef was one smart cookie. He also created what may have been one of the earliest recorded feudal societies. No wonder the later Egyptians hated him—he’d made them all Pharoah’s surfs [oops--that should be "serfs"].”

Looking at the situation from a different perspective, I think that perhaps I should give Yosef a break.  After all, I’m not sure that he really had other good options—when the people came to him for food with nothing to offer but themselves as slaves, what else could he have done?

I also said that “I read this parsha [Vayigash] every year, and it still brings tears to my eyes when Yehudah (Judah) pleads with Yosef (Joseph) to let him take Binyamin's (Benjamin's) place as a slave, lest their father die of a broken heart (B'reishit/Genesis chapter 44, verses 18-34).”

Yep, that made me cry again this year.

And to top it off, I happened to be listening to a "shuffle" of Aron Razel's songs on my iPod on the way home on Wednesday night, and the first song to play was the "Vayigash" special.

• Conservadox agrees that Yosef was one smart cookie, and does a better job of showing why than I’ve ever done.
• DovBear guest blogger Y. Bloch provides a fascinating cultural-historical perspective on the significance of who's providing bread to whom.  (I linked to this post last week, too—it’s a good one, and applies to both Parashat Vayeshev and Parashat Miketz.)