What is Yoseif doing? For anyone learning Parashat Miketz, this is the paramount question - and a perplexing one. For the first two decades of his exile, Yoseif seems to have no desire to return home; never does he contact his father, and he names his firstborn in gratitude “for God has made me forget all of my toil and all of my father’s house” (41:51). Yet when his brothers come before him, he seems anxious to reunite with them, particularly to see Binyamin and to find out if his father lives - and is so emotionally touched that he repeatedly breaks down crying while conducting his charade (43:30, 45:2). Inevitably, one must ask: what does Yoseif truly feel, and why does he feel compelled to act out the elaborate and painful drama of bringing down Binyamin?
There are two basic approaches taken by modern commentators to this problem, that of Rav Yoel bin Nun and that of Rav Yaakov Meidan. According to one, Yoseif views himself as a victim of treachery, both his brothers’ and his father’s (for sending him out to them in the first place), while he tries to isolate Binyamin. Thus, when Yehuda mentions Yaakov’s devastation in 44:28, Yoseif finally realizes the truth of the situation. This is unappealing for many reasons, not least because it supposes that Yoseif would suspect his beloved father of conspiring to kill him (despite the fact that Yaakov sends him to Sh’chem, while the brothers are in fact in Dotan); furthermore, we must wonder why Yoseif did not reveal himself the moment he saw his brother’s contrition (43:21-23), instead of carrying on a charade for the better part of a year. Indeed, if he still suspected his father, how does he know Yehuda is not lying when he reports Yaakov’s devastation? Yaakov had to at least pretend to be devastated, if only to allay Binyamin’s suspicions. The other approach is somewhat better, as it gives a convincing reason why Yoseif would not contact his father; he believed that he was the rejected son, the “nidcheh,” much as Yishmael had been to Avraham and Eisav to Yitschak. Yet the idea that the whole ruse was conducted by Yoseif as an atonement service free of charge is abhorrent; what gives Yoseif the right to do so? As Yoseif himself says, “Am I in God’s stead?” (50:19)
What is the alternative? The key lies in the middle of Parashat Miketz; when his brothers bow before him, the verse notes (42:8-9): “Yoseif recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Yoseif remembered the dreams which he dreamt about them, and he said to them ‘You are spies!…’”
We may now travel back 21 years to Yoseif’s time in the pit. He had just been left there, presumably to die. At this point, Yoseif begins to doubt his arrogance. Perhaps his brothers and his father were right, and his dreams are delusions of grandeur; perhaps, like Yishmael, he has been rightly abandoned in the wilderness to die. Then perhaps, like Yishmael, he may hope for divine redemption - not to return to his father’s house, for he is nidcheh, rejected - but at least to lead a righteous life. Indeed, from the moment Yoseif is rescued, he is a new man: no longer a cocky, preening teenager, he is now pious and humble. He begins to forget his father’s house - though never his lesson.
Slowly, Yoseif’s fortunes change, and he becomes viceroy of Egypt. Then, out of the blue, his brothers are kneeling before him - fulfilling his youthful dreams! Perhaps they were not fantasies, then; perhaps they are the nidchim, while Yoseif (with Binyamin?) is the chosen one. On the other hand, perhaps neither are nidcheh; perhaps, just as Yoseif has matured, his brothers have changed as well. There is only one way to know, painful as it will be for Yoseif, wrenching as it must be for Yaakov: an experiment, recreating the conditions of Yoseif’s sale. Once again, a son of Rachel, a favorite of their father (for so Binyamin must have become, in Yoseif’s absence) and spoiled (43:34), guilty of a presumptuous crime (the theft of the goblet) will be in the pit; once again, the brothers will have the chance to abandon this favored son to his fate - or to put themselves on the line for him. This time, Yehuda rises to the challenge; and Yoseif realizes that this time, finally, there is no nidcheh, for they are all worthy of founding the Chosen Nation.
On Chanukah, when brother had to fight brother in God’s name, we all eagerly anticipate that future of “Thus says Lord God: ‘Behold I will take the branch of Yoseif… and I will put them upon it with the branch of Yehuda, and I will make them one branch, and they shall be one in My hand” (Yechezkel 37:19).