Vayigash
Encyclopedia
Vayigash or Vaigash is the eleventh weekly Torah portion (parshah) in the annual Jewish
cycle of Torah reading
. It constitutes Genesis Jews in the Diaspora
read it the eleventh Sabbath
after Simchat Torah
, generally in December or January.
In the parshah, Judah
makes a persuasive plea on behalf of his brother Benjamin
, Joseph
reveals himself to his brothers, Jacob
comes down to Egypt
, and Joseph’s administration of Egypt saves lives but transforms all the Egyptians into bondmen.
, and recounted how Joseph had asked the brothers whether they had a father or brother, and they had told him that they had a father who was an old man, and a child of his old age who was a little one, whose brother was dead, who alone was left of his mother, and whose father loved him. Judah recalled how Joseph had told the brothers to bring their younger brother down to Egypt
, they had told Joseph that the lad’s leaving would kill his father, but Joseph had insisted. Judah recalled how the brothers had told their father Joseph’s words, and when their father had told them to go again to buy a little food, they had reminded him that they could not go down without their youngest brother. Judah recounted how their father had told them that his wife had born him two sons, one had gone out and was torn in pieces, and if they took the youngest and harm befell him, it would bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Judah explained to Joseph that if Judah were to come to his father without the lad, seeing that his father’s soul was bound up with the lad's, then his father would die in sorrow. And Judah told how he had become surety for the lad, and thus asked Joseph to allow him to remain a bondman to Joseph instead of the lad, for how could he go up to his father if the lad was not with him?
had sent Joseph before them to preserve life. Joseph recounted how for two years there had been famine in the land, but there would be five more years without harvests. But God had sent him before them to save them alive for a great deliverance, so it was not they who sent him to Egypt, but God, who had made him ruler over all Egypt. Joseph thus directed them to go quickly to his father and convey that God had made him lord of all Egypt and his father should come down to live in the land of Goshen
and Joseph would sustain him for the five years of famine. And Joseph and his brother Benjamin wept on each other’s necks, Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that, his brothers talked with him.
The report went through Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, and it pleased Pharaoh. Pharaoh directed Joseph to tell his brothers to go to Canaan
and bring their father and their households back to Egypt. Joseph gave his brothers wagons and provisions for the way, and to each man he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave 300 shekel
s of silver and five changes of clothes. And Joseph sent his father ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten donkeys laden with food. So Joseph sent his brothers away, enjoining them not to fall out on the way.
Jacob journeyed to Beersheba
with all that he had and offered sacrifices
to God. God spoke to Jacob in a dream, saying that Jacob should not fear to go to Egypt, for God would go with him, make a great nation of him, and also surely bring him back. Jacob’s sons carried him, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent. They took their cattle
and their goods and came to Egypt, Jacob’s entire family, 70 men in all, including Joseph and his two children. Jacob sent Judah before him to show the way to Goshen. Joseph went up to Goshen in his chariot
to meet Jacob, and fell on his neck and wept. Jacob told Joseph that now he could die, since he had seen Joseph’s face.
Joseph told his brothers that he would go tell Pharaoh that his brothers had come, that they kept cattle, and that they had brought their flocks, herds, and all their possessions. Joseph instructed them that when Pharaoh asked them their occupation, they should say that they were keepers of cattle, for shepherd
s were an abomination to the Egyptians.
Joseph told Pharaoh that his family had arrived in the land of Goshen, and presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers what their occupation was, and they told Pharaoh that they were shepherds and asked to live in the land of Goshen. Pharaoh told Joseph that his family could live in the best of the land, in Goshen, and if he knew any able men among them, then he could appoint them to watch over Pharaoh’s cattle. Joseph set Jacob before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed
Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, and Jacob answered that he was 130 years old and that few and evil had been the years of his life. Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left.
Joseph placed his father and brothers in the land of Rameses
, as Pharaoh had commanded, and sustained them with bread while the famine became sore in the land.
Joseph gathered all the money in Egypt and Canaan selling grain and brought the money into Pharaoh's house. When the Egyptians exhausted their money and asked Joseph for bread, Joseph sold them bread in exchange for all their animals. When they had no more animals, they offered to sell their land to Joseph and become bondmen in exchange for bread. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh — except for that of the priests, who had a portion from Pharaoh — and in exchange for seed, Joseph made all the Egyptians bondmen. At harvest time, Joseph collected for Pharaoh a fifth part of all the people harvested, and it continued as a statute in Egypt that Pharaoh should have a fifth of all produced outside of the priests’ land. And Israel lived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, accumulated possessions, and was fruitful and multiplied.
reports that God called a famine upon the land and sent Joseph before the children of Israel.
The report of that the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied finds an echo in Exodus
observed that having attained authority and presented with the opportunity to avenge his brothers’ ill-treatment of him, Joseph nonetheless bore what happened with self-restraint and governed himself. (On Joseph 28:166.)
taught that Scripture speaks in praise of Judah. Rabbi Judah noted that on three occasions, Scripture records that Judah spoke before his brethren, and they made him king over them (bowing to his authority): (1) in which reports, “Judah said to his brethren: ‘What profit is it if we slay our brother’”; (2) in which reports, “Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house”; and (3) in which reports, “Then Judah came near” to Joseph to argue for Benjamin. (Genesis Rabba
h 84:17.)
A midrash
taught that, as reported in the words “Judah came near to him” in Judah did not cease from answering Joseph word for word until he penetrated to his very heart. (Genesis Rabbah 93:4.) Rabbi Judah
taught that in the words of “Judah came near” for battle, as in 2 Samuel
where it says: “So Joab and the people that were with him drew near to battle.” Rabbi Nehemiah
said that “Judah came near” for conciliation, as in where it says that “the children of Judah drew near to Joshua
” to conciliate him. The Rabbis said that coming near implies prayer, as in 1 Kings
where it says that “Elijah the prophet came near” to pray to God. Rabbi Leazar combined all these views, teaching that “Judah came near to him” ready for battle, conciliation, or prayer. (Genesis Rabbah 93:6.) Rabbi Jeremiah ben Shemaiah taught that Judah exclaimed that he would only need to utter one word (dabar) and bring a plague (deber) upon the Egyptians. And Rav Hanan taught that Judah became angry, and the hairs of his chest pierced through his clothes and forced their way out, and he put iron bars into his mouth and ground them to powder. (Genesis Rabbah 93:6.)
Rav Judah
asked in the name of Rav
why Joseph referred to himself as “bones” during his lifetime (in ), and explained that it was because he did not protect his father’s honor when in his brothers called Jacob “your servant our father” and Joseph failed to protest. And Rav Judah also said in the name of Rav (and others say that it was Rabbi Hama bar Hanina who said) that Joseph died before his brothers because he put on superior airs. (Babylonian Talmud
Sotah 13b.) Similarly, a midrash taught that Joseph was referred to as “bones” during his lifetime (in ) because when his brothers referred to his father as “your servant our father” in Joseph kept silent. And thus the midrash taught that the words of Proverbs
“A man’s pride shall bring him low,” apply to Joseph, who in this encounter ostentatiously displayed his authority. (Numbers Rabbah
13:3.)
Eliezer ben Matiah, Hananiah ben Kinai, Simeon ben Azzai
, and Simeon the Yemenite deduced from Judah’s offer to remain instead of Benjamin in that Judah merited the kingship because of his humility. (Tosefta
Berakhot 4:18.)
i differed about how prudent it was for Joseph to clear the room in Rabbi Hama thought that Joseph acted imprudently, for one of them could have kicked him and killed him on the spot. But Rabbi Samuel said that Joseph acted rightly and prudently, for he knew the righteousness of his brethren and reasoned that it would not be right to suspect that they might commit bloodshed. (Genesis Rabbah 93:9.)
Rabbi Elazar wept whenever he read for if men became too frightened to answer a wronged brother, how much more frightening will they find God’s rebuke. (Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 4b; Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
A midrash taught that “Joseph said to his brethren: ‘Come near to me’” in so that he might show them his circumcision to prove that he was their brother. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
The Tosefta deduced from that before Jacob went down to Egypt there was famine there, but after he arrived, as reports, they sowed the land with seed. (Tosefta Sotah 10:9.)
Rabbi Levi used 41:46, and 45:6 to calculate that Joseph’s dreams that his brothers would bow to him took 22 years to come true, and deduced that a person should thus wait for as much as 22 years for a positive dream’s fulfillment. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 55b.) Rav Huna
in the name of Rabbi Joshua used as a mnemonic for calculating what year it was in the Sabbatical cycle of seven years. (Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 9b.) The Gemara
used to help calculate (among other things) that Jacob should have been 116 years old when he came to Egypt, but since indicated that Jacob was then 130 years old, the Gemara deduced that the text did not count 14 years that Jacob spent studying in the Academy of Eber
. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b–17a.)
Rabbi Elazar interpreted Joseph’s reference to Benjamin in to mean that just as Joseph bore no malice against his brother Benjamin (who had no part in selling Joseph to Egypt), so Joseph had no malice against his other brothers. And Rabbi Elazar interpreted Joseph’s reference to his mouth in to mean that Joseph’s words reflected what was in his heart. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b.) A midrash interpreted Joseph’s reference to his mouth in to mean that Joseph asked them to note that he spoke in Hebrew. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
Rabbi Elazar noted that uses the plural form of the word “necks” and asked how many necks Benjamin had. Rabbi Elazar deduced that Joseph wept on Benjamin’s neck for the two Temples
that were destined to be in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin
and be destroyed. And Rabbi Elazar deduced that Benjamin wept on Joseph’s neck for the tabernacle of Shiloh
that was destined to be in the territory of the tribe of Joseph
and be destroyed. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b; see also Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
Examining the Gemara asked whether Joseph repeated his father’s mistake of favoring one sibling over the others. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16a–b.) Rabbi Benjamin bar Japhet said that Joseph was hinting to Benjamin that one of his descendants, Mordecai
, would appear before a king in five royal garments, as reports. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b.)
Rabbi Benjamin bar Japhet in the name of Rabbi Elazar deduced from that Joseph sent Jacob aged wine, which the Rabbi reported pleases the elderly. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b.) But a midrash taught that the words “the good of the land of Egypt” in referred to split beans (which were highly prized). (Genesis Rabbah 94:2.)
A midrash told that when Joseph was young, he used to study Torah with Jacob. When Joseph’s brothers told Jacob in that Joseph was still alive, Jacob did not believe them, but he recalled the subject that Jacob and Joseph had been studying when they last studied together: the passage on the beheaded heifer (עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה, egla arufa) in Deuteronomy Jacob told the brothers that if Joseph gave them a sign of which subject Joseph and Jacob had last studied together, then Jacob would believe them. Joseph too had remembered what subject they had been studying, so (as reports) he sent Jacob wagons (עֲגָלוֹת, agalot) so that Jacob might know that the gift came from him. The midrash thus concluded that wherever Joseph went he studied the Torah, just as his forbears did, even though the Torah had not yet been given. (Genesis Rabbah 95:3.)
taught that when Jacob “took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba
” in he went to cut down the cedars that reports his grandfather Abraham
had planted there. (Genesis Rabbah 94:4.)
The Sifra
cited and for the proposition that when God called the name of a prophet twice, God expressed affection and sought to provoke a response. (Sifra 1:4.)
Rabbi Hama bar Hanina cited to prove that one who sees a camel in a dream has been delivered from a death decreed by heaven. In Hebrew, the words in the verse gam aloh resemble the word for camel, gamal. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 56b.)
Rabbi Zadok noted that attributed sons to Leah but attributed the daughter Dinah to Jacob, and deduced that the verse thus supported the proposition that if the woman emits her egg first she will bear a son and if the man emits his semen first she will bear a girl. (Babylonian Talmud Nidah 31a.)
Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman
taught that Benjamin’s son’s names, as listed in reflected Benjamin’s loss of Joseph. The name Bela signified that Benjamin’s brother was swallowed up (nit-bala) from him; Becher signified that he was a firstborn (bechor); Ashbel signified that he was taken away captive (nishbah); Gera signified that he became a stranger (ger) in a strange country; Naaman signified that his actions were seemly (na'im) and pleasant (ne'im-im); Ehi signified that he indeed was “my brother” (ahi); Rosh signified that he was Benjamin’s superior (rosh); Muppim signified that he was exceedingly attractive (yafeh ‘ad me'od) in all matters; and Huppim signified that Benjamin did not see his marriage-canopy (huppah
) and he did not see Benjamin’s; and Ard signified that he was like a rose-bloom (ward). (Genesis Rabbah 93:7.)
Abaye
cited the listing for Dan in to demonstrate that sometimes texts refer to “sons” in the plural when they mean a single son. But Rava
suggested perhaps the word “Hushim” in was not a name but, as taught by the Academy of Hezekiah, the word “clusters” or “leaves,” thus signifying that Dan’s sons were as numerous as the leaves of a reed. Rava found, however, support in Numbers
and 1 Chronicles
for the proposition that sometimes texts refer to “sons” when they mean a single son. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 143b.)
Abba Halifa of Keruya asked Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba
why reported that 70 people from Jacob’s household came to Egypt, while enumerated only 69 individuals. Rabbi Hiyya first argued that the Hebrew word et preceding Dinah in indicated that Dinah had a twin sister, and the twin brought the total to 70. But Abba Halifa responded that if that were so, then the parallel language of would indicate that Benjamin also had a twin sister. Rabbi Hiyya then revealed his real explanation, which he called “a precious pearl”: Rabbi Hama bar Hanina taught that the seventieth person was Moses
’ mother Jochebed
, who was conceived on the way from Canaan to Egypt and born as Jacob’s family passed between the city walls as they entered Egypt, for reported that Jochebed “was born to Levi
in Egypt,” implying that her conception was not in Egypt. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 123b–24a; see also 119b–120a.)
Rabbi Nehemiah read the words “to show” in as “to teach,” and thus inferred that Jacob sent Judah to prepare an academy for him in Egypt where he would teach Torah and where the brothers would read Torah. (Genesis Rabbah 95:3.)
deduced from that the Egyptians befriended the Israelites only for their own benefit. Rabbi Jose noted, however, that the law of nonetheless rewarded the Egyptians for their hospitality. Rabbi Jose concluded that if Providence thus rewarded one with mixed motives, Providence will reward even more one who selflessly shows hospitality to a scholar. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 63b.)
Rav Judah in the name of Samuel
deduced from that Joseph gathered in and brought to Egypt all the gold and silver in the world. The Gemara noted that says: “And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan,” and thus spoke about the wealth of only Egypt and Canaan. The Gemara found support for the proposition that Joseph collected the wealth of other countries from which states: “And all the countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy corn.” The Gemara deduced from the words “and they despoiled the Egyptians” in that when the Israelites left Egypt, they carried that wealth away with them. The Gemara then taught that the wealth lay in Israel until the time of King Rehoboam
, when King Shishak of Egypt seized it from Rehoboam, as reports: “And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house.” (Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 119a; see also Avot of Rabbi Natan
41.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael
, the Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon
, and the Tanna Devei Eliyahu
praised Joseph, as reports that he “brought the money into Pharaoh's house” and did not steal any of it. (Mekhilta Beshallah 1; Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon Beshallah 20:3; Tanna Devei Eliyahu Seder Eliyyahu Rabbah 24.)
Resh Lakish deduced from the words “and as for the [Egyptian] people, he [Joseph] removed them city by city” in that Joseph exiled the Egyptians from their home cities so that they could not later berate the Hebrews for being exiles. (Babylonian Talmud Chullin 60b.)
Rabbi Abba ben Kahana taught that Joseph inspired the Egyptians with a longing to be circumcised and convert to Judaism. Rabbi Samuel read the words “You have saved our lives” in to mean that Joseph had given them life both in this world and in the World to Come, through acceptance of Judaism. (Genesis Rabbah 90:6.)
Rabbi Johanan
taught that wherever Scripture uses the term “And he abode” (וַיֵּשֶׁב, vayeshev), as it does in it presages trouble. Thus in “And Israel abode in Shittim” is followed by “and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” In “And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan,” is followed by “and Joseph brought to his father their evil report.” In “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen,” is followed by “And the time drew near that Israel must die.” In “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree,” is followed by “And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was the king’s seed in Edom.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 106a.)
and Sefer ha-Chinuch
, there are no commandments
in the parshah. (Maimonides. Mishneh Torah
. Cairo
, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:91. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)
for the parshah is Ezekiel
, telling him to write on one stick “For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions,” to write on a second stick “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim
, and of all the house of Israel his companions,” and to join the two sticks together into one stick to hold in his hand. When people would ask him what he meant by these sticks, he was to tell them that God said that God would take the stick of Joseph, which was in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and put them together with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick in God’s hand. Ezekiel was to hold the sticks in his hand for people to see, telling them that God said that God would gather the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they had gone, bring them into their own land, and make them one nation with one king, no longer two nations with two kings. No longer would they defile themselves with idols or transgressions, but God would save them and cleanse them, so that they would be God’s people, and God would be their God. David
would be king over them, and they would have one shepherd and observe God’s statutes. They and their children, and their children’s children forever, would dwell in the land that God had given Jacob, where their fathers had dwelt, and David would be their prince forever. God would make an everlasting covenant of peace with them, multiply them, and set God’s sanctuary in the midst of them forever. God’s dwelling-place would be over them, God would be their God, and they would be God’s people. And the nations would know that God sanctified Israel, when God’s sanctuary would be in their midst forever.
and the Kingdom of Israel.
Haggadah
, in the magid section of the Seder
, reports that Israel “went down to Egypt — forced to do so by the word [of God],” and some commentators explain that this statement refers to God’s reassurance to Jacob in to “fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt.” (Joseph Tabory. JPS Commentary on the Haggadah: Historical Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, 90. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8276-0858-0.) Shortly thereafter, the Haggadah quotes for the proposition that Israel did not go down to Egypt to settle, but only to stay temporarily. (Tabory, at 90. Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 43. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9.)
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
cycle of Torah reading
Torah reading
Torah reading is a Jewish religious ritual that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the Torah scroll from the ark, chanting the appropriate excerpt with special cantillation, and returning the scroll to...
. It constitutes Genesis Jews in the Diaspora
Jewish diaspora
The Jewish diaspora is the English term used to describe the Galut גלות , or 'exile', of the Jews from the region of the Kingdom of Judah and Roman Iudaea and later emigration from wider Eretz Israel....
read it the eleventh Sabbath
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
after Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah
Simchat Torah or Simḥath Torah is a celebration marking the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle...
, generally in December or January.
In the parshah, Judah
Judah (Biblical figure)
Judah was, according to the Book of Genesis, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Judah. Biblical scholars, such as J. A...
makes a persuasive plea on behalf of his brother Benjamin
Benjamin
Benjamin was the last-born of Jacob's twelve sons, and the second and last son of Rachel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Benjamin. In the Biblical account, unlike Rachel's first son, Joseph, Benjamin was born in Canaan. He died in Egypt on...
, Joseph
Joseph (Hebrew Bible)
Joseph is an important character in the Hebrew bible, where he connects the story of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Canaan to the subsequent story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt....
reveals himself to his brothers, Jacob
Jacob
Jacob "heel" or "leg-puller"), also later known as Israel , as described in the Hebrew Bible, the Talmud, the New Testament and the Qur'an was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants.In the...
comes down to Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, and Joseph’s administration of Egypt saves lives but transforms all the Egyptians into bondmen.
Judah’s plea to Joseph
Judah approached Joseph, whom he likened to PharaohPharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
, and recounted how Joseph had asked the brothers whether they had a father or brother, and they had told him that they had a father who was an old man, and a child of his old age who was a little one, whose brother was dead, who alone was left of his mother, and whose father loved him. Judah recalled how Joseph had told the brothers to bring their younger brother down to Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, they had told Joseph that the lad’s leaving would kill his father, but Joseph had insisted. Judah recalled how the brothers had told their father Joseph’s words, and when their father had told them to go again to buy a little food, they had reminded him that they could not go down without their youngest brother. Judah recounted how their father had told them that his wife had born him two sons, one had gone out and was torn in pieces, and if they took the youngest and harm befell him, it would bring down his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Judah explained to Joseph that if Judah were to come to his father without the lad, seeing that his father’s soul was bound up with the lad's, then his father would die in sorrow. And Judah told how he had become surety for the lad, and thus asked Joseph to allow him to remain a bondman to Joseph instead of the lad, for how could he go up to his father if the lad was not with him?
Joseph reveals himself
Joseph could no longer control his emotions and ordered everyone but his brothers to leave the room. He wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. Joseph told his brothers that he was Joseph, and asked them whether his father was still alive, but his brothers were too frightened to answer him. Joseph asked them to come near, told them that he was Joseph their brother whom they had sold into Egypt, but that they should not be grieved, for GodNames of God in Judaism
In Judaism, the name of God is more than a distinguishing title; it represents the Jewish conception of the divine nature, and of the relationship of God to the Jewish people and to the world. To demonstrate the sacredness of the names of God, and as a means of showing respect and reverence for...
had sent Joseph before them to preserve life. Joseph recounted how for two years there had been famine in the land, but there would be five more years without harvests. But God had sent him before them to save them alive for a great deliverance, so it was not they who sent him to Egypt, but God, who had made him ruler over all Egypt. Joseph thus directed them to go quickly to his father and convey that God had made him lord of all Egypt and his father should come down to live in the land of Goshen
Land of Goshen
The Land of Goshen is named in the bible as the place in Egypt given to the Hebrews by the pharaoh of Joseph, and the land from which they later left Egypt at the time of the Exodus...
and Joseph would sustain him for the five years of famine. And Joseph and his brother Benjamin wept on each other’s necks, Joseph kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that, his brothers talked with him.
The report went through Pharaoh's house that Joseph's brothers had come, and it pleased Pharaoh. Pharaoh directed Joseph to tell his brothers to go to Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
and bring their father and their households back to Egypt. Joseph gave his brothers wagons and provisions for the way, and to each man he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave 300 shekel
Shekel
Shekel , is any of several ancient units of weight or of currency. The first usage is from Mesopotamia around 3000 BC. Initially, it may have referred to a weight of barley...
s of silver and five changes of clothes. And Joseph sent his father ten donkeys laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten donkeys laden with food. So Joseph sent his brothers away, enjoining them not to fall out on the way.
Jacob goes to Egypt
The brothers went to their father Jacob in Canaan and told him that Joseph was still alive and ruled over Egypt, but he did not believe them. They told him what Joseph had said, and when Jacob saw the wagons that Joseph had sent, Jacob revived and said that he would go to see Joseph before he died.Jacob journeyed to Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
with all that he had and offered sacrifices
Korban
The term offering as found in the Hebrew Bible in relation to the worship of Ancient Israel is mainly represented by the Hebrew noun korban whether for an animal or other offering...
to God. God spoke to Jacob in a dream, saying that Jacob should not fear to go to Egypt, for God would go with him, make a great nation of him, and also surely bring him back. Jacob’s sons carried him, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent. They took their cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
and their goods and came to Egypt, Jacob’s entire family, 70 men in all, including Joseph and his two children. Jacob sent Judah before him to show the way to Goshen. Joseph went up to Goshen in his chariot
Chariot
The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...
to meet Jacob, and fell on his neck and wept. Jacob told Joseph that now he could die, since he had seen Joseph’s face.
Joseph told his brothers that he would go tell Pharaoh that his brothers had come, that they kept cattle, and that they had brought their flocks, herds, and all their possessions. Joseph instructed them that when Pharaoh asked them their occupation, they should say that they were keepers of cattle, for shepherd
Shepherd
A shepherd is a person who tends, feeds or guards flocks of sheep.- Origins :Shepherding is one of the oldest occupations, beginning some 6,000 years ago in Asia Minor. Sheep were kept for their milk, meat and especially their wool...
s were an abomination to the Egyptians.
Joseph told Pharaoh that his family had arrived in the land of Goshen, and presented five of his brothers to Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked the brothers what their occupation was, and they told Pharaoh that they were shepherds and asked to live in the land of Goshen. Pharaoh told Joseph that his family could live in the best of the land, in Goshen, and if he knew any able men among them, then he could appoint them to watch over Pharaoh’s cattle. Joseph set Jacob before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed
Blessing
A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...
Pharaoh. Pharaoh asked Jacob how old he was, and Jacob answered that he was 130 years old and that few and evil had been the years of his life. Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left.
Joseph placed his father and brothers in the land of Rameses
Avaris
Avaris , capital of Egypt under the Hyksos , was located near modern Tell el-Dab'a in the northeastern region of the Nile Delta, at the juncture of the 8th, 14th, 19th and 20th Nomes...
, as Pharaoh had commanded, and sustained them with bread while the famine became sore in the land.
Joseph gathered all the money in Egypt and Canaan selling grain and brought the money into Pharaoh's house. When the Egyptians exhausted their money and asked Joseph for bread, Joseph sold them bread in exchange for all their animals. When they had no more animals, they offered to sell their land to Joseph and become bondmen in exchange for bread. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh — except for that of the priests, who had a portion from Pharaoh — and in exchange for seed, Joseph made all the Egyptians bondmen. At harvest time, Joseph collected for Pharaoh a fifth part of all the people harvested, and it continued as a statute in Egypt that Pharaoh should have a fifth of all produced outside of the priests’ land. And Israel lived in Egypt, in the land of Goshen, accumulated possessions, and was fruitful and multiplied.
Genesis chapter 44
In Judah retells the events first told in| The Narator in | Judah in |
|---|---|
| 7And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly with them; and he said to them: “From where do you come?” And they said: “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” 8And Joseph knew his brethren, but they did not know him. 9And Joseph remembered the dreams that he dreamed of them, and said to them: “You are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you are come.” 10And they said to him: “No, my lord, but to buy food are your servants come. 11We are all one man's sons; we are upright men; your servants are no spies.” 12And he said to them: “No, but to see the nakedness of the land you are come.” | 19My lord asked his servants, saying: “Have you a father, or a brother?” |
| 13And they said: “We your servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.” | 20And we said to my lord: “We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.” |
| 14And Joseph said to them: “That is it that I spoke to you, saying: You are spies. 15Hereby you shall be proved, as Pharaoh lives, you shall not go there, unless your youngest brother comes here. 16Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you; or else, as Pharaoh lives, surely you are spies.” 17And he put them all together into ward three days. 18And Joseph said to them the third day. “This do, and live; for I fear God: 19if you aree upright men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison-house; but go, carry corn for the famine of your houses; 20and bring your youngest brother to me; so shall your words be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. | 21And you said to your servants: “Bring him down to me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.” 22And we said to my lord: “The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die.” 23And you said to your servants: “Except your youngest brother come down with you, you shall see my face no more.” |
Genesis chapter 45
Joseph’s explanation in that God sent him to Egypt before his brothers to preserve life finds an echo in where Joseph told his brothers that they meant evil against him, but God meant it for good to save the lives of many people. Similarly, PsalmPsalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
reports that God called a famine upon the land and sent Joseph before the children of Israel.
Genesis chapter 47
Jacob’s blessing of Pharaoh in enacts the promise of and that through Abraham’s descendants would other families of the earth be blessed.The report of that the Israelites were fruitful and multiplied finds an echo in Exodus
Genesis chapter 44
PhiloPhilo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
observed that having attained authority and presented with the opportunity to avenge his brothers’ ill-treatment of him, Joseph nonetheless bore what happened with self-restraint and governed himself. (On Joseph 28:166.)
Genesis chapter 44
Rabbi Judah ben IlaiJudah ben Ilai
Judah bar Ilai, also known as Judah ben Ilai, Rabbi Judah or Judah the Palestinian , was a tanna of the 2nd Century and son of Rabbi Ilai I. Of the many Judahs in the Talmud, he is the one referred to simply as "Rabbi Judah" and is the most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah.Judah bar Ilai...
taught that Scripture speaks in praise of Judah. Rabbi Judah noted that on three occasions, Scripture records that Judah spoke before his brethren, and they made him king over them (bowing to his authority): (1) in which reports, “Judah said to his brethren: ‘What profit is it if we slay our brother’”; (2) in which reports, “Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house”; and (3) in which reports, “Then Judah came near” to Joseph to argue for Benjamin. (Genesis Rabba
Genesis Rabba
Genesis Rabba is a religious text from Judaism's classical period. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis ....
h 84:17.)
A midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
taught that, as reported in the words “Judah came near to him” in Judah did not cease from answering Joseph word for word until he penetrated to his very heart. (Genesis Rabbah 93:4.) Rabbi Judah
Judah ben Ilai
Judah bar Ilai, also known as Judah ben Ilai, Rabbi Judah or Judah the Palestinian , was a tanna of the 2nd Century and son of Rabbi Ilai I. Of the many Judahs in the Talmud, he is the one referred to simply as "Rabbi Judah" and is the most frequently mentioned sage in the Mishnah.Judah bar Ilai...
taught that in the words of “Judah came near” for battle, as in 2 Samuel
Books of Samuel
The Books of Samuel in the Jewish bible are part of the Former Prophets, , a theological history of the Israelites affirming and explaining the Torah under the guidance of the prophets.Samuel begins by telling how the prophet Samuel is chosen by...
where it says: “So Joab and the people that were with him drew near to battle.” Rabbi Nehemiah
Rabbi Nehemiah
Rabbi Nehemiah was an Israelite, circa AD 150 .He is attributed as the author of the Mishnat ha-Middot , making it the earliest known Hebrew text on geometry, although other historians assign to a later period by an unknown author...
said that “Judah came near” for conciliation, as in where it says that “the children of Judah drew near to Joshua
Joshua
Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...
” to conciliate him. The Rabbis said that coming near implies prayer, as in 1 Kings
Books of Kings
The Book of Kings presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years...
where it says that “Elijah the prophet came near” to pray to God. Rabbi Leazar combined all these views, teaching that “Judah came near to him” ready for battle, conciliation, or prayer. (Genesis Rabbah 93:6.) Rabbi Jeremiah ben Shemaiah taught that Judah exclaimed that he would only need to utter one word (dabar) and bring a plague (deber) upon the Egyptians. And Rav Hanan taught that Judah became angry, and the hairs of his chest pierced through his clothes and forced their way out, and he put iron bars into his mouth and ground them to powder. (Genesis Rabbah 93:6.)
Rav Judah
Judah ben Ezekiel
Judah ben Ezekiel , was a Babylonian amora of the 2nd generation. He was the most prominent disciple of Rav , in whose house he often stayed, and whose son Hiyya was his pupil...
asked in the name of Rav
Abba Arika
Abba Arika was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the 3rd century who established at Sura the systematic study of the rabbinic traditions, which, using the Mishnah as text, led to the compilation of the Talmud...
why Joseph referred to himself as “bones” during his lifetime (in ), and explained that it was because he did not protect his father’s honor when in his brothers called Jacob “your servant our father” and Joseph failed to protest. And Rav Judah also said in the name of Rav (and others say that it was Rabbi Hama bar Hanina who said) that Joseph died before his brothers because he put on superior airs. (Babylonian Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
Sotah 13b.) Similarly, a midrash taught that Joseph was referred to as “bones” during his lifetime (in ) because when his brothers referred to his father as “your servant our father” in Joseph kept silent. And thus the midrash taught that the words of Proverbs
Book of Proverbs
The Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
“A man’s pride shall bring him low,” apply to Joseph, who in this encounter ostentatiously displayed his authority. (Numbers Rabbah
Numbers Rabbah
Numbers Rabbah is a religious text holy to classical Judaism. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletic interpretations of the book of Numbers ....
13:3.)
Eliezer ben Matiah, Hananiah ben Kinai, Simeon ben Azzai
Simeon ben Azzai
Simeon ben Azzai or simply Ben Azzai was a distinguished tanna of the first third of the 2nd century. His full name was Simon ben Azzai, to which sometimes the title "Rabbi" is prefixed...
, and Simeon the Yemenite deduced from Judah’s offer to remain instead of Benjamin in that Judah merited the kingship because of his humility. (Tosefta
Tosefta
The Tosefta is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the period of the Mishnah.-Overview:...
Berakhot 4:18.)
Genesis chapter 45
Rabbi Hama bar Hanina and Rabbi Samuel ben NahmanSamuel ben Nahman
Samuel ben Nahman or Samuel Nahmani was a rabbi of the Talmud, known as an amora, who lived in the Land of Israel from the beginning of the 3rd century until the beginning of the 4th century. He was a pupil of R. Jonathan ben Eleazar and one of the most famous haggadists of his time...
i differed about how prudent it was for Joseph to clear the room in Rabbi Hama thought that Joseph acted imprudently, for one of them could have kicked him and killed him on the spot. But Rabbi Samuel said that Joseph acted rightly and prudently, for he knew the righteousness of his brethren and reasoned that it would not be right to suspect that they might commit bloodshed. (Genesis Rabbah 93:9.)
Rabbi Elazar wept whenever he read for if men became too frightened to answer a wronged brother, how much more frightening will they find God’s rebuke. (Babylonian Talmud Chagigah 4b; Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
A midrash taught that “Joseph said to his brethren: ‘Come near to me’” in so that he might show them his circumcision to prove that he was their brother. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
The Tosefta deduced from that before Jacob went down to Egypt there was famine there, but after he arrived, as reports, they sowed the land with seed. (Tosefta Sotah 10:9.)
Rabbi Levi used 41:46, and 45:6 to calculate that Joseph’s dreams that his brothers would bow to him took 22 years to come true, and deduced that a person should thus wait for as much as 22 years for a positive dream’s fulfillment. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 55b.) Rav Huna
Rav Huna
Rav Huna , a Kohen, was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an amora of the second generation and head of the Academy of Sura; He was born about 216, died in 296-297 ).-Youth:...
in the name of Rabbi Joshua used as a mnemonic for calculating what year it was in the Sabbatical cycle of seven years. (Babylonian Talmud Avodah Zarah 9b.) The Gemara
Gemara
The Gemara is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Rabbi Judah the Prince The Gemara (also transliterated Gemora or, less commonly, Gemorra; from Aramaic גמרא gamar; literally, "[to] study" or "learning by...
used to help calculate (among other things) that Jacob should have been 116 years old when he came to Egypt, but since indicated that Jacob was then 130 years old, the Gemara deduced that the text did not count 14 years that Jacob spent studying in the Academy of Eber
Eber
Eber is an ancestor of the Israelites, according to the "Table of Nations" in and . He was a great-grandson of Noah's son Shem and the father of Peleg born when Eber was 34 years old, and of Joktan. He was the son of Shelah a distant ancestor of Abraham...
. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b–17a.)
Rabbi Elazar interpreted Joseph’s reference to Benjamin in to mean that just as Joseph bore no malice against his brother Benjamin (who had no part in selling Joseph to Egypt), so Joseph had no malice against his other brothers. And Rabbi Elazar interpreted Joseph’s reference to his mouth in to mean that Joseph’s words reflected what was in his heart. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b.) A midrash interpreted Joseph’s reference to his mouth in to mean that Joseph asked them to note that he spoke in Hebrew. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
Rabbi Elazar noted that uses the plural form of the word “necks” and asked how many necks Benjamin had. Rabbi Elazar deduced that Joseph wept on Benjamin’s neck for the two Temples
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
that were destined to be in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin
Tribe of Benjamin
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Benjamin בִּנְיָמִין was one of the Tribes of Israel.From after the conquest of the land by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel in c. 1050 BCE, the Tribe of Benjamin was a part of a loose confederation of Israelite tribes...
and be destroyed. And Rabbi Elazar deduced that Benjamin wept on Joseph’s neck for the tabernacle of Shiloh
Shiloh (Biblical)
Shiloh was an ancient city south of ancient Tirzah and mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Its site is at modern Khirbet Seilun, West Bank, and north of the Israeli settlement of Beth El in the West Bank....
that was destined to be in the territory of the tribe of Joseph
Tribe of Joseph
The Tribe of Joseph was one of the Tribes of Israel, though since Ephraim and Manasseh together traditionally constituted the tribe of Joseph, it was often not listed as one of the tribes, in favour of Ephraim and Manasseh being listed in its place; consequently it was often termed the House of...
and be destroyed. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b; see also Genesis Rabbah 93:10.)
Examining the Gemara asked whether Joseph repeated his father’s mistake of favoring one sibling over the others. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16a–b.) Rabbi Benjamin bar Japhet said that Joseph was hinting to Benjamin that one of his descendants, Mordecai
Mordecai
Mordecai or Mordechai is one of the main personalities in the Book of Esther in the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin.-Biblical account:...
, would appear before a king in five royal garments, as reports. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b.)
Rabbi Benjamin bar Japhet in the name of Rabbi Elazar deduced from that Joseph sent Jacob aged wine, which the Rabbi reported pleases the elderly. (Babylonian Talmud Megilah 16b.) But a midrash taught that the words “the good of the land of Egypt” in referred to split beans (which were highly prized). (Genesis Rabbah 94:2.)
A midrash told that when Joseph was young, he used to study Torah with Jacob. When Joseph’s brothers told Jacob in that Joseph was still alive, Jacob did not believe them, but he recalled the subject that Jacob and Joseph had been studying when they last studied together: the passage on the beheaded heifer (עֶגְלָה עֲרוּפָה, egla arufa) in Deuteronomy Jacob told the brothers that if Joseph gave them a sign of which subject Joseph and Jacob had last studied together, then Jacob would believe them. Joseph too had remembered what subject they had been studying, so (as reports) he sent Jacob wagons (עֲגָלוֹת, agalot) so that Jacob might know that the gift came from him. The midrash thus concluded that wherever Joseph went he studied the Torah, just as his forbears did, even though the Torah had not yet been given. (Genesis Rabbah 95:3.)
Genesis chapter 46
Rav NachmanRav Nachman
Rav Nachman bar Yaakov was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the third generation, and pupil of Samuel of Nehardea. He was chief justice of the Jews who were subject to the exilarch , and was also head of the school of Nehardea...
taught that when Jacob “took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
” in he went to cut down the cedars that reports his grandfather Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
had planted there. (Genesis Rabbah 94:4.)
The Sifra
Sifra
Sifra is the Halakic midrash to Leviticus. It is frequently quoted in the Talmud, and the study of it followed that of the Mishnah, as appears from Tanḥuma, quoted in Or Zarua, i. 7b. Like Leviticus itself, the midrash is occasionally called "Torat Kohanim" , and in two passages also "Sifra debe...
cited and for the proposition that when God called the name of a prophet twice, God expressed affection and sought to provoke a response. (Sifra 1:4.)
Rabbi Hama bar Hanina cited to prove that one who sees a camel in a dream has been delivered from a death decreed by heaven. In Hebrew, the words in the verse gam aloh resemble the word for camel, gamal. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 56b.)
Rabbi Zadok noted that attributed sons to Leah but attributed the daughter Dinah to Jacob, and deduced that the verse thus supported the proposition that if the woman emits her egg first she will bear a son and if the man emits his semen first she will bear a girl. (Babylonian Talmud Nidah 31a.)
Rabbi Samuel ben Nahman
Samuel ben Nahman
Samuel ben Nahman or Samuel Nahmani was a rabbi of the Talmud, known as an amora, who lived in the Land of Israel from the beginning of the 3rd century until the beginning of the 4th century. He was a pupil of R. Jonathan ben Eleazar and one of the most famous haggadists of his time...
taught that Benjamin’s son’s names, as listed in reflected Benjamin’s loss of Joseph. The name Bela signified that Benjamin’s brother was swallowed up (nit-bala) from him; Becher signified that he was a firstborn (bechor); Ashbel signified that he was taken away captive (nishbah); Gera signified that he became a stranger (ger) in a strange country; Naaman signified that his actions were seemly (na'im) and pleasant (ne'im-im); Ehi signified that he indeed was “my brother” (ahi); Rosh signified that he was Benjamin’s superior (rosh); Muppim signified that he was exceedingly attractive (yafeh ‘ad me'od) in all matters; and Huppim signified that Benjamin did not see his marriage-canopy (huppah
Chuppah
A chuppah , also huppah, chupah, or chuppa, is a canopy under which a Jewish couple stand during their wedding ceremony. It consists of a cloth or sheet, sometimes a tallit, stretched or supported over four poles, or sometimes manually held up by attendants to the ceremony. A chuppah symbolizes the...
) and he did not see Benjamin’s; and Ard signified that he was like a rose-bloom (ward). (Genesis Rabbah 93:7.)
Abaye
Abaye
Abaye was a rabbi of the Jewish Talmud who lived in Babylonia [בבל], known as an amora [אמורא] born about the close of the third century; died 339 . His father, Kaylil, was the brother of Rabbah bar Nachmani, a teacher at the Academy of Pumbedita. Abaye's real name was Nachmani, after his...
cited the listing for Dan in to demonstrate that sometimes texts refer to “sons” in the plural when they mean a single son. But Rava
Rava
Rava may refer to:* Bishnuprasad Rabha* Abba ben Joseph bar Ḥama , a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, always known by the honourific name Raba/Rava* Rava , an island in the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea...
suggested perhaps the word “Hushim” in was not a name but, as taught by the Academy of Hezekiah, the word “clusters” or “leaves,” thus signifying that Dan’s sons were as numerous as the leaves of a reed. Rava found, however, support in Numbers
Book of Numbers
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
and 1 Chronicles
Books of Chronicles
The Books of Chronicles are part of the Hebrew Bible. In the Masoretic Text, it appears as the first or last book of the Ketuvim . Chronicles largely parallels the Davidic narratives in the Books of Samuel and the Books of Kings...
for the proposition that sometimes texts refer to “sons” when they mean a single son. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 143b.)
Abba Halifa of Keruya asked Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba
Hiyya bar Abba
Hiyya bar Abba or Rabbi Hiyya was an amoraic sage of priestly descent of the latter Mishnaic period. Active in Tiberias, Hiyya was the primary compiler of the tosefta. He was the uncle of Abba Arika....
why reported that 70 people from Jacob’s household came to Egypt, while enumerated only 69 individuals. Rabbi Hiyya first argued that the Hebrew word et preceding Dinah in indicated that Dinah had a twin sister, and the twin brought the total to 70. But Abba Halifa responded that if that were so, then the parallel language of would indicate that Benjamin also had a twin sister. Rabbi Hiyya then revealed his real explanation, which he called “a precious pearl”: Rabbi Hama bar Hanina taught that the seventieth person was Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
’ mother Jochebed
Jochebed
According to the Torah, Jochebed was a daughter of Levi and mother of Aaron, Miriam and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning her life. According to Jewish legend, Jochebed is buried in the Tomb of the Matriarchs, in Tiberias.-Birth of Moses:The...
, who was conceived on the way from Canaan to Egypt and born as Jacob’s family passed between the city walls as they entered Egypt, for reported that Jochebed “was born to Levi
Levi
Levi/Levy was, according to the Book of Genesis, the third son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi ; however Peake's commentary suggests this as postdiction, an eponymous metaphor providing an aetiology of the connectedness of the tribe to others in the Israelite...
in Egypt,” implying that her conception was not in Egypt. (Babylonian Talmud Bava Batra 123b–24a; see also 119b–120a.)
Rabbi Nehemiah read the words “to show” in as “to teach,” and thus inferred that Jacob sent Judah to prepare an academy for him in Egypt where he would teach Torah and where the brothers would read Torah. (Genesis Rabbah 95:3.)
Genesis chapter 47
Rabbi JoseJose ben Halafta
Rabbi Jose ben Halafta or Yose ben Halafta was a Tanna of the fourth generation . Jose was a student of Rabbi Akiba and was regarded as one of the foremost scholars of halakha and aggadah of his day...
deduced from that the Egyptians befriended the Israelites only for their own benefit. Rabbi Jose noted, however, that the law of nonetheless rewarded the Egyptians for their hospitality. Rabbi Jose concluded that if Providence thus rewarded one with mixed motives, Providence will reward even more one who selflessly shows hospitality to a scholar. (Babylonian Talmud Berakhot 63b.)
Rav Judah in the name of Samuel
Samuel of Nehardea
Samuel of Nehardea or Samuel bar Abba was a Jewish Talmudist who lived in Babylonia, known as an Amora of the first generation; son of Abba bar Abba and head of the Yeshiva at Nehardea. He was a teacher of halakha, judge, physician, and astronomer. He was born about 165 at Nehardea, in Babylonia...
deduced from that Joseph gathered in and brought to Egypt all the gold and silver in the world. The Gemara noted that says: “And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan,” and thus spoke about the wealth of only Egypt and Canaan. The Gemara found support for the proposition that Joseph collected the wealth of other countries from which states: “And all the countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy corn.” The Gemara deduced from the words “and they despoiled the Egyptians” in that when the Israelites left Egypt, they carried that wealth away with them. The Gemara then taught that the wealth lay in Israel until the time of King Rehoboam
Rehoboam
Rehoboam was initially king of the United Monarchy of Israel but after the ten northern tribes of Israel rebelled in 932/931 BC to form the independent Kingdom of Israel he was king of the Kingdom of Judah, or southern kingdom. He was a son of Solomon and a grandson of David...
, when King Shishak of Egypt seized it from Rehoboam, as reports: “And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem; and he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house.” (Babylonian Talmud Pesachim 119a; see also Avot of Rabbi Natan
Avot of Rabbi Natan
Avot de-Rabbi Nathan , usually printed together with the minor tractates of the Talmud, is a Jewish aggadic work probably compiled in the geonic era . Although Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is the first and longest of the "minor tractates", it probably does not belong in that collection chronologically,...
41.)
The Mekhilta of Rabbi Ishmael
Mekhilta
This article refers to the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. There is a separate article on the Mekhilta de-Rabbi ShimonMekhilta or Mekilta is a halakic midrash to the Book of Exodus...
, the Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon
Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon
The Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon is a Halakic midrash on Exodus from the school of R. Akiba, the "Rabbi Shimon" in question being Shimon bar Yochai. No midrash of this name is mentioned in Talmudic literature, but medieval authors refer to one which they call either "Mekilta de-R. Simeon b. Yoḥai," or...
, and the Tanna Devei Eliyahu
Tanna Devei Eliyahu
Tanna Devei Eliyahu is the composite name of a midrash, consisting of two parts, whose final redaction took place at the end of the 10th century CE. The first part is called "Seder Eliyahu Rabbah" ; the second, "Seder Eliyahu Zuṭa"...
praised Joseph, as reports that he “brought the money into Pharaoh's house” and did not steal any of it. (Mekhilta Beshallah 1; Mekhilta of Rabbi Simeon Beshallah 20:3; Tanna Devei Eliyahu Seder Eliyyahu Rabbah 24.)
Resh Lakish deduced from the words “and as for the [Egyptian] people, he [Joseph] removed them city by city” in that Joseph exiled the Egyptians from their home cities so that they could not later berate the Hebrews for being exiles. (Babylonian Talmud Chullin 60b.)
Rabbi Abba ben Kahana taught that Joseph inspired the Egyptians with a longing to be circumcised and convert to Judaism. Rabbi Samuel read the words “You have saved our lives” in to mean that Joseph had given them life both in this world and in the World to Come, through acceptance of Judaism. (Genesis Rabbah 90:6.)
Rabbi Johanan
Yochanan bar Nafcha
Rabbi Yochanan ;...
taught that wherever Scripture uses the term “And he abode” (וַיֵּשֶׁב, vayeshev), as it does in it presages trouble. Thus in “And Israel abode in Shittim” is followed by “and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” In “And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan,” is followed by “and Joseph brought to his father their evil report.” In “And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen,” is followed by “And the time drew near that Israel must die.” In “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree,” is followed by “And the Lord stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was the king’s seed in Edom.” (Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 106a.)
Commandments
According to MaimonidesMaimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
and Sefer ha-Chinuch
Sefer ha-Chinuch
The Sefer ha-Chinuch , often simply "the Chinuch" is a work which systematically discusses the 613 commandments of the Torah. It was published anonymously in 13th century Spain...
, there are no commandments
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
in the parshah. (Maimonides. Mishneh Torah
Mishneh Torah
The Mishneh Torah subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka is a code of Jewish religious law authored by Maimonides , one of history's foremost rabbis...
. Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt, 1170–1180. Reprinted in Maimonides. The Commandments: Sefer Ha-Mitzvoth of Maimonides. Translated by Charles B. Chavel, 2 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1967. ISBN 0-900689-71-4. Sefer HaHinnuch: The Book of [Mitzvah] Education. Translated by Charles Wengrov, 1:91. Jerusalem: Feldheim Pub., 1991. ISBN 0-87306-179-9.)
Haftarah
The haftarahHaftarah
The haftarah or haftoroh is a series of selections from the books of Nevi'im of the Hebrew Bible that is publicly read in synagogue as part of Jewish religious practice...
for the parshah is Ezekiel
Book of Ezekiel
The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, following the books of Isaiah and Jeremiah and preceding the Book of the Twelve....
Summary
God’s word came to EzekielEzekiel
Ezekiel , "God will strengthen" , is the central protagonist of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, Ezekiel is acknowledged as a Hebrew prophet...
, telling him to write on one stick “For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions,” to write on a second stick “For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim
Tribe of Ephraim
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the Tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim also formed the House of Joseph....
, and of all the house of Israel his companions,” and to join the two sticks together into one stick to hold in his hand. When people would ask him what he meant by these sticks, he was to tell them that God said that God would take the stick of Joseph, which was in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions, and put them together with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick in God’s hand. Ezekiel was to hold the sticks in his hand for people to see, telling them that God said that God would gather the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they had gone, bring them into their own land, and make them one nation with one king, no longer two nations with two kings. No longer would they defile themselves with idols or transgressions, but God would save them and cleanse them, so that they would be God’s people, and God would be their God. David
David
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
would be king over them, and they would have one shepherd and observe God’s statutes. They and their children, and their children’s children forever, would dwell in the land that God had given Jacob, where their fathers had dwelt, and David would be their prince forever. God would make an everlasting covenant of peace with them, multiply them, and set God’s sanctuary in the midst of them forever. God’s dwelling-place would be over them, God would be their God, and they would be God’s people. And the nations would know that God sanctified Israel, when God’s sanctuary would be in their midst forever.
Connection to the Parshah
The parshah and the haftarah both tell stories of the reconciliation of Jacob’s progeny. The parshah and the haftarah both tell of the relationship of Judah and Joseph, in the parshah as individuals, and in the haftarah as representatives for the Kingdom of JudahKingdom of Judah
The Kingdom of Judah was a Jewish state established in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age. It is often referred to as the "Southern Kingdom" to distinguish it from the northern Kingdom of Israel....
and the Kingdom of Israel.
In the liturgy
The PassoverPassover
Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
Haggadah
Haggadah of Pesach
The Haggadah is a Jewish text that sets forth the order of the Passover Seder. Reading the Haggadah at the Seder table is a fulfillment of the Scriptural commandment to each Jew to "tell your son" of the Jewish liberation from slavery in Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah...
, in the magid section of the Seder
Passover Seder
The Passover Seder is a Jewish ritual feast that marks the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted on the evenings of the 14th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, and on the 15th by traditionally observant Jews living outside Israel. This corresponds to late March or April in...
, reports that Israel “went down to Egypt — forced to do so by the word [of God],” and some commentators explain that this statement refers to God’s reassurance to Jacob in to “fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt.” (Joseph Tabory. JPS Commentary on the Haggadah: Historical Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, 90. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8276-0858-0.) Shortly thereafter, the Haggadah quotes for the proposition that Israel did not go down to Egypt to settle, but only to stay temporarily. (Tabory, at 90. Menachem Davis. The Interlinear Haggadah: The Passover Haggadah, with an Interlinear Translation, Instructions and Comments, 43. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2005. ISBN 1-57819-064-9.)
Ancient
- Inscription of Ameni. Egypt. 20th century BCE. (response to famine).
Early nonrabbinic
- Ezekiel the TragedianEzekiel the TragedianEzekiel the Tragedian, also known as Ezekiel the Poet, was a Jewish dramatist who wrote in Alexandria during the 2nd century BCE. His work survives only in fragments found in the writings of Eusebius, Clement of Alexandria, and Pseudo-Eustathius. His only known work, Exagōgē, is a five-act drama...
. Exagōgē. 2nd century BCE. Translated by R.G. Robertson. In The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Volume 2: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic works. Edited by James H. CharlesworthJames H. CharlesworthJames H. Charlesworth is the George L. Collord Professor of New Testament Language and Literature and director of the Dead Sea Scrolls Project at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is noted for his research in Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, the Dead Sea Scrolls,...
, 808. New York: Anchor BibleAnchor Bible SeriesThe Anchor Bible project, consisting of a Commentary Series, Bible Dictionary, and Reference Library, is a scholarly and commercial co-venture begun in 1956, when individual volumes in the commentary series began production...
, 1985. ISBN 0-385-18813-7. - PhiloPhiloPhilo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
. Allegorical Interpretation 3:62:177; On the Birth of Abel and the Sacrifices Offered by Him and by His Brother Cain 11:48; 12:51; On the Posterity of Cain and His Exile 9:29; On Husbandry 13:57; On the Confusion of Tongues 17:80; On the Migration of Abraham 5:21–22; 36:199; 37:203–04; Who Is the Heir of Divine Things? 51:251; On the Change of Names 31:171; 32:173–74; On Dreams, That They Are God-Sent 1:17:172; On Joseph 38–43. AlexandriaAlexandriaAlexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
, Egypt, early 1st century CE. Reprinted in, e.g., The Works of Philo: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition. Translated by Charles Duke YongeCharles Duke YongeCharles Duke Yonge was an English historian, classicist, and cricketer. He wrote numerous works of modern history, and translated several classical works.-Life:...
, 70, 100, 134, 179, 241, 255, 272–73, 298, 355–56, 380, 435–58. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1993. ISBN 0-943575-93-1.
- JosephusJosephusTitus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
. AntiquitiesAntiquities of the JewsAntiquities of the Jews is a twenty volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the thirteenth year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around 93 or 94 AD. Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people,...
, 2:6:9–2:7:7. Circa 93–94. Reprinted in, e.g., The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged, New Updated Edition. Translated by William WhistonWilliam WhistonWilliam Whiston was an English theologian, historian, and mathematician. He is probably best known for his translation of the Antiquities of the Jews and other works by Josephus, his A New Theory of the Earth, and his Arianism...
, 63–65. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 1987. ISBN 0-913573-86-8. - Qur'anQur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
12:80–101. Arabia, 7th century.
Classical rabbinic
- ToseftaToseftaThe Tosefta is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the period of the Mishnah.-Overview:...
Berakhot 4:18; Sotah 10:9. Land of Israel, circa 300 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., The Tosefta: Translated from the Hebrew, with a New Introduction. Translated by Jacob NeusnerJacob NeusnerJacob Neusner is an American academic scholar of Judaism who lives in Rhinebeck, New York.-Biography:Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Neusner was educated at Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America , the University of Oxford, and Columbia University.Neusner is often celebrated...
, 27, 877. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Pub., 2002. ISBN 1-56563-642-2. - Mekhilta of Rabbi IshmaelMekhiltaThis article refers to the Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. There is a separate article on the Mekhilta de-Rabbi ShimonMekhilta or Mekilta is a halakic midrash to the Book of Exodus...
Beshallah 1–2. Land of Israel, late 4th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Mekhilta According to Rabbi Ishmael. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 1:130, 136. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1988. ISBN 1-55540-237-2. And Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael. Translated by Jacob Z. Lauterbach, 1:122, 128. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1933, reissued 2004. ISBN 0-8276-0678-8. - Mekhilta of Rabbi SimeonMekhilta de-Rabbi ShimonThe Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon is a Halakic midrash on Exodus from the school of R. Akiba, the "Rabbi Shimon" in question being Shimon bar Yochai. No midrash of this name is mentioned in Talmudic literature, but medieval authors refer to one which they call either "Mekilta de-R. Simeon b. Yoḥai," or...
Beshallah 20:3, 21:1. Land of Israel, 5th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Mekhilta de-Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai. Translated by W. David Nelson, 83, 87. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2006. ISBN 0-8276-0799-7. - Genesis RabbaGenesis RabbaGenesis Rabba is a religious text from Judaism's classical period. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletical interpretations of the Book of Genesis ....
h 39:12; 40:6; 55:8; 63:3; 79:1; 80:11; 82:4; 84:20; 89:9; 90:1, 6; 93:1–96. Land of Israel, 5th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
- Leviticus RabbahLeviticus RabbahLeviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayiqra Rabbah is a homiletic midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus . It is referred to by Nathan ben Jehiel in his Aruk as well as by Rashi in his commentaries on , and elsewhere. According to Leopold Zunz, Hai Gaon and Nissim knew and made use of it...
32:5. Land of Israel, 5th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Genesis. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2. - Babylonian TalmudTalmudThe Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
: Berakhot 56b, 63b; Pesachim 119a; Beitzah 16a; Megillah 16a–b; Chagigah 4b; Nazir 3a; Baba Kama 92a Baba Batra 120a, 123a, 143b; Avodah Zarah 9b; Chullin 60b; Nidah 31a. Babylonia, 6th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Talmud Bavli. Edited by Yisroel Simcha Schorr, Chaim Malinowitz, and Mordechai Marcus, 72 vols. Brooklyn: Mesorah Pubs., 2006. - Esther RabbahEsther RabbahEsther Rabbah is the midrash to the Book of Esther in the current Midrash editions. From its plan and scope it is apparently an incomplete collection from the rich haggadic material furnished by the comments on the scroll of Esther, which has been read since early times at the public service on...
7:20. - Song of Songs RabbahShir ha-Shirim RabbahShir ha-Shirim Rabbah is a Haggadic midrash on Canticles, quoted by Rashi under the title "Midrash Shir ha-Shirim" . It is called also "Agadat Ḥazita", from its initial word "Ḥazita" , or "Midrash Ḥazita" Shir ha-Shirim Rabbah (Hebrew: שיר השירים רבה) is a Haggadic midrash on Canticles, quoted by...
1:56; 4:25; 6:20. - Ruth RabbahRuth RabbahRuth Rabbah is an haggadic and homiletic interpretation of the Book of Ruth, which, like that of the four other scrolls , is included in the Midrash Rabbot. This midrash, divided into eight chapters or sections , covers the whole text of the Biblical book, interpreting it verse by verse, now in...
4:1. - Ecclesiastes RabbahEcclesiastes RabbahEcclesiastes Rabbah or Kohelet Rabbah is an haggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes, included in the collection of the Midrash Rabbot. It follows the Biblical book verse by verse, only a few verses remaining without comment. In the list of the old sedarim for the Bible four sedarim are assigned to...
7:6, 33; 9:12.
Medieval
- Avot of Rabbi NatanAvot of Rabbi NatanAvot de-Rabbi Nathan , usually printed together with the minor tractates of the Talmud, is a Jewish aggadic work probably compiled in the geonic era . Although Avot de-Rabbi Nathan is the first and longest of the "minor tractates", it probably does not belong in that collection chronologically,...
, 41. Circa 700–900 CE. Reprinted in, e.g., The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan. Translated by Judah Goldin, 172. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1955. ISBN 0-300-00497-4. The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan: An Analytical Translation and Explanation. Translated by Jacob Neusner, 256. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1986. ISBN 1-55540-073-6. - Deuteronomy RabbahDeuteronomy RabbahDeuteronomy Rabbah is an aggadic midrash or homiletic commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy. Unlike Bereshit Rabbah, the Midrash to Deuteronomy which has been included in the collection of the Midrash Rabbot in the ordinary editions does not contain running commentaries on the text of the Bible,...
1:13. Land of Israel, 9th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Deuteronomy. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2. - Exodus RabbahExodus RabbahExodus Rabbah is the midrash to Exodus, containing in the printed editions 52 parashiyyot. It is not uniform in its composition.- Structure :In parashiyyot i.-xiv...
3:3, 4, 8; 15:16; 18:8; 40:4. 10th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Deuteronomy. Translated by H. Freedman and Maurice Simon. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2.
- Tanna Devei EliyahuTanna Devei EliyahuTanna Devei Eliyahu is the composite name of a midrash, consisting of two parts, whose final redaction took place at the end of the 10th century CE. The first part is called "Seder Eliyahu Rabbah" ; the second, "Seder Eliyahu Zuṭa"...
. Seder Eliyyahu Rabbah 24. 10th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Tanna Debe Eliyyahu: The Lore of the School of Elijah. Translated by William G. Braude and Israel J. Kapstein, 285. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1981. ISBN 0-8276-0634-6. - RashiRashiShlomo Yitzhaki , or in Latin Salomon Isaacides, and today generally known by the acronym Rashi , was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh...
. Commentary. Genesis 44–47. TroyesTroyesTroyes is a commune and the capital of the Aube department in north-central France. It is located on the Seine river about southeast of Paris. Many half-timbered houses survive in the old town...
, France, late 11th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Rashi. The Torah: With Rashi’s Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated. Translated and annotated by Yisrael Isser Zvi Herczeg, 1:493–520. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 1995. ISBN 0-89906-026-9. - Numbers RabbahNumbers RabbahNumbers Rabbah is a religious text holy to classical Judaism. It is a midrash comprising a collection of ancient rabbinical homiletic interpretations of the book of Numbers ....
3:8; 8:4; 12:2; 13:3, 20; 14:7, 8, 12; 19:3; 22:8. 12th century. Reprinted in, e.g., Midrash Rabbah: Numbers. Translated by Judah J. Slotki. London: Soncino Press, 1939. ISBN 0-900689-38-2. - ZoharZoharThe Zohar is the foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material on Mysticism, mythical cosmogony, and mystical psychology...
1:93b, 119a, 149b, 153b, 180b, 197a, 205a–211b, 216b, 222a, 226a; 2:4b, 16b, 53a, 85a; 3:206a. Spain, late 13th century. Reprinted in, e.g., The Zohar. Translated by Harry Sperling and Maurice Simon. 5 vols. London: Soncino Press, 1934.
Modern
- Irving Fineman. Jacob, An Autobiograhical Novel. New York: Random House, 1941.
- Thomas MannThomas MannThomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
. Joseph and His BrothersJoseph and His BrothersJoseph and His Brothers is a four-part novel by Thomas Mann, written over the course of 16 years. Mann retells the familiar stories of Genesis, from Jacob to Joseph , setting it in the historical context of the Amarna Period...
. Translated by John E. WoodsJohn E. WoodsJohn E. Woods is a translator who specializes in translating German literature, since about 1978. His work includes much of the fictional prose of Arno Schmidt and the works of contemporary authors such as Ingo Schulze and Christoph Ransmayr...
, 257, 274–75, 464, 541–42, 547, 568–69, 663, 668, 672, 717–18, 722, 758, 788, 792–94, 796–97, 803–04, 852–53, 859, 878, 881, 886, 923, 1373–447. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1-4000-4001-9. Originally published as Joseph und seine Brüder. Stockholm: Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1943. - Anne FrankAnne FrankAnnelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
. The Diary of a Young GirlThe Diary of a Young GirlThe Diary of a Young Girl is a book of the writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was apprehended in 1944 and Anne Frank ultimately died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen...
: The Definitive Edition. Edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler; translated by Susan Massotty, 107. New York: Doubleday, 1995. ISBN 0-385-47378-8. Originally published as Het Achterhuis. The Netherlands, 1947. (“As the Benjamin of the Annex, I got more than I deserved.”) - Donald A. Seybold. “Paradox and Symmetry in the Joseph Narrative.” In Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives. Edited by Kenneth R.R. Gros Louis, with James S. Ackerman & Thayer S. Warshaw, 59–73. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1974. ISBN 0-687-22131-5.
- Aaron WildavskyAaron WildavskyAaron Wildavsky was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work in public policy, government budgeting, and risk management....
. Assimilation versus Separation: Joseph the Administrator and the Politics of Religion in Biblical Israel. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1993. ISBN 1-56000-081-3. - Leon R. KassLeon KassLeon Richard Kass is an American physician, scientist, educator, and public intellectual, best known as proponent of liberal education via the "Great Books," as an opponent of human cloning and euthanasia, as a critic of certain areas of technological progress and embryo research, and for his...
. The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis, 593–615. New York: Free Press, 2003. ISBN 0-7432-4299-8. - Suzanne A. Brody. “Intense spotlight.” In Dancing in the White Spaces: The Yearly Torah Cycle and More Poems, 73. Shelbyville, Kentucky: Wasteland Press, 2007. ISBN 1-60047-112-9.
- Esther JungreisEsther JungreisEsther Jungreis is the founder of the international Hineni movement in America. A Holocaust survivor, she has made it her life's mission to bring back Jews to Orthodox Judaism.-Biography:...
. Life Is a Test, 247–51. Brooklyn: Shaar Press, 2007. ISBN 1-4226-0609-0. - Naomi Graetz. “From Joseph to Joseph.” The Jerusalem ReportThe Jerusalem ReportThe Jerusalem Report is a biweekly print and online newsmagazine that covers political and social issues in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world...
. 20 (19) (Jan. 4, 2009): 45.
Texts
Commentaries
- Academy for Jewish Religion, California
- Academy for Jewish Religion, New York
- Aish.com
- American Jewish University
- Bar-Ilan University
- Chabad.org
- Department for Jewish Zionist Education
- eparsha.com
- Jewish Theological Seminary
- Miriam Aflalo
- MyJewishLearning.com
- Orthodox Union
- Parshah Parts
- Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld
- Reconstructionist Judaism
- Sephardic Institute
- Shiur.com
- Tanach Study Center
- Torah.org
- Union for Reform Judaism
- United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth
- United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism