Now Yosef recognized his brothers

(Genesis 42:7)

Tevet 1, 5777/December 30, 2016

"Now Yosef recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him." (Genesis 42:7) Recognition, or the lack of it, plays a consistent role in the story of Yosef and his brothers. We recall that the first time a call to recognition is employed is when the brothers bring Yosef's blood-stained tunic to his father Yaakov, and say to him, rather coldly, "We have found this; now recognize whether it is your son's coat or not." (ibid 37:32) This sounds more like a police detective asking a next of kin, and not like brothers inquiring of their brother's splendidly unique and recognizable coat to their beloved father. But of course they are covering up their crime, and by doing so, they are, ironically, expressing their own devastating lack of recognition to the heinous transgression they have committed. Yaakov, naturally "recognized it, and he said, "It is my son's coat; a wild beast has devoured him; Yosef has surely been torn up," (ibid 37:33) and so the tragic tale takes another heartwrenching turn.

The next time someone is called upon to recognize an object is when Tamar, the daughter-in-law of Yehudah, sends to him the signet ring he had depositied with her, with the message "Please recognize whose signet ring, cloak, and staff are these." (ibid 38:25) Yehudah, like his father before him, recognizes the object immediately, and also recognized immediately his own former sin which ultimately brought about his present predicament: "Then Yehudah recognized them, and he said, 'She is right, it is from me, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.'" (ibid 38:26) This recognition, and contrition, of an earlier failing, is a quality hitherto unmentioned in the book of Genesis. It is a new spiritual phenomenon being expressed. His recognition of his own error leads him to publicly state his guilt and quickly make amends, rescinding his death sentence against Tamar and accepting that she is carrying his baby. As a result of his recognizing, confessing and righting his wrong, a child is born, Peretz, whose great-great grandson will be King David, whose most enduring quality, teshuva - recognizing, confessing and righting a wrong - he inherited from his forefather Yehudah.

Now the brothers are standing before the most powerful man in Egypt, save Pharaoh, and he is their brother Yosef, whom they threw in a pit and sold to a caravan of Midianites twenty years before, and "Yosef recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him." (ibid 42:7) How can it be that they don't recognize their own brother, the very brother whose impetuous behavior so troubled them that they sold him into slavery and led their father to believe that he was devoured by wild beasts? Wouldn't they have been haunted by their crime, waking up each night in a cold sweat seeing Yosef's pained face before them? Wouldn't each day have been a torturous path to tread? The Torah sage Rashi suggests that Yosef's beard, which he didn't sport as a mere lad of seventeen, is what effectively hides his features from his brothers. It is, after all, twenty years later and Yosef is wearing the garments of Egyptian royalty including headgear. Twelve years in prison also has an effect on a man's visage. Yet there is no closer relationship than that of brothers, and even today we hear of cases of brothers separated as children during the Holocaust who seventy years later reunite and immediately recognize their long-lost sibling. What prevented the ten brothers from recognizing Yosef?

Strife between brothers began, of course, with the world's first brothers, Cain and Abel. Cain recognized his brother Abel, but he did not recognize the G-d given bond of brotherhood, killing Abel in a fit of jealousy, and asking G-d, rhetorically, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Twenty three generations later and the brothers, standing before Yosef, have yet to answer that question. It is the sin that they have committed toward Yosef which has sealed their hearts and dimmed their eyes. Only until they can recognize the cloak and signet ring of their own actions will their eyes be opened and their hearts free of the pain of their deed. Only then will they be able to begin the healing process of teshuva - recognizing, confessing and righting a wrong - and once again recognize and embrace their brother Yosef. Yosef, whose behavior as a young boy distanced his brothers, now possesses the wisdom and wherewithal to bring them near again. He leads his brothers through the torturous path of recalling, reliving, regretting and recognizing their sin. Only once they have completed this process will they again recognize the man that stands before them as their brother Yosef. Only then will all twelve brothers be able to emphatically state, "Yes, we are our brothers' keepers!" It will be three more generations before the children of Israel emerge from Egypt as the nation of Israel, but it is right here, in the process of recognition that we are all one another's brothers, the children of G-d, that the nation of Israel first comes into being.

-The Temple Institute