Pensamiento judío sobre Jeremías 2:2

Joseph is selected here as the stereotype of a Jew. Jacob's typical issue is described as "these are the generations of Jacob, Joseph..." (Genesis 37,2). Many other verses throughout the Bible express the same theme. Tanchuma at the end of Parshat Vayigash writes that whatever befell Joseph sooner or later befell Zion etc. Just as Joseph was tending the sheep near his brothers at the beginning of his historic career, so the Jewish people were close to the land of Edom their cousins at the beginning of its historic career when they received the Torah. By its acceptance of G-d’s law, Israel, so to speak, brought "evil" reports about other nations who had failed to accept the Torah when it was offered to them. When G-d says in Jeremiah 2,2, "I remember your love and kindness in your youth when you followed Me into the desert etc," this corresponds to Joseph being loved by his father more than his brothers. G-d gave Israel the Torah, accorded it special status, just as Jacob chose Joseph, gave him the colored coat and assigned him priestly duties (as Rachel's eldest). When the cousins (gentile nations) perceived this, they hated Israel just as the brothers had hated Joseph. Our sages point out that the reason the mountain on which the Torah was given was called Sinai, was because the word is reminiscent of hatred, i.e. events on that mountain accounted for the hatred of the Jewish people and Judaism by the gentile nations. Joseph's dreaming of the homage paid him reflects the homage paid the Jewish people during the early generations of their conquest of the land of Canaan, when most nations acknowledged Jewish achievements from afar in their respective countries. A time came when the nations became resentful of Israel's pre-eminence, and just as in Joseph's dream they challenged, "Do you want to rule over us or reign amongst us?" Joseph had dreamed of the more influential celestial bodies, since he foresaw Ishmael's and Esau's opposition, one of whom uses the lunar calendar whereas the other uses the solar system as basis for its calendar plus all the other eleven constellations excluding the constellation of Israel which does not revolve around the other constellations. The future will reveal that all these rival nations and destinies will submit to Joseph (Israel), resulting in shame and derision for sun and moon respectively, as we read in Isaiah 24,23, "And the moon will be ashamed, while the sun will feel disgrace."

Before answering any of the questions raised, it is important to realize that the exile in Egypt did not come about accidentally, nor did it come about because of the misdeeds of some great men during that era. Rather, it was the result of a profound plan of G-d to set in motion the realization of His promise to Abraham. It was Abraham's seed that was destined to enjoy the great privilege of practicing the laws and teachings of the Almighty, something that had not been entrusted to any other nation. It would have been impossible to get the Jewish people to accept the yoke of Heaven, had they not first been subjected to the cruelest rule of man. Only this experience would make them see the yoke of Heaven as a relatively easy burden to bear, and they could be induced to shoulder it voluntarily, enthusiastically. Just as we find in Chronicles II 12,5-9 that the prophet Shemayahoo induced King Rechavam to humble himself before G-d so that he would not have to meet a much harsher fate at the hands of Shishak, King of Egypt, so the exile in Egypt was excellent preparation for Sinai. This is also what G-d had told Moses explicitly when the latter had questioned the Jewish people's claim to redemption (at least at that stage). Compare Exodus 3,11-12. Since the bondage was to serve as preparation for worshipping G-d at Mount Sinai, no other justification for redemption was needed. For this reason, the prophet Jeremiah is able to speak about the loving kindness the Jewish people performed for G-d when they were willing to follow Him into the desert etc. (Jeremiah 2). The reference is to G-d’s statutes as explained in Midrash Tanchuma on Parshat Vayeshev. The idea that on account of the extra pound of wool woven into Joseph's coat, Jewish history should have made such a detour for close to four hundred years, is too shallow for the Midrash. All this suffering which had been imposed upon millions of people for such a long period, needed a better explanation. The explanation was that the exile served as the pretext to bring about the fulfilment of the promise to Abraham, without interfering with the free choice of the people, or any other party concerned. When explaining Psalms 10,5, Rabbi Yoshua ben Korcha said that the verse "See how even the terrifying acts of G-d are planned with intelligence," (Psalms 66,5) refers to the verse mentioned before. Our freedom of choice is not interfered with, and still G-d manages to set in motion chains of events that culminate in His purpose being fulfilled. Since the immediate cause of the Jewish exile was the population explosion, the Torah sketches in the history of events.

He will be rewarded for this, as the Creator told our ancestors in the (Sinai) desert, whose matter was in this way: "The people shall go out each day and gather what they need for the day" (Shemos 16:4), and "go and call out to the ears of Jerusalem and say 'I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown' " (Yirmiyahu 2:2).