[Avodah] "Ha'od Avi Chai?"

[Zvi Lampel]

The explanation I posted as to why Yosef asked particularly about whether
Yaakov, and not Yitzchak, was still alive (namely, Yosef feared that the
reason Yaakov did not demand the brothers return Joseph to him, was either
that Yaakov also thought that Yosef deserved golus, or that Yaakov was no
longer alive) does not seem to be gaining any traction among the
discussants. Too bad, I really think it's pashut peshat.

As I posted back in 2005 (V. 16, #072), I later came across the same peshat
given by R.Shmuel Shraga Feigenson (in his work, "HaSh'mattas
Mi-HaYerushalmi, printed in the back of our Yerushalmi masechta Brachos),
which closes by wondering why none of the "ba'aley ha-peshat" have
suggested it!

I then found out that R. Yoel ben Nun also came up with. And last year, I
was at a drasha where R. Doniel Neustadt also said he came up with it.

Besides the evidence that I brought for it, I just thought of another
factor pointing to it:

Reuvain was not present when Yosef was sold. Why not? Because it was his
turn in the rotation to be meshameish Yaakov. But Yosef was also with
Yaakov! It seems that although all the other brothers took turns being
meshameish Yaakov, Yosef's role was to always stay and study with him.
(Likely adding to the brothers' concerns).

So now, in addition to the strangeness of Yaakov sending Yosef out to see
the welfare of his brothers (who what, needed Yosef's protection?) is the
strangeness that all of a sudden, Yaakov sends out to them not Reuvain, but
Yosef!

As I originally noted, Bereishis Rabbah (84:13) states that when Yaakov
Avinu contemplated his sending Yosef out to his brothers, "his innards tore
themselves [to pieces] (mis-chas'chin). It depicts Yaakov as saying, "You
knew that your brothers hate you, yet you said "henneni"!--which in its
literal sense would indicate that Yaakov ultimately knew, or at least
suspected, that his sons were
responsible for Yosef's disappearance. He likely found his behavior
inexplicable, while the explanation Yosef feared was that his father set
him up to be ''taken care of'' by his brothers.

Zvi Lampel
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