창세기 42:1의 주석

וירא יעקב כי יש שבר כמצרים AND JACOB SAW THAT THERE WAS A SALE OF CORN IN EGYPT — How did he see it? Surely he did not see but he heard it, as it is said (v. 2) “Behold, I have heard ... What, then, is meant by “And Jacob saw”? He saw in a holy dim vision that there was שֶׂבֶר hope for him in Egypt, but it was not a true prophetic vision telling him plainly that it was Joseph in whom his hope lay (Genesis Rabbah 91:6).

WHY ‘TITHRA’U’. (DO YOU LOOK TO YOURSELVES)? “Do not show yourselves before the children of Esau and Ishmael as having plenty to eat.” At that time they still had some grain. From others I have heard that the word tithra’u is an expression of leanness. Thus Jacob said to his sons, “Why should you become lean through hunger?” A similar [use of the word tithra’u, i.e., similar to the first explanation], is the verse: And he that satisfies (‘umarveh’) abundantly shall be satisfied (‘yoreh’).¹¹⁹Proverbs 11:25. That is, he who is benevolent to others will himself be recompensed by the Divine bounty. Thus the language of Rashi.
Now the comment of “others,” [namely, that the word tithra’u connotes leanness], has no validity whatsoever. And I did not understand that which Rashi says, “Do not show yourselves before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau as having plenty to eat.” The children of Ishmael and of Esau were not then present in the land of Canaan, and why did Jacob not say that they should not show themselves before the children of Canaan as having plenty to eat? Perhaps the children of Ishmael and of Esau did come from their dwelling places to Joseph to buy food, and they came by way of the land of Canaan, thus passing by Jacob. He thus said to his children that they should not show themselves before them as having plenty to eat, for they would then suspect that Jacob has food, whereupon they would come to eat bread with him in his house. Accordingly, Jacob’s words, That we may live, and not die,¹²⁰Verse 2 here. constitute another reason for his command to them. He warned them to be careful with the little food yet left to them, and that they should go to buy food from Egypt so as not to die when all the bread in their possession is consumed.
The correct interpretation is: “Why do you show yourselves in this place, for you should have immediately journeyed from here when you heard that there is grain in Egypt,” since they were already in a state of danger if they would not make haste in the matter. This is the meaning of the words, That we may live, and not die.¹²⁰Verse 2 here.

למה תתראו?, the use of the conjugation hitpael, the reflexive conjugation here, is similar to its use in Kings II 14,8 לכה ונתראה, “come let us confront one another!” At that time King Amatziah wanted to show off his power to Yoash, King of Israel (10 tribes). Here too, Yaakov’s question למה תתראו, meant: “why are you (my sons) conducting yourselves in front of the other people in this land as if you had all the food in the world, whereas only they have to travel to Egypt to buy rations from there?

וירא...למה תתראו?. Why are you looking at one another as if each one of you hopes that another one would go to buy food? Our sages (Eyruvin 3) have said קדרא דבי ששותפי לא חמימה ולא קררא, an ancient way of saying that “too many cooks spoil the broth.” The conjugation hitpael, i.e. the reflexive conjugation, occurs with the root ראה also in Kings II 14,8 נתראה פנים, “let us confront each other.”

וירא יעקב, he saw local inhabitants arriving with grain and fodder. He asked these people where they had bought it, and they told him that they had brought it all the way from Egypt. As a result, he told his sons what he had heard and wanted to know why they acted as if they did not need additional supplies.

וירא יעקב, “Yaakov saw, etc.” Ibn Ezra writes that seeing that the origin of the 5 senses, hearing, seeing, smelling, etc., are all located next to one another, as we know from when Yitzchok spoke about ראה ריח בני, “Look, the smell of my son, etc.” (Genesis 27,27) [He referred to the pleasant sensation of light, a sensation as pleasant as a pleasant fragrance. Ed] seeing he himself was already blind at the time. The names of the senses themselves may on occasion be used interchangeably, so that in our verse the true meaning of the word וירא is: “he heard,” as we know from Yaakov’s own lips in the very next verseהנה שמעתי כי יש שבר במצרים, “here I have heard that there is food for sale in Egypt.” If he had already “seen” it in the literal sense of the word, why would he have to repeat: “I have heard,” a far less reliable source of information?

וירא יעקב, “Yaakov saw.” This is not something that Yaakov saw with his eyes but something he saw in his heart; proof that this this the meaning of the word וירא in this instance is that he described what he had “seen” as הנה שמעתי, “here I have heard,” instead of saying: הנה ראיתי, “here I have seen.”

Why do you show yourselves... as though you are satiated?” Meaning: If you show yourselves to them as being satiated and having grain, they will come and ask us for food, since they are our relatives. Therefore, go and buy food so they will think we have no food. But in fact they did have food at the time. Accordingly, תתראו means satiation.

וירא. Es scheint, dass Jakob doch mehr Einsicht als seine Söhne hatte. Er hatte gehört, dass man in Mizrajim nur im Detail kaufen konnte. Die Söhne glaubten das nicht und sahen sich einander an, warteten, dass einer sich zu der Reise für alle entschließen möchte. Jakob aber sah die Glaubwürdigkeit des Gerüchtes aus der Dringlichkeit der Verhältnisse ein und sprach daher: was seht ihr euch einander an? Ihr müsst alle selbst hinunter.

וירא יעקב כי יש שר ב מצרים, “Yaakov ‘saw’ that there was grain-trading in Egypt;” this is what Solomon had in mind when he said in Proverbs 20,12: אוזן שומעת ועין רואה ה' עשה גם שניהם, “the ear that hears, and the eye that sees, the Lord has made them both.” What prompted Solomon to make such a banal sounding statement? Did G–d not make the whole body? Why did he single out the ear and the eye? The answer is that all parts of the body, in due course, will have to give an accounting for their activities while they were alive on earth, except the ear and the eye. What is the reason for this? The eye sees things which are not good for it to see, and so does the ear hear things which are not good for it to hear. [involuntary perceptions. Ed.] This is not true of the other organs or limbs. You choose what the mouth eats, etc., you choose where your legs are to take you, etc. Rabbi said that the words: וירא יעקב, “Yaakov saw,” although he was an old man sitting hundreds of miles away, what his ten sons who were going in and out and meeting all kinds of people, did not see. All this was although both Yaakov and Joseph had been blessed with the spirit of prophecy. Joseph was only a distance of 4 or 5 days travel away from them, and when they searched for him they did not find him. Furthermore, why did Joseph not communicate with his father during all these years which would have spared his father a great deal of grief? The answer is that they all had sworn a sacred oath not to reveal to their father that he was in Egypt. They had made G–d a partner to their oath, so that He too could not reveal their secret to him. All this can be proved from Scripture, when before revealing himself to his brothers (Genesis 45,1) he commanded that all the people around him remove themselves before he would have that conversation with his brothers. He did not want that anyone would ever hear about that oath which had now expired. Other commentators offer a different reason for why Joseph had not communicated with his father for 22 years. As long as he had been a slave (13 years) he did not want to increase his father’s grief by informing him of his sorry condition. If he were to end a message that in the meantime he had become a king, his father would not believe him; he was right as his father did not even believe this when all his sons told that they had seen it with their own eyes. (Genesis 45,26) In addition, he was afraid that if his father were to leak his new found knowledge to someone, the brothers would each flee in all directions out of fear of his vengeance. As a result, his father would experience additional grief. This is why he waited until the time would be ripe for him to reveal himself, so that he would first reveal himself to his brothers before informing his father of his survival and the good fortune which had befallen him.

.וירא יעקב שיש שבר במצרים , “Yaakov heard (not saw) that there was grain in Egypt;” (this was not a spiritual revelation, but he had heard from people returning from there.) When telling his sons about it, he therefore used the words: “I have heard that there is grain to be had in Egypt.” The word ראה meaning “hearing,” instead of “seeing,” is not unique; we find it for instance in Exodus 20,15, where the Torah writes: וכל העם ראו את הקולות, “ all the people saw the thunder,” when the meaning clearly is that all the people heard the thunder.

למה תתראו WHY DO YE LOOK UPON ONE ANOTHER? — Why do you show yourselves (pretend) before the children of Ishmael and the children of Esau as though you have plenty to eat (Taanit 10b). For at that time they still had some grain. I am of opinion that the real meaning of למה תתראו is: Why should every one gaze at you and wonder at you because you do not search for food before what you have in your possession comes to an end. From others I have heard that it has the meaning of leanness: why should you become lean through hunger? A similar use of the verb as that in the first explanation is (Proverbs 11:25) “And he that satisfieth abundantly shall be satisfied (יורא) also himself”.

?למה תתראו, “Why do you give the impression that you have adequate supplies of grain? Everybody else is going on a buying trip and you sit at home!”

למה תתראו?, “Why are you looking so irresolute?” According to Rashi, Yaakov rebuked his sons for giving the impression to the surrounding people that they had so much food stored up that they could afford to sit still without traveling to Egypt to try and supplement their supplies. Nachmanides writes that the words quoted here by the Torah as Yaakov having addressed to the brothers, were said to them in the presence of Ishmaelites and Edomites, make little sense, as why would Ishmaelites and Edomites be in the land of Canaan in the first place? Furthermore, if Rashi means that Yaakov admonished his sons in public (for show) why did Rashi not mention that he did so in front of the local inhabitants? He would certainly have had reason to do so in order not to arouse the jealousy of his neighbours! Had that impression been allowed to spread, all his neighbours would have invited themselves to eat at Yaakov’s table! He therefore instructed them to go down to Egypt in order to preserve the food supply they still had. Then he told them to buy additional supplies in order to forestall death through hunger after their supplies ran out. Alternately, the word תתראו, is short for למה תתראו במקום זה “why do you display such indecision by remaining here, instead of getting going to buy supplies?” “You should have started to move as soon as you heard that grain was for sale in Egypt.” Yaakov and family already found themselves in imminent danger of starvation. Some commentators understand the rebuke as “why do you quarrel as to who is to go to Egypt to buy food, I want all of you to go.” Yet another interpretation of the question למה תתראו, views it as a rebuke of their acting as if it were below their dignity to personally go to Egypt like the common people and to beg to be allowed to buy grain there. After all, they were the elite of “Canaanite” Society, akin to aristocracy! Their indecision was reinforced by their reluctance to send others on their behalf and to subject these others to the potential dangers of the journey.

כי יש שבר במצרים, “that there is grain for sale in Egypt.” The word שבר usually refers to something for sale as we know from Deut. 2,6 אוכל תשברו מאתם, “purchase food provisions from them.” It is noteworthy that Yaakov neither mentioned the word “food,” nor the word “grain,” The reason he referred to grain by saying שבר is because that word includes both “trading or selling” as well as “‘grain.” He continued using this word when he told his sons in Genesis 43,2: שובו שברו לנו מעט אוכל, “go back and secure for us some food (by buying grain).” In our verse (2) he said: שברו לנו משם, without the word אוכל. When Yaakov described the journey to Egypt he asked his sons to undertake as רדו שמה, “descend there,” instead of לכו שמה, “go there,” he also foreshadowed that any journey to Egypt would be but a prelude to the family’s eventual exile in Egypt. The number of years the Jewish people would be enslaved in Egypt corresponded to the numerical value of the letters in the word רדו, i.e. 210 years. When he used the expression ושברו משם, he meant that he foresaw both food supply as well as enslavement or exile as emanating from Egypt.

Similar to: ומרוה גם הוא יורא. The א of תתראו replaces the ו of the root ר–ו–ה. There are many similar examples. The verse means: He who satisfies others with his learning in this world will himself be satisfied in the World to Come. You might ask: How is this proof for the last explanation, that תתראו is a term for leanness? On the contrary, it is a proof that it means satiation! The answer is: Rashi is bringing a proof for both explanations. For the first explanation, the plain meaning is a valid proof. And for the last explanation too it is a proof: תתראו is like תתרוו, but it means “not satiated.” This is similar to Rashi’s explanation of הולך ערירי (15:2) as “childless,” although ער means an heir, i.e., one who has sons. And it is also similar to what is written ודשנו את המזבח (Bamidbar 4:13), where Rashi explains: “They shall take away the ashes from the Altar,” although דשן means ashes. The same is true here. It is as if Scripture had written תתרוו since an א can be replaced by a ו, because the letters א–ה–ו–י are interchangeable. Thus מרוה, too, could mean “satiation,” yet will fit exactly with תתראו. Accordingly, the meaning of ומרוה גם הוא יורא is: He who is not satiated in this world will be satiated in the World to Come.

?למה תתראו, “why should you stand out (as being different)?” Why do you wish to create the impression that only you have plenty to eat and do not need to buy grain in Egypt? It would make everyone else jealous of you! This is the way the Talmud in folio 10 interprets this phrase. Rashi adds that he heard from others that the meaning of the word תתראו is “to be weakened,” and that it appears in this sense in Proverbs 11,25: ומרוה הוא יורא, “and he who waters (others) will also be irrigated.” According to this, both the words מרוה and יורא in that verse ought to be understood as having been written with the letter א at the end. The idea is that Yaakov did not want his sons to create the impression (erroneous according to some) that they had ample supplies which they had not shared with their neighbours. This is supposed to be so, although the two explanations are contradictions in themselves, one suggesting abundance, and the other, weakness for lack of food. (As a result one of these interpretations would appear to be wrong. Ed.

ונחיה ולא נמות, “so we may live and not die.” He meant that even if in the more distant future his descendants would face great problems in Egypt, they would not succumb to them and die. They would survive thanks to the very grain they were going to purchase now. Our sages (Sotah 9) referred to this phenomenon when they said concerning Deut. 32,23 חצי אכלה בם “My arrows I will use up against them.” They said that half the Jews in exile may be exterminated by their Gentile enemies while the other half will survive. The meaning of the verse is that whereas G’d’s arrows will become exhausted the Jews will not all perish.
Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 91,6 had still another interpretation for the word שבר. They saw it as if it had been spelled with the dot on the left side of the letter ש, so that we would read it as סבר, “hope.” If we accept this interpretation we could read the verse as: “Yaakov saw in his mind’s eye that there was hope in Egypt for his descendants.” Although the ”hope” referred to the exalted position of Joseph in Egypt, Yaakov had lost the power to have clear visions ever since he had been parted from Joseph, so that this was only a very nebulous kind of vision.