Did Yosef know the "Behind the Scenes?"

When Yosef was thrown into a pit and eventually sold as a slave, most people never stop to think about what he thought was going on. Did Yosef actually know what was happening? Surely he must have had mixed emotions. His father sent him out to check on his brothers, and then before he knew what was happening he was thrown in a pit. Perhpas he thought that his father had planned for this to happen all along; after all, he was the one who had told him to check on his brothers. Maybe Yosef thought his brothers and father were planning this all along. He might have also guessed that the brothers acted on their own.
On another note, when the brothers tell Yaakov that Yosef was killed, Yaakov mourns and plays the part rather convincingly. After the brothers come back the first time from Egypt and ask to being Binyamin, Yaakov's response hints that he may have known more than he let on before. He says that his son is  "not with him" with the same phrase that he uses to show that Shimon is not with them at the moment, because he is currently somewhere else. Yaakov very well may have sent Yosef to his brothers that day because he knew what was going to happen, and that in order to ensure their good future it had to. He may have also known that it was G-d's will and for the best.

Yosef's Motivation

A couple classes ago we discussed what Yosef's motivation was to not tell his brothers it was him from the moment he saw him. Our class had many ideas on what might actually be going on in his head. Like he could have been trying to get revenge on them or he could have been scared that his brothers were still angry at him and wanted to give them a chance to cool down or he could have been wanting to fulfill his dreams or he is making them go through the same thing that he went through to see if they had the same with the thoughts before he opens himself up he must see if they have changed or it could be that he hasn't yet matured and he couldn't treat them any different. As we went through the Pesukim and saw the whole story we see that the reason that he really did this was because as Rambam says: A second chance is the biggest Teshuva a person can do. They go through the same exact situation and they have to prove that they have changed and this time the results of the situation would be them doing the correct thing. This is exactly what Yosef did. He put his brothers through the exact same situations: favortism, one being left behind. This time Yehuda stood up for his siblings and his father and took all the blame on himself. When Yosef saw that Yehuda had done this he broke down crying and he realized they had trained and he revealed who he was.

Yosef

Yosef is an interesting character. He was always Yaakov's favorite because he was Rachel's oldest son, and his brothers became very jealous of him. He then grew up in Egypt and learned how to govern a people and live as an Egyptian. His experiences led him to be able to bring a lot of different things to the table of Bnei Yisrael. In a way, what happened to him is the one thing that was able to unite the brothers. I don't think that Yosef's exile was a punishment, in fact it was probably a good experience for the most part. I think that Hashem put him through it to make him that much stronger and able to be the glue that holds the brothers together. He became their connection to each other and it is because of him that Bnei Yisrael exists today.

On a dare from Alex....Something

A couple of weeks ago, Sarah posted about how Yaakov was the first to come up with something on Biology with the speckled/spotted and plain goats/sheep in Lavan's flocks. Moshe/Yisro also came up with something new for the court system with the court heirarchy.


Now it turns out that Yosef came up with something new as well. In Perek 41, he tells Pharaoh that he must save up food during the 7 years of plenty in order to have food for the 7 years of famine, thereby instituting the first food rationing and in the words of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, "The first recorded rationing in history was a hit!"

If you can think of any more feel free to comment! :)

A 100% Worthy Blog Post

Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov all have a prayer that is associated with each one of them. Avraham's is Shacharit-the morning prayer, Yitzchak's prayer is Mincha-the afternoon prayer, and Yaakov's is Maariv, the evening prayer. In class we discussed why these prayers are associated with the Avot. In the morning when we say Shacharit it is easy to see G-d. This is considered 'Avraham's prayer' because he was the first person to see G-d in everything around him. Avraham was a visionary and was the first to discover G-d's presence, so too Shacharit is the first prayer of the day in which we can see G-d's presence in the world. Yitzchak's prayer is Mincha. One opinon as to why Yitzchak is associated to this prayer is because Yitzchak was out praying in the middle of the day when he first met Rivkah. Another reason is that Yitzchak was stable and grounded. He never lost sight of G-d's presence in the world. Mincha is in the middle of the day so we can stop in the middle of a busy day when it is easy to forget to thank G-d for what He does for us, and pray to Him. Yaakov's prayer Maariv is said at night when all is dark and murky and it is hard to see G-d's presence. At night we are confused and unclear about our plans or our beliefs. Yaakov was constantly unclear about his role in life. He occasionally needed a push from G-d or others in the right direction.

In the past week we have read over ten Perakim in which Yosef is the main character. We read about the events that took place in his lifetime, from the day he had a dream till the day he died. Throughout these Perakim Yosef's most notable virtue that I noticed is his dedication and commitment to G-d. Yosef was thrown into a pit by his own brothers and sold. He ended up in Egypt and was even thrown into jail. There are times in his life when the majority of people would start losing faith in G-d and wondering where He is. Yosef does no such thing. His belief in G-d never falters.One way he proves this is when he names his sons. Yosef named his first son Menashe because Hashem helped him forget his father’s house and named his second son Ephraim because Hashem made him fruitful in the land of his affliction. Yosef is not one of the Avot for many reasons, but if he were he would need a prayer to be associated with (He wouldn't really need one, but in this post he does). I would associate Yosef with benching. When we bench we thank G-d for the food he has given us just like Yosef thanked G-d for the advantages and privileges G-d blessed him with in Egypt. Also, it takes a dedicated Jew to bench after every meal. Many Orthodox Jews cannot find the time or simply forget to bench after meals. It takes real dedication and commitment to G-d to remember to thank G-d after meals. There are many reasons and obstacles that can prevent a person from remembering to bench, daven, or do any mitzvah (I just happened to have picked benching to compare him to), but Yosef was able to not be influenced by his surroundings or be discouraged by his unfortunate situation. He was able to continue believing in G-d and thanking G-d when something positive happened in his life.

100%?

Please?

It would make my dreams come true.

Invitation

In Zionism I, we learned about how Queen Salome Alexandra did everything in her power to strengthen Judaism in Judea during her rule.  Once she died, her sons had a civil war over who would gain power.  One of them INVITED the Romans into Israel to help his defeat his brother.  Obviously, that is not what happened.  In the end, the Romans got rid of both brothers and conquered the land.  This directly led to the second exile.

The first major exile of the "ethical monotheist nation" A.K.A. Bnei Yisrael was their slavery in Egypt.  Although it was predicted by G-d, it still hit the Jews pretty hard.  I can't help but compare the above situation to this one.  A truly good person with all the right intentions did the right thing in trying to save their people.  In the above situation, the good leader died and left an opening for "evil" to come through.  By the Jews not protecting themselves against the Romans and not assuming that they might have come to Israel to take over, they led to their own demise.  In the case of Yosef and his brothers, Yosef gained power in a foreign country and was able to save lots of people from starving to death in the famine.  Here comes the problem:  After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, he invited them to come and live in Egypt until the famine was over.  The Midrash says that as soon as Yaakov entered Egypt, the famine ended.  So why did the Jews stay in Egypt?  Maybe it was because Yosef could provide for them there.  As they all had professions, I don't see why they couldn't have returned home and shepherded for themselves.  Maybe it was so that they would be in position to enter slavery and be redeemed later.  This is slightly reminiscent of the other situation where the Jews were also "set up" for failure and ruin.

Although these two scenarios are not identical, they do remind me of each other.  What do you all think?  Are these pieces in the Jewish people's puzzle? Why did these saddening events happen?  Why did the people have to suffer?

What happened to Tamar?

What in the world happened in this story? While I was reading this story, I was really troubled and bothers, as I think everyone else was too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is what I got out of the story.
Tamar, Yehuda's daughter in law, was married to Er. Hashem kills Er because he was evil. Er's brother, Onan, also gets killed because he was evil as well. Instead of remarrying, Tamar stayed a widow so that she won't look bad in the eyes of her son. Then Yehuda's wife dies. Yehuda thinks that Tamar is "not a shomer girl", or prostitute in real words. After all of this Yehuda promises to give her sheep. When he does though, he does not actually have the sheep to give to her. Instead he gives her his coat, staff, and ring. Later on when she got pregnant. Everyone is mad at her. In addition to everyone else, Yehudah wanted to burn him. Little did he know that it was his child. One night, being very "not shomer", they slept together. After she even proved he slept with him by showing that she had his belongings, he still wanted to kill her. He had her burnt.
I'm sorry, but to me this story is insane! And it came out of nowhere. I personally feel like this story was dropped in the middle of a completely different story. Also...this is so cruel! That's all I got out my feelings on this matter :)

Sad times for Tamar!