Vayigash 5772

Parshas Vayigash concludes with a lengthy recounting of Yosef’s successful management of the Egyptian famine relief program. Holding a monopoly of supplies, Yosef exchanges edibles for the entire nation’s wealth. Money, livestock, land, and finally the people themselves are all surrendered to Yosef, acting of course in the name of Pharoah. 

The Meshech Chochmah contends that this acquisition of national wealth on behalf of Pharaoh is a preparation for the fulfillment of a Divine promise. When Hashem foretold the Egyptian enslavement to Avraham Avinu, he promised that at its conclusion the Jews would leave Egypt with great wealth. (See Bereishis 15:14.) This was realized when the Jews upon departing “borrowed” gold, silver, and clothing from their Egyptian neighbors. These items were not returned but rather withheld as payment for their servitude. (See Sanhedrin 91a.) This is problematic however. The Jews were slaves of Pharaoh’s regime as we read in the Haggadah, “We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt,” not slaves of the Egyptian civilians. (See Ramban Shemos 1:11 where he proves this from the words of Chazal although the literal meaning of the verse suggests otherwise.) If so, how could the payment be collected from the population at large? The answer, says the Meshech Chochmah, is that all the wealth of the nation belonged to Pharaoh. Through Yosef’s acquisition of the people as slaves, their assets were forfeited to the royal treasury.

Taking this argument a step further we may suggest that Yosef’s acts were a preparation for the fulfillment of the Divine promise in an even more fundamental way.

We tend to think that Pharaoh was an absolute authoritarian whose decisions were never questioned and who was unanswerable to public opinion. From the words of the Ramban a different picture emerges. The Ramban (Shemos 1:10) asks a very simple question: When Pharaoh expressed his fear of the Jewish population explosion and suggested that enslavement would reduce the birth rate, why did he not recommend an even more effective solution – a program of genocide. To this the Ramban gives an astounding answer: The Egyptian people would not have tolerated such an injustice! Apparently Pharaoh also was concerned for his approval rating.

But this opens the door to a new question: Why did Pharaoh think that the Egyptians would tolerate the enslavement of an innocent people? The answer must lie in the fact that Yosef’s historic actions transformed the social contract between Pharoah and the Egyptian nation. Previously, they functioned as monarch and subjects; afterward as master and slaves. As slaves to Pharaoh, the Egyptian people would certainly have no objection to the enslavement of the Jews. In reality, the enslavement of the Jews was nothing more than a retraction of the special privileges they enjoyed as relatives of Yosef; now they would be slaves just like everybody else.

[If this conjecture is correct, we can understand why the tribe of Levi was not enslaved in Egypt (Rashi Shemos 5:4 based on the Midrash Rabbah). As Pharaoh’s prerogative to enslave the Jews was a consequence of the precedent that Yosef established, he was limited by that precedent and in Yosef’s decree (Bereishis 47:22) the priestly caste was exempted.]

Thus, Yosef’s actions are both a preparation both for the enslavement and for the redemption and, as well, a demonstration of the mysterious way in which Hashem guides the course of history through the actions and decisions of human beings.