Parashat Mikeitz: When Family Become Foe

Cain said to his brother Abel … and when they were in the field, Cain set upon his brother Abel and killed him.

The LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

And Rachel saw that she had not borne (a child) to Jacob, and Rachel envied her sister, [thinking that if Leah were not more righteous than she, she, too, would not have borne], and she said to Jacob: "Give me children" [i.e., pray for me to bear children, as your father did for your mother], "and if not, I am dead."

This, then, is the line of Jacob: At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought bad reports of them to their father.

Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age; and he had made him an ornamented tunic.

And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him.

(6) Now Joseph was the vizier of the land; it was he who dispensed rations to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed low to him, with their faces to the ground.(7) When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them; but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where do you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to procure food.”(8) For though Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.(9) Recalling the dreams that he had dreamed about them, Joseph said to them, “You are spies, you have come to see the land in its nakedness.”(10) But they said to him, “No, my lord! Truly, your servants have come to procure food.

(15) When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrong that we did him!”(16) So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before his death your father left this instruction:(17) So shall you say to Joseph, ‘Forgive, I urge you, the offense and guilt of your brothers who treated you so harshly.’ Therefore, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph was in tears as they spoke to him.(18) His brothers went to him themselves, flung themselves before him, and said, “We are prepared to be your slaves.”(19) But Joseph said to them, “Have no fear! Am I a substitute for God?(20) Besides, although you intended me harm, God intended it for good, so as to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.