MIKETZ 1998  
 
In title Torah portion Miketz, we learn how Joseph was taken out of prison to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh, and then in a twinkling of an eye, so to speak, he became the second most powerful person in Egypt.  Life is filled with unexpected events. Who could have predicted mat such an event could have occurred, but we know that by the very act of predicting trends we also assure that those trends will not occur.  After all, we are not robots, and we can take steps to prevent the evil predicted occurrences from occurring.  We should never be so sure of the future that we fail to be cognizant of all the different things that are happening around us.  We should always realize that it is the unexpected that we should expect.
I remember growing up in Seattle mat all we actually thought about as a major employer in Seattle was Boeing.  Boeing is still a major employer, although they send work out to other states.  Nobody could imagine that there would be such a company as Microsoft, which actually came into being because IBM made a mistake.
The question is asked, why did Jacob listen to Yehuda and not to Reuven? The brothers had been accused of being spies by the viceroy of Egypt; Shimon had
 
been incarcerated; the rest had been sent up with food to bring back their younger brother, Benjamin. When Reuven approached Jacob and asked him to allow Benjamin to come down with him, Jacob refuses.  Reuven said, "But if I do not bring him back you can kill my two son."  Jacob still refused.  Later, though, when their situation was getting desperate, Judah approached Jacob and said, "Send Benjamin with me, and if I do not bring him back I will sin against you all my days."  Jacob listened to Judah, but he did not listen to Reuven. Why?
The rabbis give two reasons.  One was when Reuven asked, they still had food, and Jacob still had hopes that maybe the drought would end, or they would be able to get food from another source. When Judah asked, they had no more food. The rabbis also say that Jacob did not like Reuven1 s attitude.  After all, he was either a fool or too cocksure of himself.  What grandfather is going to kill his grandchildren? What kind of a foolish statement did Reuven make?  If he really did not mean the statement but just said it to show how nothing could go wrong, because, after all, it was a piece of cake.  Benjamin, after all, was not a little boy.  He had ten children at this time.  Reuven was too cocksure of
 
himself.  We should never be so cocksure of ourselves.  Things happen unexpectedly.  Judah knew this.  Therefore, he said, "I will do my best, but I cannot give a 100% guarantee like Reuven did."
All of us have to realize that events can change dramatically.  There is a G-d in the world Who eventually, although with lots of suffering, makes sure that right will overcome, but it is a hard battle.  We do not know how He is going to act or when He is going to act.  Look what happened to Joseph.  Overnight from a despised slave prisoner to the viceroy of Egypt, all because he could listen to other people's dreams, but there is a problem with Joseph. The problem is, what gave Joseph the right to toy with his brothers? What gave him the right to play G-d?
some answer, he had to make sure the brothers had done Teshuva.  Really, only G-d can know that. The Ramban says that Joseph had to make sure that his dream would come true, that all eleven brothers and even his father and Bilah would bow down to him, but, again, there is a G-d in the world.  He did not have to do that.  Others say he wanted to set up a scenario so that it would be
 
proven to the whole world, not just to G-d, that the brothers had done Teshuva. Others say, on the other hand, that Joseph was the first assimilated Jew.  He felt that his brothers were no longer Jews. Just as the brothers had thought that he was like Ishmael in their grandfather's generation and Esau in his father's generation, that Joseph had rejected Judaism by his crazy ideas and dreams. Joseph, after he was sold to Egypt by his brothers, now thought this about his brothers.  How could they be Jews? They were kidnapping and selling their brother.  They were cavorting with Canaanite woman.  They were tormenting the children of Bilah and Ziplah, their half brothers.  These were not Jews. They may look like Jews, but these were not Jews.  He wrote them o”, as they had written him o” earlier. There is an old Yiddish expression which says, "I would rather have the Jew without the beard than the beard with the Jew."  In other words, his brothers may have looked like they were acting Jewish and dressing Jewish and talking Jewish and praying Jewish, but they were not Jewish.  That's why he named his eldest son Menasha, which means to forget. G-d made me forget all the house of my father.  When they came to Egypt, he recognized them, but they did not recognize him.  He spoke harshly to them because he no longer felt they were Jews.
 
This was similar almost to how the Jews in America treated the Russian immigrants between 1880 and 1920.  They looked at them as uncouth, not real Jews.  To their credit, though, they did set up settlement houses and helped their brethren, but we did have the conflict between uptown and downtown, which Stephen Birmingham writes about.
Joseph, though, sees that his brothers do have compassion, one for another. When they are told that one of them would have to be imprisoned while they went up to get Benjamin, the younger brother, they said to each other, "We are guilty concerning our brother in as much as we say his heartfelt anguish when he pleaded with us and we did not listen." Joseph had to turn away and he cried.  He realized they still were Jews.  They had Rachmones.  They had remorse for what they did.
As we learn at the end of the Torah portion, when Joseph sees Benjamin, whom the brothers had brought down, he again wanted to cry, but he hurried and went to another room after he saw that the brothers were treating him sell, even though he knew Benjamin was favored. Then after Benjamin was framed by
MIKETZ 1998 Rabbi Joseph Radinsky
Joseph, Yehuda steps forward.  Joseph realizes that his brethren are truly Jews, in spite of their faults.  Joseph had looked to the future.  He had dreams his brothers did not understand.  Judah and his brothers looked to the past and could not cope with the future, but they still had Jewish dreams.
In our tradition we say mat there are two Mashiachs:  Mashiach Ben Yosef, Who will fail; and Mashiach Ben Yehuda, Who will succeed. The Mashiach Ben Yosef will prepare the ground for the Mashiach Ben Yehuda.  Joseph had Jewish dreams, but he was only successful because he listened to the dreams of Pharaoh, like today Jews are very successful in every country they are in because they listen to the dreams of the country they are in and, to their credit, they continue to help their brethren, but their main aim is to fulfill the dreams of the country in which they are in.  Judah only had Jewish dreams, even if they were deficient.  He needed Joseph to help him fulfill even the Jewish dreams, just like today how the wonderful American Jewry has helped and will help Jews all over the world go to Israel, but it is in Israel that their Jewish dreams are really realized.  We have to make sure, though, that our Jewish dreams take into account the future and are not just rooted in the past.  If they
 
are just rooted in the past, they will fail.  You will have the Jewish person with the beard but without the Jewish soul.  The Maccabees on Chanukah saw the future clearly.  They were rooted in the past, but they were willing to enter the arena of history.
In our day, too, there are many Jews who dream about Judaism, but do not practice it, and there are others who look only at trying to recreate a past which does not exist, and, therefore, they get involved in dubious activities, like cheating the government to get more money for their schools, etc.  We need to see the future and to realize mat the Torah is meant for every culture, like Joseph knew, and we have to recognize all our brothers as brothers.  As long as they still have the Jewish Rachmones, they are part of us. We also must never take anything for granted.  We must not be so cocksure of ourselves that we believe only we have the right way, but we must listen to the Josephs and Judahs so we will have a wonderful future.  We must listen to the Josephs, who listen to the dreams of other peoples as well as Jewish dreams, and to the Judahs, who listen only to Jewish dreams but cannot seem to fit into the world. We need them both.
MIKETZ 1998 Rabbi Joseph Radinsky
I am reminded of the story they tell about a man who was walking by a porch. He saw a man sitting on the porch playing cards with his dog. He said, "Boy, you have a smart dog!" The man replied, "He isn't so smart." The man said, "What do you mean he isn't so smart?" The man replied, "I beat him two out of three times." Let us never lose our sense of the unexpected. Let us always work together as one people, even though our views differ so truly the Mashiach will come quickly in our day.  Amen.