Why Does Joseph Reveal Himself To His Brothers?
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5770
There are stories in the Torah that we think we understand. They are simple and powerful and clear. Until we actually take the time to look at them and realize that they are far from clear and simple.
With that being said I want to revisit of one the most famous scenes in all of the Torah, the moment when Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers.
We assume that Joseph is now overcome with emotion and can no longer hold himself together. He just has to reveal himself to his brothers and he sends everyone out so that they should not be there for this moment.
That is a legitimate read but it faces two challenges.
The Torah is the first verse of chapter 45 reads as follows:
א) וְלֹא יָכֹל יוֹסֵף לְהִתְאַפֵּק לְכֹל הַנִּצָּבִים עָלָיו וַיִּקְרָא הוֹצִיאוּ כָל אִישׁ מֵעָלָי וְלֹא עָמַד אִישׁ אִתּוֹ בְּהִתְוַדַּע יוֹסֵף אֶל אֶחָיו
The first problem that we encounter with our read is that we understand l’hitapek to mean “control himself” but that is far from clear.
The second problem and I think that larger issue is that the verse doesn’t read and Joseph couldn’t control his emotions and therefore he threw everyone out etc. It reads and he could not control himself “lechol hanitzavim, either to or before all of those in the room and so he threw them out. The simple read of this text seems to imply that the control issue is related to the presence of others in the room and not the brothers.
The English translation does not help much:
1. Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all those who stood by him;
I am not even sure what that means.
The Radak, Rabbi David Kimchi, 12th century Spain, explains the verse as per our initial assumption. He says that Joseph was moved by Yehuda’s numerous descriptions of the pain of their father and could not stand it any longer and “because of” the people there he exclaimed “removed everyone from the room.” That is a structurally and grammatically challenging read.
Eben Ezra, a century later in Spain, argues that he could not wait “until they left the room” and so he had them thrown out. Slightly better, but far from perfect.
The Ramban, Nachmonides presents a better grammatical read but one that is pretty wild.
He reads l’hitapek as “strengthen himself” and explains that after hearing Judah repeat the saga, all of the Egyptians in the room were pleading with Joseph to release Binyamin because their feelings of compassion had been stirred up and Joseph could not strengthen himself against all of those who were present in the room.
What makes this Ramban fascinating and at the same time somewhat implausible is that Joseph reveals himself not because he has been moved to do so but because the Egyptians had mercy on Binyamin.
I want to present one more option for reading the verse which might just be the best read.
The first two approaches have one thing in common; according to both of them Joseph does not decide when to reveal himself, he either succumbs to his own feelings of mercy of the external pressure from those present.
In the third approach, it is Joseph who determines that this is the correct time to come clean with the brothers and I believe that this is Rashi’s approach.
Rashi reads the verse as follows: L’hitapek means endure and Joseph will not endure having the others present hear his revelation because it will be embarrassing to the brothers when he says I am Joseph that YOU SOLD to Egypt. That Rashi is taught in every day school to show us how kind Joseph is but in doing so they miss the point entirely. By reading it this way Rashi has removed every trace of Joseph revealing himself because he can’t contain his emotions. Sure he cries in the next verse, but that is not because he has no self-control; that is because it is an emotional moment.
Reading the verse according to Rashi, Joseph did not want the others to hear his brothers being embarrassed so he sent them out and said I am Joseph allows for the possibility that Joseph decided that this was the time for the family reunion.
The Netziv raises the same possibility although he does not provide a full explanation. He read the verse as Rashi did and adds that at first Joseph thought that he would wait until Yaakov was down so that he could see the fulfillment of the dreams that he had so many years before but when Joseph realized that this was not going to happen he sent the people out so as not to embarrass the brothers and say I am Joseph.
According to the Netziv it is Joseph who decides when to reveal himself and there is some method to the madness. Unfortunately, according to the Netziv, there does not appear to be any good reason to do it now other than the fact that the situation he was waiting for was not going to materialize.
I think that the answer for “why now” depends on another critical question- why does Joseph do all of this to the brothers? Why does he play these games and toy with their lives? A full treatment of that question is for another time but let us assume that at least part of it is to test them to see if they have changed. He puts two brothers, first Simon and then Binyamin, in situations where the brothers must decide if they should save their brother or take the easy way out and sacrifice the brother to save themselves and this time on both occasions they choose the more difficult path and save the endangered brother. The brothers truly have changed and have become better people. Once that has been accomplished, Joseph’s plan was complete and so he ends the game and reveals himself.
In the big picture that makes the most sense to me and I think portrays Joseph in the best light.
The only drawback to such an approach is that you have to be open to the possibility of re-understanding this great biblical scene.
