Commentary for Genesis 41:51

נשני, the construction of the word from the root נשש is similar to a similar construction of the root חנן in 33,11 where Yaakov explained to his brother Esau that he was looking at his children. The proof of this is the dagesh in the letter ש. [which effectively doubles that letter. Ed.] If the word nashani had been derived from the root נשה as in Isaiah 44,21 לא תנשני, or as in Lamentations 3,17, נשיתי טובה, where the root is one that loses its last root letter, the Torah here should have written nishani, instead of nashani. It then would have been parallel to the construction in Samuel II 19,27 עבדי רמני, rimani from the root רמה, to deceive, and other similar examples.

כי נשני אלוקים, what happened to him fore- shadowed what would happen in the future, as described in Isaiah 65,16 כי נשכחו הצרות הראשונות, “for the former troubles shall be forgotten

כי נשני, G’d granted me so much wealth and power that He enabled me to forget את כל עמלי, all the problems and setbacks I had experienced, and He has even made me forget all the members of my father’s household. [not including his father, of course. Ed.]

כי נשני אלו-הים את כל עמלי ואת כל בית אבי, “for G’d has enabled me to forget all my problems including those which I have suffered in my father’s house.” This verse prompted our sages (Baba Batra 12) to conclude that the house in which a woman grew up is called בי נשא, “a house inducing forgetfulness.” The origin of this psychological fact is the verse in Genesis 2,24 “for that purpose (to get married) man leaves the house of his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife.” [As long as Joseph had not founded a family he was still deeply attached to his father’s house. Ed.] What holds true for the emotional reaction of a man when he gets married is equally true of the wife once she is married.

נַשַנִי übersetzt man gewöhnlich: Gott hat mich vergessen lassen all mein Unglück und mein ganzes väterliches Haus! Wem kehrte sich dabei das Herz nicht um? Josef nennt seinen Erstgeborenen danach, dass ihn Gott seinen alten Vater und seine ganze väterliche Familie habe vergessen lassen! Dadurch würde allerdings der Umstand, dass Josef sich so lange um seinen Vater nicht gekümmert, auf die fasslichste Weise gelöst. Josef wäre einfach ein herzloser Mensch gewesen. Glücklicher Weise ist "vergessen" nicht die einzige Bedeutung von נשה ,נשה heißt auch "Gläubiger sein" (siehe Kap.32, 33), und נשני kann ebensowohl heißen: Gott hat mir mein Unglück und meine Familie zu Gläubigern gemacht. Was mir bis jetzt als Unglück und Misshandlung erschienen, das hat Gott Werkzeug meines höchsten Glückes werden lassen, so dass ich meinem Unglück und meiner Familie aufs tiefste verschuldet bin. Die Form נַשני statt נִשני ist nach beiden Auffassungen gleich schwierig und würde sich nur durch eine Wurzel נשש erklären lassen, die sonst nicht weiter vorkommt. — Beiläufig wird der Ausdruck עמל zu der Äußerung missbraucht: der Jude ist faul, Arbeit bedeutet ihm Unglück. Dem gegenüber denkt sich der Jude selbst das Paradies nicht als ein dolce far niente! der jüdische Mensch ist selbst im Paradiese "zur Arbeit" da, עמל !לעבדה ולשמרה ist aber nicht eine jede Arbeit, sondern nur eine mühevolle Arbeit ohne entsprechendes Resultat. Wenn uns "arbeitsamen" Deutschen eine solche Arbeit eine Seligkeit wäre, was für eine Seligkeit müsste dann nicht "Mühseligkeit" sein! Das עמל des einen erzeugt im mitfühlenden Nebenmenschen חמל. Es kommt auch als das Unglück vor, das man andern bereiten will, und heißt dann in solcher Beziehung auch: Unrecht; allein in seiner ersten Bedeutung liegt dies nicht.

נשני, the vowel patach under the letter נ substitutes for the vowel chirik which we would normally expect in the transitive conjugation from the root נשה, as then it would have been nishani as in tzivani from the root צוה, “to command.” Some commentators do not accept that this vowel is a variant but claim that it is justified as the root of the word nashani in our verse is נשש. [compare Rash’bam’s comment. Ed.]

... And in truth, the greatness of the righteousness of his heart with God prevented him from fulfilling the commandment of honoring his father (and to tell his father that he was alive); in the same way that all of his behavior towards his brothers at this time - even though at first glance it appears as one who is taking vengeance upon them... in truth [was] only because of his righteousness, to not do anything against the will of his Maker. For so was the decree from the Most High which He showed him in a prophetic dream - "and they bowed down to my sheave" (Genesis 37:7). And he did it with great wisdom and deep counsel that they would not fulfill these bowings and this submission in front of him, while knowing that he was Joseph - as this would have been a great embarrassment for them. Surely to save them from this, he made great efforts that they should fulfill [the dream] without knowing that he was the one to whom they were bowing. [This is] as the verse testifies - "And Joseph remembered the dreams that he dreamt about them" (42:9), as explained there. Likewise was Joseph concerned in his heart about informing his father at the beginning of his being brought up, that he was alive and was the ruler of the country, lest the decree of the Most High about the bowings of the sheaves and the eleven stars be nullified. Behold it is for this reason - even though he was personally yearning to honor his father with the good news - that he nevertheless needed to strain with great strength  to nullify the commandment of honoring his father (in the same was as there is no room for the commandment of honoring one's father if, through it, he nullifies one of the commandments of the Lord)... Behold, in order to fulfill the will of his Maker, he was obligated to forget the honor of his father from his heart, even though he found himself obligated to honor him every instant... Hence he called his son, Menasseh, "as the Lord made me forget..." - He is the one who assisted me that I not think about the honor of my father, as if he was forgotten from my heart. And most of the usage of forgetting is just about not putting one's attention to something; in that it is not [sufficiently] important in his eyes to put his mind to it (hence, he "puts it to the side"). And he said, "all of my father's house," to include all those connected with his father, as they were all equally good in his eyes. And he did not have a grudge in his heart about what they did to him; as he said to them afterwards (Genesis 45:8), "It is not you that sent me here, but rather God." And [about] that which he said, "all of my toil" - his intention was not that with the status of being raised up, he forgot all of the heartaches which he had before his entering into all of this honor. For in fact his intention even at the time of his toil when he had the status of a slave - even though he was forced to be involved in things that were unnatural for him - [was that] this toil was not a strain and a burden upon him; as he accepted it with a joyful heart and gave thanks to Him, may He be blessed, that He helped him spiritually that he should not think of it as a strain, but rather to do it with a good heart. So all of the great toil was as removed and forgotten [even] in its time...