There are numerous anonymous characters that play significant roles in the stories of Beraishit. For example, we know nothing about the identity of the survivor from the wars of the kings that comes to tell Avraham that his nephew Lot has been captured (14:13). There are apparently at least two individuals that accompany Avraham and Yitzchak to Har HaMoria where the Akeida t akes place. Who are they? What do they see? What do they think transpired there (22:3)? What is the background and identity of the individual who helps Yosef locate his brothers? If this person was not where he was just when Yosef came along, or even if he was there, but was unaware of the whereabouts of Yosef's brothers, would Jewish history have been altered (37:15)? Who is the Adulamite who looks for Tamar after her tricking of Yehuda (38:20)? Did he try to find her as hard as he could have? Is there anything unique about the head of the prisonin which Yosef is incarcerated that causes him to appoint Yosef to an important position among the prisoners, which in turn leads to his contact with the wine steward and the baker and eventual elevation to chancellor of Egypt (39:22)?
In some of these instances, the Rabbis suggest that the Tora is not describing ordinary average individuals who happen to be in the right place at the right time, but rather specific people (1), and even angels (2), Divinely orchestrated to influence human history and assure that the course of events would continue to follow the script that God Intends. While such an approach may explain why such people play the extraordinary roles that they do, couldn't we also just as easily view them as serendipitously being drawn into the saga of the Jewish people, without Someone necessarily Pulling strings from behind the scenes?
RaShBaM, understands the man's comments as less universally applicable to the manner in which God deals with us, and more a comment upon the human talent for manipulation of the Divine. The commentator understands Yosef9s head of household to be telling the brothers that things similar to the money being returned happen to Jews since "everyone knew that they (the Jews) were trained in the performance of miracles." In other words, due to their close connection to God, they are able to make Him Do things on their behalf, and the return of the money is just an example of this close relationship between God and His People. However, whether the return of the money is an omen sent by God, attempting to either encourage or discourage certain behaviors, was irrelevant to his way of thinking.
RaShBaM reached this conclusion based upon his understanding of the Tora's association between Egypt and magic. From the Tora's perspective, Egypt is a society in which magic plays a major role. After Pharoah's two dreams, he consults with his sorcerers (41:8), among others, to try to ascertain the visions' significance for him and the country. The impressive effect of the miraculous sign that Moshe and Aharon perform in Pharoah's presence (Shemot 7:11), as well as that of the first two plagues is somewhat mitigated, at least in Pharoah's mind, when his magicians are able to perform what appear to be comparable feats (7:22; 8:3). It is only when lice are produced that the local magicians are stymied and fail to replicate the phenomenon (8:14), leading them to withdraw from the enfolding competition with Moshe and Aharon. Even the Jews seem to be unsure whether Moshe is truly God's Emissary or yet another magician who can perform tricks on a grand scale.
And if the Jews came to Egypt with a reputation of being able to practice magic, the reappearance of the brothers' money would not be considered all that extraordinary in the eyes of the typical Egyptian, who was accustomed to the occult and mysterious spells and incantations. Such a Jewish reputation for mastery over magic/miracles could have been based upon several Biblical stories and Rabbinic traditions. Rulers, including Pharoah experience supernatural events when attempting to marry Sara (Beraishit 12:17; 20:3). Avraham and Yitzchak enjoy extraordinary material success over a relatively short period of time (13:2; 24:1; 26:12). Although not a general, Avraham manages to defeat a large army while being massively outnumbered (14:14-15). Yaakov utilizes a highly unscientific methodology involving placing peeled twigs before sheep and goats in order to influence the number of spotted and speckled animals born to the herd (30:37 ff.). And the Rabbis attribute the ability to make water rise up to various key figures in Avraham's family and their descendents to be a tradition that was handed down from generation to generation, with Yaakov ultimately teaching it to Pharoah -- see e.g., RaShI on 21:30 -- Avraham (3); Midrash Sechel Tov on 24:17 -- Rivka (4); Midrash Aggadat Beraishit 42:1 -- Yaakov (5).
However, one can offer an alternate and more psychologically complex approach for understanding why Yosef's head of household is claiming that God is responsible for the return of the brothers' money. The brothers themselves initially invoke the idea that "Elokim" is responsible for the replacement of the money in their sacks. In 42:28, when they first discover that their money has been returned, we read, " ... and their hearts went out, and each one trembled concerning his brother, saying, 'What is this that Elokim has done to us?' " Before this point, the brothers had already been reeling from having been accused of being spies (42:9), having been put in prison and told that one of them would be allowed to return home to bring back Binyamin in order that the charge of spying be lifted (42:16), followed by the revised demand that only one of them was to remain as a hostage until Binyamin could be produced on a return visit (42:19). What had started out as a relatively straightforward mission to Egypt to obtain food for the starving members of their family in Canaan, had turned into a nightmare, and they no longer felt in even moderate control of the things that were happening to them. Therefore, the return of the money was just one more indication that the list of accusations against them would continue to lengthen, and they were becoming convinced that these events were supernaturally orchestrated, rather than mere happenstance. The once boastful brothers, who had the courage to say, (37:19-20), "Behold, the master of dreams is coming. Now let us kill him, throw him into one of these many pits, and say that a wild animal devoured him. Let us see what will become of his dreams", seem to have lost their confidence and self-assuredness. Upon their return to Canaan, the brothers try to put what happened to them in Egypt out of their minds. But they soon realize that they can't leave Shimon (42:24) to languish forever in an Egyptian prison, as much as they would have liked to avoid traveling back to Egypt and facing Yosef and his accusations yet again. The intensification of the famine (43:1) forces their hand and after convincing a reluctant Yaakov to allow Binyamin to accompany them, they retrace their journey to Egypt with considerable trepidation. Their fears are only exacerbated (43:18) when they are taken to Yosef's private living quarters.
Within such a context, we could surmise that since Yosef has deliberately contributed to each step of his brothers' growing discomfort, he additionally anticipates and therefore scripts the comments of his representative to try to further cause them emotional turmoil. Perhaps when the brothers listened to Yosef's head of household's outwardly comforting words, they transposed his comments into additional cause for fear and even terror, i.e., "Yes, Elokim is indeed behind this, as well as everything else that has been happening to our family of late; but He is not trying to provide us with treasure. He is rather creating a circumstantial web of evidence whereby we will end up being imprisoned for the rest of our lives and never see our families again." Furthermore, since "Elokim" is the Divine Name specifically associated with judgment, we can speculate whether more and more of the brothers are not reaching the same conclusion originally articulated by Reuven (42:22), i.e., that everything taking place is the result of and atonement for the ill-treatment imprisonment, and ultimate elimination of Yosef over two decades before.
A support to suggesting that Yosef was the author of the Egyptian's words to his brothers can be found in 45:5-8. After Yosef's true identity has been revealed, he tells his brothers something comparable to what his head of household had said to them a short while before. "Now, you weren't the ones who sent me here; it was Elokim. It was He Who Made me an advisor to Pharoah, master over his house, and ruler over the entire land of Egypt." While this sentiment is theologically correct, one wonders whether Yosef might once again be playing with his brothers' minds, and by his reiterating how God is responsible for all that has happened, he is further precipitating ruminations concerning the brothers' personal complicity in Yosef's disappearance and exile.
However, an argument against taking the position that Yosef's comments to his brothers in 45:5-8 are parallel to his head of household's remarks in 43:23, and share a similar intent to increase pressure on the brothers' guilty consciences, would posit that once Yosef has ceased the charade, he has determined that the brothers no longer need to feel remorse for what they had done, that the catharsis was complete, and all has been forgiven. Would it make sense that Yosef would keep chiding his brothers, even if only subtly, from this point forward?
The Rabbis point to a number of incidents where it is unclear what Yosef might have been thinking -- he either deliberately was playing with their minds and extracting revenge for what had been done to him, or his motivations may have been pure, and the acts were negatively and incorrectly interpreted by the brothers out of a sense of paranoia. Two examples of such incidents are listed in Beraishit Rabba 100:8. First, following Yosef's revealing his identity, he stops inviting his brothers for meals. The Midrash explains Yosef's rationale as not wishing to be in a position where his superiority over his older brothers, in terms of the seating arrangement, would be emphasized. The brothers, however, understood that he was not interested in spending time with them because he resented them so much for what they had done to him. Second, on his return from Yaakov's burial in Canaan, Yosef makes a detour to Shechem to look at the pit into which his brothers had thrown him all those years ago. Yosef could claim that he wanted to revisit his humble beginnings, to put all that subsequently happened to him in proper perspective. The brothers on the other hand could easily conclude that Yosef was rubbing it in, and now that he no longer had to consider Yaakov's sensibilities, he would finally avenge himself upon them, as they had expected all along.
According to Jewish tradition, we have responsibilities towards one another. We are supposed to extend acts of kindness towards others, as well as call attention to moral and religious shortcomings. But these acts of kindness can turn into cause for additional indignation and alienation, were they to be understood to be set into motion by a guilty conscience, or the desire to cull favor in order to ultimately receive some sort of benefit. Furthermore, the Chazon Ish has said that only if one can offer rebuke out of a clear sense of love is it permissible to engage in such personal criticism. Could even Yosef HaTzaddik be perfectly confident that his motivations for rebuking his brothers, and making them go through parallel experiences to his own, were entirely pure? And then there are the reactions of the recipients of these "loving" rebukes. What happens if the receivers and listeners, in this case the brothers, perceive even pure, loving acts and statements by Yosef, in a manner that sheds negative light upon him? Rather than giving Yosef the benefit of the doubt, at least some of his brothers think that Yosef's good deeds are performed in order to remove some personal guilt on the part of Yosef -- what about all those evil reports about the brothers that Yosef brought to Yaakov, and while the family did not appear to make serious efforts to locate him, why didn't Yosef make stronger efforts to contact them at least after his coronation? -- and the kind words are double entendres, concealing hatred and bitterness?
Naturally, the issues between Yosef and his brothers were extremely major and it is not hard to see how the memories of these events could remain fresh in people's minds possibly throughout their lives. But what is apparent to us all is that once there is animosity between people, even relatively slight misunderstandings or hurts, it becomes difficult to ever regain one another's trust, no matter what each tries to do for the other. No matter how much time elapses, one's perception and interpretation of reality will be significantly influenced by one's baggage, personal history, and prior interactions with others. This is no less true on the global stage, as it is within our communities and families. In light of such a theme, it would be appropriate to work that much harder to truly forgive those who have wronged us, so that not only could we get on with our individual lives, but that we can begin to properly understand and appreciate one another.
Shabbat Shalom, and may we have conversations and do things for one another that are well-meant and well-received.
(1) 14:13; 22:3 -- Eliezer and Yishmael.
(2) 37:15 -- Gavriel or Refael.
(3) The proof to Avimelech that the wells belonged to Avraham was that when the Jews went to draw water from them, the water rose to meet them.
(4) Eliezer knew that Rivka was the "Bashert" for Yitzchak, when she not only offered to draw water for him and his animals, but the water rose up to meet her when she was collecting it.
(5) Yaakov blessed Pharoah by supply ing him with the secret of making the water rise to meet you, thereby presenting him with the ability to control the Nile, the centerpiece of Egypt's irrigation system for its crops.