Parshas Vayigash 5786: Mitzrayim Mentality

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Parshas Vayigash 

לעילוי נשמת האדא בת מרדכי 

 

Mitzrayim Mentality 

Reading through Parshas Vayigash, one will notice a series of examples where seemingly basic logics, such as relevance, inference, and cause-effect, are being explained as if needed to understand a complex concept. Let’s take a look at a few examples. 

Early in the parsha, Yehuda confronts Yosef and questions his entire line of inquiry. Rashi (44:19) notes Yehuda’s sharp challenge: “Why did you ask so many questions about our family? Were you trying to marry our sister or daughter?” Yehuda is not trying to be sarcastic. He is pointing out that Yosef's whole approach from the onset was completely irrational. It did not serve any clear purpose – the process was disconnected from the goal. Why would Yehuda assume that there was no point to the questioning though? Perhaps the line of questioning itself could be used as an indicator as to what Yosef was trying to get at. Why did Yehuda feel the need to insult Yosef in this way?  

Yehuda makes a similarly flavored argument in the same dialogue with Yosef. The Daas Zekeinim (44:18) elaborates that Yehuda told Yosef that his reaction to keep Binyamin as a slave was completely nonsensical. As he told Yosef: the “derech ha-olam" is that when a master discovers his slave to be a thief, he gets rid of the slave, he does not keep him. And yet here, Yosef discovered a thief and was now insisting that the thief should be kept as a slave. Why is Yehuda articulating such a basic logic? Perhaps Yosef knows this all already and even so wants Binyamin for some other reason. Why does Yehuda feel the need to spell this out for him?  

It must be that Yehuda realized that Mitzrayim was not a place of reason or logic, but rather a place of primitive, reactive behaviors. They rely and react on observations and facts that are right in front of their face, lacking the ability to see beyond and connect the dots to formulate reasoned thoughts. He therefore felt the need to point out the irrational behaviors because otherwise they would likely go unnoticed.  

The same pattern appears at the end of the parsha. The Rosh (47:22) asks why the Egyptian priests were exempt from selling their land during the famine. He explains that after the episode of eishes Potiphar, the priests came up with a simple logic to know how to conclude from the evidence. They figured they could examine where Yosef’s garment was torn. If it had been torn from the front, it would indicate that Yosef was at fault; and if from behind, then Yosef’s story was more plausible and eishes Potiphar probably held him back as he was trying to flee. They checked and indeed found the tear from behind and concluded that Yosef was innocent. For this act of “mishpat tzedek”, the priests merited this unique privilege of keeping their land. However, this is striking on two levels. First, what is so merit-worthy of this logic? A child could make the same determination! Second, how did Yosef still end up in jail if his innocence was so clear? Again, we see the same thing. The fact that such basic forensic logic is treated as exceptional and reward-worthy shows how uncommon such thinking was in Mitzrayim. And the fact that the process still resulted in Yosef going to jail shows that for everyone else, despite the clear evidence, they just couldn’t get past the fact that eishes Potiphar said he was guilty. Why would they think to connect the dots? 

Understanding the “Mitzrayim Mentality” also explains Yosef’s strategy in securing Goshen. Yosef does not persuade Pharaoh through reasoned argument, nor does he explain why separation is beneficial to Mitzrayim. Instead, he highlights one fact: his family are shepherds, and shepherds are an abomination to Egypt. Yosef understood that Pharaoh would directly react to the message and presentation of how he would introduce his brothers. Indeed, the first impression would be the lasting impression, because there was no seichel being applied to reason anything beyond that.  

This helps frame a crucial distinction. Chazal teach (Medrash Eichah Rabbah 2:13), “אם יאמר לך אדם יש חכמה בגוים — תאמין.” There is chochmah among the nations, and this chochmah is not Torah wisdom, but the basic human capacity to recognize order in the world. Other civilizations possessed this, but Mitzrayim, despite its advancement, largely did not. It functioned on reaction rather than recognition. This is why Chazal say that Mitzrayim was steeped in zenus (lewdness) and embodied the lowliest form of attachment to physicality. They understood things only in their simplest form, unable to even apply chochmah to draw reasoned conclusions.  

With this, perhaps we could understand the dialogue between Pharaoh and Yosef in parshas Miketz (41:33-40). After interpreting Pharoahs’ dreams, Yosef suggested that Pharaoh hire an “ish navon v’chacham” to manage the abundance of the good years and then be able to navigate the years of famine. Pharaoh responds, “ein navon v’chocom ka’mocha” - there is no one wise like you. What was so complicated about the task? Yosef already spelled out the job description, and it was simple: Manage the country to amass food during the good years and it will be the reserve for the seven years of famine.” Why does this take a chochom? Based on our understanding of “Mitzrayim mentality”, it makes a lot of sense. There would be no connecting the dots between the seven good years and the seven years of famine. Anyone else in Mitzrayim would simply see the food in front of them and not think or be capable of saving it for the impending time of need. When Pharaoh responds to Yosef and says, “אין חכם כמוך,” he is not referring to Torah knowledge, nevuah, or talent to interpret dreams, he is simply recognizing Yosef’s basic ability to plan for something that does not yet exist, to draw connections of teva and create seder.  

The idea that frameworks of seder exist everywhere, is essential to recognize. As a matter of fact, the Maharal in Gevuros Hashem (see Intro 2) writes that even miracles are rooted in seder. Their seder is that they come infrequently, but not spontaneously. Nissim have a seder impacting the relevant and worthy at a precise time. One cannot even fully appreciate a miracle without first recognizing its associated seder – and therefore in some ways the focus on the foundational daily seder is more important than the miracles we experience. The Gemara Shabbos (118b) states this explicitly that one who recites Hallel daily is considered a blasphemer. Rashi and others offer explanations as to why that is, however, perhaps with what we’ve explained we could offer another component: In some ways jumping to say Hallel every day is the other extreme of Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim doesn't connect dots because everything is fact based and reactive to what is present, Hallel is also hard to reason with because it relates to nissim which on the surface seem like random unexplainable events. Chochmah is what is in the middle that bridges everything. It recognizes the seder to the world based on Hashem’s design that offers connectivity, meaning, and broader context to the world of nature as well as to the miraculous.  

This was the Mitzrayim we were slaves in. A place of narrowmindedness, instant gratifications, and reactiveness; all exactly the opposite of what the Torah demands of us and why the geulah from Mitzrayim was so crucial to leave that behind and prepare to receive the Torah.