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!

Interruption or Continuity? Judah and Tamar

Vayeshev

Genesis 37:1- 40:23

Précis: The story of Joseph begins with the words, “And Jacob dwelt (vayeshev) in the land of his father’s travels.” We learn that Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph receives the famous coat of many colors, and dreams strange dreams and relates them to his brothers and father, stoking anger and envy. The sons conspire to do away with Joseph, but before he dies, they sell him into slavery. Jacob is devastated when the sons present evidence of Joseph’s “death.”

The narrative is "interrupted" by the story of Judah and Tamar. Judah marries off his first son to Tamar. The son soon dies, and, the next son is married to the widow (“levirate marriage.”) The second son dies, and Judah is reluctant to offer the third son. The widow dresses as a harlot, seduces Judah, becomes pregnant, and reveals herself to Judah as a woman wronged. He acknowledges her as a rightful daughter.

The scene shifts back to Joseph, who is now a servant in the household of Potiphar, an Egyptian official. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph but he refuses her advances. She accuses him nonetheless of attempted rape, and Joseph is tossed into prison. There, he meets jailed servants of Pharaoh, for whom he interprets dreams successfully. When the chief butler is restored to his post, he promises to “remember” Joseph, but the parasha ends with the words, “but he forgot him.”

Genesis 38:6-26 “Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. But…God took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Join with your brother's wife…’ and God took his life also. Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, ‘Stay as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up….’ A long time afterward… Judah went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers…. And Tamar…took off her widow’s garb.… When Judah saw her, he took her for a harlot….So he…said, ‘Here, let me sleep with you.…’ But she said, ‘You must leave a pledge until you have (paid).’ And he said, 'What pledge shall I give you?’ She replied, ‘Your seal and cord, and the staff which you carry.’ So he gave them to her....About three months later, Judah was told, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot…she is with child by harlotry.’ ‘Bring her out,’ said Judah, ‘and let her be burned....’ She sent this message to her father-in-law, ‘I am with child by the man to whom these belong.’ And she added, ‘Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?’ Judah recognized them, and said, ‘She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.’"

Rabbi Steven Lindemann explains (JTS Torah Commentary, 12/24/05) that while many have questioned why the story of Judah and Tamar “interrupts” the flow of the Joseph narrative, it in fact serves as an important bridge. The story of Tamar is intricately linked with that which precedes and that which follows.

The first connecting theme is that of separation. Judah separates himself from his brothers, just as Joseph has been separated from his family (in the Hebrew, the root yud-resh-dalet is used in both instances to heighten the connection). Just as Jacob “recognizes” Joseph’s blood-stained coat, Judah “recognizes” his rod and staff (with the same Hebrew word, hakker being used in both cases). Judah sees his father weeping for his “lost” son Joseph, and Judah will ultimately take responsibility for Benjamin in the story that is to come (wherein Joseph is the one who weeps).

So we have linguistic connections between the story of Joseph both before and after the Tamar “interlude.”

We also have the more concrete parallel theme of sexual tension. Judah and Joseph are both caught up in compromising positions. Tamar “plays the harlot” and Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph. Both Judah and Joseph act with integrity (Judah by acknowledging his sin and responsibility, Joseph by refusing the advances of his master’s wife). Judah is viewed by the rabbis as a man of great honor, suitable to take the leadership of the Jewish People through his descendants; Joseph assumes the position of leadership in Egypt.

Whether we read this episode as an interruption, interlude or continuation of the story depends upon our perspective. I suggest that it may be seen as a metaphor for how interruptions in life may have far-ranging impacts. When the telephone rings or when the Blackberry buzzes, life is interrupted, and such interruptions can result in significant work (or life) changes. It’s important to remember that life is an ongoing story, filled with interruptions which can impact the flow of life itself. We may plan, we may have goals, but life has a way of rising up unexpectedly and biting us – or blessing us.