Mikeitz – Page 7 – Peninim on the Torah

ןעתה ירא פרעה איש נבון וחכם וישיתהו על ארץ מצרים

Now let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. (41:33)

We wonder at Yosef’s unsolicited advice. Pharaoh had asked him to interpret his dreams: no more, no less. What prompted Yosef to advise the monarch on how to implement a solution to the dream’s formidable message? Horav Eli Munk, zl, feels that Yosef believed in the portent of his dreams; thus, he felt that now – finally – the long-awaited realization of his dreams had finally arrived. This was a unique opportunity for him to seize the moment and offer some unsolicited advice. He might be presenting himself as presumptuous, but it was worth the gamble. While this might be…

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אתה תהיה על ביתי ועל פיך ישק כל עמי

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5774, Mikeitz

You shall be in charge of my palace and by your command shall my people be sustained. (41:40)

After Yosef successfully interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams, the king and his ministers all agreed that Yoef was an unusual individual. They offered him the position of viceroy as a token of their appreciation, and also to prove his effectiveness in executing his plan for the survival of the country. The entire episode is mind-boggling. Yosef was a slave who had been imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of impropriety with his master’s wife. Regardless of his innocence, he certainly did not have a reputation that bode well for ministerial status – let alone viceroy over the entire country. Furthermore, the Egyptian constitution…

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ובלעדך לא ירים איש את ידו ואת רגלו בכל ארץ מצרים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5774, Mikeitz

And, without you, no man may lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. (41:44)

Pharaoh handed exemplary powers of monarchy to Yosef. He retained for himself the power associated with the crown, meaning that he, Pharaoh, granted these powers to Yosef. What Yosef achieved was by his grace. Thus, Yosef, and by extension, the people, would never forget that the true Egyptian monarch was none other than Pharaoh. Nonetheless, this was an incredible step for Pharaoh. The Egyptians did not hold the Jews in the highest esteem. In fact, they reviled the Jews, as evidenced by the chamberlain’s description of Yosef. Yet, Pharaoh was not like that: he recognized greatness; he appreciated wisdom; he…

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על כן באה אלינו הצרה הזאת

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5774, Mikeitz

This is why this anguish has come upon us. (42:21)

The brothers introspected when they saw a series of misfortunes coming upon them. They realized that these had not been isolated occurrences, but rather, a punishment of sorts. But, for what? These were righteous men who did nothing without first consulting halachah. They felt that they had adjudicated Yosef’s sale in accordance with the halachah, stating that a rodef, pursuer, who threatens one’s life must be dealt with. Yet, Hashem still found something wrong with their actions. Otherwise, they would not be in this predicament. It must be their lack of compassion in the manner in which they carried out…

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ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5773, Mikeitz

It happened at the end of two years to the day. (41:1)

On most years, Parashas Mikeitz coincides with Chanukah. The commentators explain that this is by design. In his notes to the Mordechai, Meseches Shabbos, at the end of Perek Bameh Madlikin, the Shiltei GiBorim writes that a number of allusions from the parsha render it a prime candidate for Shabbos Chanukah. At the opening words of the parsha, Mikeitz shenasaim, “At the end of two years,” the letters of the word shenasaim, comprise a notreikun, abbreviation: shin – s’moel/left (side); nun – ner, candle; taf – tadlik, you shall light; yud – yemin, right (side); mem – mezuzah. This indicates…

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ויאמר אליהם יוסף ביום השלישי זאת עשו וחיו את האלקים אני ירא

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5773, Mikeitz

Yosef said to them on the third day, “Do this and live; I fear G-d.” (42:18)

What is the significance of Es haElokim ani yarei, “I fear G-d”? What does this have to do with the fact that it was three days into their “visit”? Simply, Yosef was conveying to them that he had no plans to keep them all in Egypt while their families starved at home. He would detain only one of them as a hostage. He was doing this because he was a G-d-fearing man. Apparently, Yosef felt that by adding his G-d-fearing nature into the equation, it would immediately relax them and counteract the anxieties they must have been harboring concerning their…

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ויקח מאתם את שמעון ויאסור אותו לעיניהם

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5773, Mikeitz

He took Shimon from them and imprisoned him before their eyes. (42:24)

The Yalkut Shimoni shares an intriguing Midrash with us. Yosef sought to incarcerate his brothers. He sent a message to Pharaoh, “I need seventy of your strongest men to apprehend a group of foreigners.” When the soldiers arrived, Yosef told them to take chains and place them on his brothers. Shimon stood in front, while the rest of his brothers stood back at a distance. As they closed in on Shimon, he gave a loud scream, the sound of which shattered the teeth of all seventy men. Observing the debacle, Yosef turned to his son, Menasheh, who was standing by…

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ויחפש בגדול החל ובקטן כלה וימצא הגביע באמתחת בנימין

Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5773, Mikeitz

He searched; he began with the eldest and finished with the youngest. And the goblet was found in Binyamin’s pack. (44:12)

In the Talmud Pesachim 7b, Chazal state that Bedikas Chametz, searching for chametz, should be performed by the light of a candle. This is supported by the process of derivation whereby the metziah, finding of chametz, is derived from another instance of metziah, which is connected to the word chipush, searching, which is derived from another instance of chipush, which is – in turn – connected to neiros, candles. Thus, finding is achieved via searching, and searching is executed through the medium of candles. The pasuk used to derive metziah, finding, from chipush, searching, is the above pasuk that describes…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5772, Mikeitz

“It happened at the end of two years to the day.” (41:1)

The Yalkut Shimoni, cited by Rashi at the end of Parashas Vayeishev, attributes Yosef’s “extra” years of incarceration to the fact that he asked the sar ha’mashkim, chamberlain of the cupbearers, to remember him to Pharaoh. He stated his request to be remembered twice, which explains the two years of incarceration. Chazal end with a pasuk in Tehillim 40:5, “Fortunate is the man who has placed his reliance upon Hashem and has not turned to the arrogant ones.” This refers to one who does not rely on Egypt to sustain him. Incredible! On the one hand, Chazal consider Yosef…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In 5772, Mikeitz

“Yosef called the name of his firstborn Menashe, for G-d has made me forget all my hardship… And the name of the second he called Efraim for, G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” (41:51-52)

As Yosef named his second son, he chose to emphasize that Egypt was not his home; it was “eretz anyi,” land of my suffering, even though this land had been the source of his eminence. Here, he had become known; here, he had become wealthy and powerful; here, he went from being a lowly slave to associate ruler of the country. Yet, he wanted to remember and inculcate this idea in his children: Egypt is not our home; it is eretz anyi, the land of aniyus – affliction, suffering and poverty. Horav Chizkiyahu Cohen, z.l., comments that the greatest “ani,” poor man,…

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ןעתה ירא פרעה איש נבון וחכם וישיתהו על ארץ מצרים

Now let Pharaoh seek out a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt. (41:33)

אתה תהיה על ביתי ועל פיך ישק כל עמי

You shall be in charge of my palace and by your command shall my people be sustained. (41:40)

ובלעדך לא ירים איש את ידו ואת רגלו בכל ארץ מצרים

And, without you, no man may lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. (41:44)

על כן באה אלינו הצרה הזאת

This is why this anguish has come upon us. (42:21)

ויהי מקץ שנתים ימים

It happened at the end of two years to the day. (41:1)

ויאמר אליהם יוסף ביום השלישי זאת עשו וחיו את האלקים אני ירא

Yosef said to them on the third day, “Do this and live; I fear G-d.” (42:18)

ויקח מאתם את שמעון ויאסור אותו לעיניהם

He took Shimon from them and imprisoned him before their eyes. (42:24)

ויחפש בגדול החל ובקטן כלה וימצא הגביע באמתחת בנימין

He searched; he began with the eldest and finished with the youngest. And the goblet was found in Binyamin’s pack. (44:12)

“It happened at the end of two years to the day.” (41:1)

“Yosef called the name of his firstborn Menashe, for G-d has made me forget all my hardship… And the name of the second he called Efraim for, G-d has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.” (41:51-52)

YEARS

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