Midreshet Amit

• LIVE TORAH:
• Academic Program
• Yimei Iyun
• FAQ
• Recent Shiurim
• View by Parsha
• View By Chag
• Search Database
• Ask the Rav

In פסוק ז of פרק מב, the Chumash tells us that when the brothers go down to Egypt and meet with Pharaoh's viceroy they do not know that they are speaking to Yosef. Yosef, however, saw them (וירא) and he recognized them (ויכירם). It is strange that the Chumash says that Yosef both saw and recognized his brothers while they seemed not to recognize him but what is even stranger is that the Torah does not record their seeing him. It is also strange to say that for Yosef, it took two steps – why did he have to see them and recognize them?

The ספרנו and אבן עזרא both say that at first, Yosef saw that they were brothers because they looked alike, but then he recognized that they were his brothers.  It is obvious that the brothers saw Yosef, but what is important is that they did not recognize who he was.  One way to think about another answer is to look at פסוק ח which says, again, that Yosef recognized them. It seems that this is not a two step process, but a three step process of seeing, recognizing and then recognizing again.

I think that what might have happened was something more than the meforshim say: Yosef saw them as the strangers who had come in to buy food and then he saw them is the sons of his father – steps one and two. This is why the פסוק says that Yosef saw his brothers and recognized them.  What he recognized simply confirmed what he saw.  But then Yosef spoke in a mean way to them and they responded by not backing down but also by saying simply that they were from Canaan. They didn’t hide where they were from even though it might not have been a thing to be proud of – they were B’nei Yisrael from Canaan and weren’t going to lie about that even in the face of being yelled at by the viceroy of Egypt.

When they stated their origins pride, the Chumash can then go back and say that Yosef recognized them as his brothers – not just in how they looked, but now based on how they spoke and what they took pride in.  Had they not openly admitted who they were but tried to hide it, Yosef would have seen their outside but would not have recognized their true nature.  When I first came to Amit, I saw the Beit Hayeled kids as random kids running around the building. When I met them, I saw them as the kids I would be spending the year with. Now, I see them as little brothers who I get to hang out with and spend time every day.