[Avodah] "VaYakom Melekh Hadash al Mitzrayim..." Self-hatred

[Richard Wolberg]

Michael Makovi wrote:
"I personally think it was a new king. I see no way to explain how the
old king suddenly rose against Yosef like this. Even evil gentile
kings, don't usually have a Jew put in second-in-command and then turn
on his people a year later."

If you look at history, you'll see that's not true.  Also, some of the  
m'forshim explain that the Egyptian people pressured the king and said  
that he would be deposed if he didn't turn against the Jews so he  
bowed to pressure, which could also explain the seemingly incongruity.


"Rabbi Joseph Telushkin asks, how on earth could this new pharaoh not
know Yosef? He compares it to if a president of the US arose who
didn't know George Washington."

The comparison of the then Egypt and the U.S. is an invalid  
comparison. The two forms of government are like night and day.

"The Torah doesn't need to say that the old king died."

You're correct; it doesn't need to. But the fact that this king was  
such a friend to the Jews would have been derech eretz and kovod  
habriyos to mention his death.