Timeless TorahIS MY FATHER STILL ALIVE?
Did you ever read the story about the little bird that fell from his nest? Lost and confused in the huge forest, the little bird felt the need to reconnect with his family. Thus he asked every creature he encountered, “Are you my mother?” This seems to me the simplest answer to the age-old question posed by the commentaries: After revealing his identity, why did Joseph ask his brothers, “Is my father (Jacob) still alive?”
If I’ve gone ahead of myself let me explain. Judah pleads with the viceroy of Egypt (a.k.a. Joseph) for mercy concerning Benjamin. Joseph resists and contends that the ‘thief’ of his magical goblet will remain behind to be his slave. Judah begs that a little compassion be shown for the sake of their father, whose health would be jeopardized if anything happened to the boy. So after having been emphatically informed that Jacob lived, why the question, “Is my father still alive?”
Like the lost bird who asks the most unlikely characters, (does he actually imagine, that he’s related to the elephant?) Joseph needs to give voice to the one issue that has haunted him all these painful years. In other words, Joseph does not his brothers to provide him with an answer; he needs his brothers to hear what has been his one constant query.
Another interesting idea actually comes from a young child who, in real life, had been abandoned by his father. Joseph was not requesting a point of information; is Jacob alive? The answer to that was already well established. What troubled Joseph, was what bothered the abandoned child: “Is my father still alive? Does he still think about me? Is he still my father?”
(A related idea) Joseph was now Viceroy of Egypt. His family had gathered in nearby Goshen and reunion parties were the order of the day. On a personal note, Joseph may have reached the end of his own trying times, but he understood with great clarity, that for his brethren, the problems were just beginning. Throughout the two hundred and ten year Egypt experience, there were many Jews who queried, “Is my Father in Heaven still alive? Does He care about me? Does He even remember me?” /
There is yet a third alternative. A standard reading of the text suggests that after Judah’s plea, Joseph was so moved that he could no longer conceal his identity. He thus sends all his servants out, and when only he and his brothers remain, he announces, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But let us not stop here. Read one verse further, “His brothers could not answer, because they were devastated before him.” The Talmud in Chagiga states, “When Rabbi Elazar came to this passage he cried…‘If the rebuke of people is such that Joseph’s brothers were so devastated, imagine how much more so, we will be embarrassed by the rebuke of G-d’.”
</em>This fairly well-known piece of Talmud seems quite problematic. Where in the text do we find any rebuke? All he said was, “I am Joseph, etc.” This is the followed with Joseph reassuring his brothers that they had unwittingly helped G-d bring about the family’s salvation and that all’s well that ends well. The Bais HaLevi opines that it was the intervening words of Joseph, (Is my father still alive?) that were the rebuke. Simply put, Joseph was offended that they were using the imagery of their father’s suffering when it benefited their cause. So he cried out to them, “I am your brother, the one who was left for dead in the pit 22 years ago. Hence, is my father still alive from all the pain that YOU caused him?” This was not a casual question about the welfare of their father. It was highest level of rebuke. The brothers were being challenged by to reflect upon the agony they had caused.
Another explanation of the rebuke goes like this. I am Joseph. I am the one that you hated and denigrated. You didn’t consider who I really might turn out to be. That my dreams might actually be prophetic, you refused to regard as a possibility. Prime Minister of Egypt, forget about it! G-d’s messenger to save our family and entire country during years of famine, never! Yet this is the individual you sold as a slave.
The Talmudic sage, Yoseif son of Rabbi Yehoshua, had a glimpse of the world-to-come and reported that, <em> “I saw a reverse world, the higher-ups were low, and those low were high.” </em>This means that the things we place value on in this world are very ofte the opposite of what has true worth in the world of truth. The upshot of the last two answers is that Joseph was not in fact asking a question. He was making a statement, and a harsh one to boot.
Although there are many more views on this subject, the four presented above all share one thing in common. They all offer invaluable advice on how to live our lives in these last moments of our present exile. 1. We must never stop asking the question: When will our Father release us from Exile? (The question alone hastens the end.) 2. No matter how bleak the situation is; He is still our Father, and He cares. 3. If we mistreat each other, we cause our Father pain. 4. People deserve more respect than what is due them. We may think an individual worthless, but remember, G-d doesn’t make junk.
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