Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Vayigash #1- Clear the room

In Prashat Vayigash perek 45 pasuk 1 Yosef makes all of the Egyptians in the room leave so he could reveal himself to his bothers. Rashi says the reason he did this was because Yosef could not bear to know that the Egyptians would see his brothers being embarrassed. Why wouldn’t Yosef want to embarrass his brothers after what they did to him? What other reasons could there be for why Yosef does this?  
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14 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2017 at 4:05 PM

    According to the Ramban, Yosef cleared the room not only because he didn’t want to embarrass his brothers, but because he didn’t want to cause the Egyptians to mistrust the Jews including Yaakov and Yosef himself. He was afraid that if they would hear about the treacherous way that the shvatim behaved towards their own brother they would not want the shvatim or Yaakov to live in their land or enter the palace. This might also cause them to doubt Yosef’s trustworthiness.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2017 at 4:09 PM

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2017 at 4:12 PM

    Rashbam says, the reason why Yoseph sent the Egyptians out of the room wasn't because he was trying to protect his brothers' feelings, and rather it was because it would be inapropepiate for a person of Yoseph's stature to weep in the presence of the Egyptians.

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  4. UnknownJanuary 3, 2017 at 4:17 PM

    The Rashbam tells us that excusing everyone else from the room was about his concern with his own image, not the brothers'. He did not want his servants and attendants see him break into tears.

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  5. UnknownJanuary 3, 2017 at 4:37 PM

    The Rambam says that maybe Yosef ordered everyone to leave the room for more selfish reason, he did not want them to hear the story of what his brothers did to him, ruining his reputation or he did not want the event to reflect badly on him.

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  6. gabrielleJanuary 4, 2017 at 9:00 AM

    Ibn Ezra agrees with rashi that Yosef did not want his Egyptians present when revealing himself to his brothers. He explains that Yosef was overcome by his feelings and couldn't wait any longer to reveal himself. He was planning on waiting until he was alone with his brothers but he was so overwhelmed that he couldn't wait for this opportunity. He was no longer able to maintain the disguise of a stranger and therefore removed his servants.
    - Gabrielle Posner

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  7. UnknownJanuary 4, 2017 at 3:15 PM

    KAYLA BARISHANSKY
    ramban also agrees that Yosef did not want the Egyptians present at the time he revealed himself because he wanted to bring his father and brothers down to Egypt. He needed the mitzrim and paroh to agree. He needed Egypt to let foreigners through . The Egyptians could not know that Yosef’s family had done all these bad things against him and didn’t care fo rtheir fathers feelings or theyd be suspicious and wouldn’t trust a family who cant goes against each other so yosef didn’t let them hear the fight that led to their making up before they go to Egypt.

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  8. UnknownJanuary 4, 2017 at 5:24 PM

    torah.org says that Yosef held himself back from blurting out who he was and reviling himself because he did not want to embarrass his brother in front of the Egyptians because embarrassing someone or many is against halacha. Therefore, Yosef waits until the Egyptians to leave in order to reveal himself. Since, Yosef is human and has human tendencies he most likely was anxious and eager to freak out and tell his brothers who he is. But Yosef had a lot of self control and was able to hold it in until the Egyptians left. This teaches us that we cannot always use the excuse "I couldn't help myself" rather we must try to have self control and hold back our emotions if letting them out is going to hurt others. Yosef could have let his emotions get the best of him, and embarrass his brothers in front of everyone yet he knew it was wrong. Instead Yosef held it together until it was just him and his brother were alone in the room, and he ended up doing the right thing.

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2017 at 7:19 PM

    Radak: Because the brother kept saying how badly Yaakov was doing and how much he was mourning for Yosef, Yosef couldn't keep himself from crying. So he said to his servants to get everyone out, and they took everyone but the brothers out.

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  10. AnonymousJanuary 5, 2017 at 7:25 PM

    Rashbam says Yosef was concerned because he didn't want his image being downgraded, he was not embarrassed for his brothers he was embarrassed about how people would view him because he knew he was ring to cry

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  11. UnknownJanuary 6, 2017 at 5:56 AM

    Sforno says yosef did this to prove that it was truly him. He also says that one reason for this was so that people would not see him crying- only his brothers would.

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  12. chana radenskyJanuary 6, 2017 at 6:15 AM

    According to Torah.org, the brothers were strong enough to kill Yosef once the Egyptians left the room. However, they saw Yosef's wrath as another punishment for selling Yosef.

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  13. Ms. Ora LauferJanuary 6, 2017 at 8:53 AM

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  14. Ms. Ora LauferJanuary 6, 2017 at 8:53 AM

    1. Ramban says Josephs attendants were moved by Judah's plea to free Benjamin and joined his plea that Joseph couldn't resist their combined pleas (so he asked them to leave the room)
    2. Rashbam says Joseph was concerned with his own image, and not his brothers. Joseph could easily start crying in the presents of many "outsiders" and he didn't want them to perceive him differently
    - Rebecca Malech

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