Hot answers tagged yosef
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According the Chida, who says it in the name of the Rokeach (Brought in Vedibarta Bam):
According to an opinion in the Gemara (Gittin 43a), when one sells a Jew as a slave to a non-Jew, he is fined to redeem him for up to 100 times his value. In the Torah we find a slave to be valued at 30 silver pieces (Shemot 21:32). Since Yosef was sold as a slave to ...
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Brothers Ask For Forgiveness: Bereshit 50:16-18
Yosef does not explicitly forgive them. Instead he tells them it was all G-d's plan: Bereshit 50:19-21
Rabbeinu Bechaye says that because Yosef never forgave the brothers the 10 Martyrs were killed.
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Chizkuni asks this and offers two answers:
The reason the Egyptians were circumcised was because of the hunger of the famine. Yosef however was rich and therefore the only reason he would circumcise himself would be if he was Jewish.
Although all the Egyptians were in fact circumcised, the brothers were not aware of this this and would recognize Yosef on ...
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Me'am Loez says (citing Zohar Chadash, Eichah) that R. Eliezer is counted among these ten Sages. He was arrested and nearly sentenced to death, but was miraculously spared (Avodah Zarah 16b-17a); he thus corresponds to Reuven, who played a part in the whole drama but wasn't actually involved in the sale.
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Midrash Hagadol (to Gen. 48:1) cites an opinion that Osnas, Yosef's wife, urged him to do so: "I have heard that anyone who receives a blessing from a tzaddik is as if he received it from the Divine Presence. Take your sons so that he can bless them!"
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The Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l has a different take on it. In his talk of Shabbos Parshas Vayeishev 5734 (Sichos Kodesh 5734 1:201-202), he explains that Yosef told over these dreams precisely because he hoped to use them to defuse his brothers' jealousy toward him.
Previous dreams recorded in the Torah were basically meant to be taken at face value. For ...
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Rashi (46:34):
כי תועבת מצרים כל רעה צאן: לפי שהם להם אלהות:
are abhorrent to the Egyptians: Because they (the sheep) are their gods.
The Siftei Chachamim (46:34) (in his second answer) gives a different twist to the word "To'evah", and explains Rashi a little differently. He says that Yosef is telling his brothers that the Egyptians greatly ...
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Idol worshipers would buy and sell their gods. For example, Terach, Avraham's father, owned a god-market. It therefore follows that when the Egyptians were faced with starvation, they brought all their possessions, including their gods, to trade in for food.
We see this from the following passage in Beraishis Rabsi (p. 217):
אינו אומר וישמעו אל יוסף ...
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Read this Shi'ur by Menachem Leibtag. http://www.tanach.org/breishit/vayesh/vayeshs1.htm
Here's a teaser for it:
"After throwing your brother into a pit to die, would you be able to sit down to eat? Yosef's brothers did, as the Torah tells us! However, the Torah does not tell us if they sat near the pit, listening to Yosef's screaming and pleading, or if ...
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The Bavli, Sota 13, says (if I understand it correctly):Come, see how beloved commands were to Moshe rabenu, for all the Jews were busy with spoils and he was busy with commands [specifically, filling the promise of taking Yosef's bones, see the beginning of B'shalach —msh210], as it says "a wisehearted person will take commands...".And how did Moshe rabenu ...
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The Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l mentioned this idea in one of his talks (Shabbos Chanukah 5734 - Sichos Kodesh 5734 1:211-212). He also adds that it wasn't just that Yosef noticed that they were upset - they probably were on all the other days too, having been demoted and thrown into jail - but that they were upset more than usual, meaning that he was extra ...
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Seems to be here (end of the first column and beginning of the second, ד"ה ענין).
Although, if I'm understanding him correctly, it's not that if he had held back there wouldn't have been any further animosity on the brothers' part, just that they would have been able to complete all of the tikkunim that were needed. (Maybe that amounts to the same thing?)
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The Sedor Hadoros (2217) brings several opinions: The Sefer Hayashar (Parshas Vayeshev) and Seder Olam both maintain he was only in Potifar's house for a year, and spent the next twelve years on prison. The Yefeh Toar (on Midrash Rabba Parshas Behaloshcha and Vayera) questions this, and the Tzemach Dovid suggests he worked for Potifar for 11 years, and spent ...
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An idea that was sparked by a similar line of reasoning in this post from the Parsha Blog:
Yosef was sold 182 years after Yishmael was born. (That's 14 until Yitzchak is born, 60 more until Yaakov is born, and Yaakov is 130 when he stands before Par'oh after 22 years of Yosef being away = 182 years.) Just because Yitzchak and Yaakov waited a long time to ...
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See summary on TorahMusings.com. Partially quote below.
...Ramban and Sforno hold that the Ishmaelites and
Midianites were working together. The brothers sold Yosef to them, and they sold him to Potiphar in Egypt. Ibn Ezra says that the Ishmaelites and Midianites were the same people...
Rashbam, [et.al] say that the brothers didn’t sell Yosef. ...
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No source right now, but I remember learning that the dreams were a prophecy. And a prophet is obligated to tell over his prophecy, if not he is liable to die by the hands of Heaven (See Rambam Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 9:3).
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The Sifsei Chachamim on that Rashi explains that the interpreter had been there in previous conversations, but right now wasn't present. I think that's what Rashi meant -- the interpreter had been there for all conversations WITH YOSEF -- but as those conversations had ended, he wasn't there now.
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The Lubavitcher Rebbe (Toras Menachem vol. 31 page 184) explains this statement of the Zohar at length based on his father's commentary (Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Shnuerson - Likkutey Levi Yitzchok, Haaros Lesefer HaZohar Shmos-Devorim pg. 46). What comes out of the discussion is that there is one level of Tzadik attained simply by virtue of having a bris ("ועמך ...
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The three oldest sources that I can find on this question are Shemot Rabbah 7:1, Pirqei deRebi Eliezer 39 and Seder Olam Rabbah 2. They read as follows:
הדא הוא דכתיב בכל עצב יהיה מותר ודבר שפתיים אך למחסור. בכל הדברים שאדם
נושא ונותן בהם דברי תורה הוא נוטל עליהן שכר יכול אף בדברי בטלה כן
תלמוד לומר ודבר שפתיים אך למחסור. אתה מוצא לא היה יוסף ראוי ...
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The Lubavitcher Rabbi in the Sicha of Shabbos Balak 14 Tamuz 5750 explains that there are disputing Midrashim as to whether Yosef had Arichus Yamim (an extended life) or a shortened life. Midrash Mishlai 16 says בא ולמד מיוסף הצדיק, שמתוך שעמד ונתחזק בכבוד אביו במצרים זכה לעטרת שיבה, however Pirkai D'Rav Eliezer 39 says נתקצרו מחייו של יוסף י' שנים בגלל י' ...
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The Chizkuni addresses this, and explains that on the first occasion they were not with Yosef for an extended amount of time and would probably not pick up on the fact that he had been crying. However, on the second occasion they would be spending an entire meal together and it was more likely that they would notice he was crying and he therefore had to wash ...
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If the verse omitted either one of the two actions (to rise and to remaining standing upright) we would not get the full picture of the dream Yosef is describing. If the verse omitted "rose up," one might think the sheaf was already standing and that it could have been placed in that position by human agency. Therefore, the verse tells us that it "rose up" ...
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In Peninim on the Torah, eighth series, by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Scheinbaum (2002, ISBN 0-9635120-0-5), the author comments on 40:7 as follows (in part):
Yosef's sensitivity catalyzed circumstances that changed his entire life and the history of Klal Yisrael.[...] He noticed — he cared — he took action. First and foremost, however, he noticed. This caring for ...
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Rabbi J B Soloveitchik writes that "Joseph wanted to be powerful in a political sense, to attain wealth and prosperity, .....; but he also wanted to be great spiritually, to be loved .... by people because of the greatness of his wisdom and his kindness."
"Apparently, Joseph thought that he could combine both. This is the meaning of the ketonet ...
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The Shalo Hakadosh (Parshas Vayeshiev) writes that from the words "ויבא יוסף את דיבתם רעה" (Yaakov brought evil reports to his father), it seems that Yosef did not fabricate these stories (otherwise it should have said he "made up" the reports).
The Midrash relates that Yosef would tell his father that his brothers were guilty of eating meat that was not ...
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We find that Yitzchak knew by Divine inspiration that Yosef was really alive, but didn't tell Yaakov (Bereishis Rabbah 84:21). Conceivably, then, Binyamin knew too. (In fact, I believe I've actually seen this stated explicitly someplace, but I can't recall where.)
It's also possible that he figured that since, as R. Yose comments in the Midrash there, "one ...
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Off of Aish's website:
Chanukah is commonly viewed as a celebration of the Jewish People defeating the army of Antiochus and reclaiming political, along with spiritual, sovereignty. What is less well known is that Chanukah also highlights a delicate interplay between conflicting emotions, attitudes and intentions that that are expressed both in ...
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Will have to look for a source for this, but:
The Gemara (Berachos 55a) states that "a dream that has not been interpreted is like a letter that was not opened" (i.e., nothing is going to come from it). Further, it also states (ibid. 55b and 56a) that "all dreams follow the mouth" - i.e., that however a dream is interpreted, that is what it symbolizes, and ...
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Perhaps it's also because in v. 22, the phrasing "he cannot leave his father" seems to suggest that the concern is more about Binyamin's potential fate than Yaakov's. If the meaning is that Yaakov might die from grief, then we might have expected Yehudah to word it differently: "our father cannot allow him to leave..." - and then Yaakov's potential death ...
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The Torah Sheleima mentioned in this answer, while addressing another issue (why Reuven was also fined for the sale) says that Reuven was there when they threw Yosef in the pit, which lead to the sale. He is therefore also liable.
It doesn't say it there, but not only was Reuven there, but it was his idea to throw Yosef into the pit.
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