Mikketz
Gen. 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-unrevealed Joseph. Joseph has their bags filled not only with grain but also with the money used to purchase the grain and has a gold cup hidden 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.
Gen. 42:23-24 “They did not know that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between him and them. He turned away from them and wept.”
Tears are a leitmotif in this week’s parasha. Joseph, disguised from his brothers, fights back his tears when he first meets them asking for food. He recognizes them at once, and speaks harshly towards them, “acting like a stranger” (Gen. 42:7). The brothers talk among themselves, unaware that Joseph understands their language. When he hears them lament the way they had treated him, he turns away and weeps.
When the brothers return with his full brother Benjamin, Joseph “was overcome with feeling toward his brother and was on the verge of tears; he went into a room and wept there” (Gen. 43:30). Did he weep because he did not want his brothers to recognize him, or because it was unseemly for a man in his position of power to display emption?
By his tears, I suggest Joseph was lamenting his own troubled past, the depths of the gulf between himself and Benjamin, and the rage he was now overcoming with respect to his other brothers. After his tears, he reemerges and serves a meal, his emotions again under control.
The final denouement of course happens in next week’s reading, when he reveals himself to his brothers and sobs and cries (Gen.45:14-15). Reconciliation takes place with tears of joy. It is certainly possible that Joseph's tears represent his emotional growth. He has learned to overcome rage against his brothers and to form a renewed relationship with them.
Tears can result from rage and anger. Tears can result from mere sadness. And tears can result from the joy of reunion and the promise of better days to come.
This week, we celebrate the joyous holiday of Chanukah. If tears are to be shed, may they be joyous and hopeful.