Part of the Problem or Part of the Solution?

Mikketz
Genesis 41:1-44:17

Précis: At the end (mikketz) of two years of Joseph’s imprisonment, Pharaoh dreams of cows and ears of corn. The butler who had shared Joseph’s cell now remembers him, and calls him from prison. Joseph predicts seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh is so impressed that he appoints Joseph as his chief vizier and Joseph goes about storing grain during the times of plenty.

Joseph marries Asenath and they have two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. When the famine comes, Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to purchase food; Joseph has them brought in while he remains in cognito. Joseph accuses the brothers of spying, and sends them home after they leave one brother hostage and promise to return with their youngest brother, Benjamin. Upon their return, the brothers (including Benjamin) meet the still-unidentified Joseph. Joseph has their bags filled not only with grain but also with the money used to purchase the grain. He also hides a gold cup in Benjamin’s belongings. When they are “caught” by Joseph’s men, they learn that whoever stole the cup would become Joseph’s slave, while the others return to their homeland. On this cliffhanger, the parasha ends.

Genesis 41:33-36 “Now let Pharaoh find a man of discernment and wisdom, and set him over the land of Egypt...and… organize the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty. Let all the food of the good years that are coming be gathered, and let… that food be a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will come.”

Imagine this scene: Joseph is brought from a prison cell to the court of Pharaoh where he is introduced to the ruler himself. Pharaoh has asked Joseph to interpret his dreams. This he does, but without being asked, Joseph also tells Pharaoh how to manage the dangers he has divined in Pharaoh’s dreams. This may be one of the great examples of “chutzpah” found in the Bible! On the other hand, this is a measure of Joseph’s unrivaled courage to present a solution without being asked to do so, and here lies a lesson we might consider.


We are often are problem-oriented instead of being solution-oriented. Negativity and the problems we face tend to be the main focus of our attention, whether as professional or interpersonal issues. Some decades ago, we Baby Boomers used to say “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.” It seems to me that American society in the 21st Century has changed from the simple (simplistic?) days of the ‘60’s: we are more likely to say that the problems are so daunting and immense that there can be no real solutions.

Americans, spurred on by a rapacious media and by a polarized political system, seem to delight in focusing on all that is wrong, from unemployment, to global climate change, to wars, terrorism, and even Tiger Wood’s infidelities. Any solution-oriented suggested is immediately attacked (health care reform, financial regulation, cap and trade, etc.) and the attacks are often ad hominem without any kind of alternative, other than "no."

Joseph’s actions in this story show us that individuals can indeed propose real answers to dire problems and that the challenges looming ahead have to met with "courage, wisdom and discernment." We can no longer afford to be problem-oriented, and like Joseph, we need to be solution-oriented actors if we hope to overcome the obstacles before us.

PS – As Monty Python would say, “And now, for something completely different.” I was reading The Alienated Minority - The Jews of Medieval Latin Europe by Kenneth R. Stow, when I came across his discussion of early Jewish Italian commentaries on major Jewish texts written in "Judeo-Italian" (which used Hebrew script to transliterate Italian words). One such commentator, Judah Romano, explained what Maimonides meant when he used an obscure word "hararah" (a kind of flat cake which could be kept warm for eating on Shabbat without violating the laws of Shabbat). Romano used a one word Italian term to explain what this "flat cake" was, using the Hebrew letters peh-yod-zade-heh: "pizza" Stow writes, "This is the first known written attestation to this now international term." So while Jews may not have invented pizza, we were apparently the first to write about it!