The importance of names

 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. He 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 would return to their homeland. On this cliffhanger, the parasha ends.

 

Genesis 41:45 “Pharaoh then gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him for a wife Asenath daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.”

            Joseph has become second only to Pharaoh in the Land of Egypt, and as so often happens in Torah narrative, his name is changed when his status changes.

            If this is a Hebrew name, it may mean (as suggested by Nachum Sarna) “revealer of hidden things.”  On the other hand, if the name is Egyptian, its meaning is more like “God speaks, he lives” as is used by JPS.

            Pharaoh gives Joseph an Egyptian name, perhaps to make him more acceptable to the Egyptians Joseph now rules. But Joseph keeps his Jewish lineage alive, giving his sons Hebrew names, the same names by which we bless our sons, Menashe and Ephraim.

            The Jewish family of Jacob is on the verge of transformation into the Jewish People, living in the Diaspora but retaining their cultural identity. Those of us who dwell outside of Israel share in its future. Am Yisrael Chai!

Deception

Vayeshev

Gen. 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, creating additional concern (jealousy) on their part. 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.” 

            We then have an intervening story about Judah. He 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 (Onan) dies, and Judah is loath 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.”

 

Gen. 39:7-8 “After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused….”

           When Joseph refuses Potiphar’s wife, she grabs an article of his clothing, which is used as “evidence” of rape. The Hebrew word for the clothing is “beged” and has the Hebrew root of bet-gimel-dalet. Another word with this root is “begidah,” usually translated as “treachery” or “deception.” What is the connection between clothing and deception?

            Here, clothing was used as false evidence. If we take this a (modern) step forward, we see that truth also can be concealed by ignorance and hatred.  

            In Israel and around the world, the so-called “main-stream media” as well as countless “influencers” in social media have quickly turned from the inhumane, animalistic attacks of Hamas on Israelis into tirades against Israel and Jews everywhere. The deception is found not only in outrageous statements condoning the genocide of Israelis and Jews everywhere (a self-acknowledged aspect of the Hamas agenda), but also by the canard of equating Zionism with colonialism and oppression. At its core, antisemitism (more accurately called “Jew-hatred”) is based on millennia of lies, holding Jews and our state to a double-standard.

            The term “intersectionality” has gained a foothold, particularly on college campuses. Intersectionality stands for the proposition that the world is divided into the oppressed and the oppressors, and that those who are oppressed must unite to fight against the oppressors. Jews conveniently fall int the camp of “oppressors” because of a deep-seeded antisemitic rationale This week, we saw Congressional testimony by the heads of MIT, Harvard, and Penn who refused to state that calls for genocide against Jews were not prohibited in their universities. Just imagine their reaction if we substitute “Black” or “transgender” for the word “Jew.” This is another example of the double standard at the core of Jew-hatred. 

             As Senator Schumer recently so eloquently pointed out, Jews have been among the oppressed for thousands of years, and continue to be oppressed today.

            When evidence is revealed (including videos shot by Hamas terrorists themselves) of the use of rape and torture against Jewish women, where are the voices who defend (non-Jewish) women around the world? I guess Jewish women who have been raped, sexually violated, and butchered don’t fall into the category of the “oppressed.”

            Truth in the Joseph story was hidden by deception. Today, the truth about Israel and Jews everywhere is being hidden by an ignorance of history and by Jew-hatred. We cannot remain quiet. Like Joseph, we will ultimately prevail.