‫פרשת ויגש‬
‫למה נמות לעיניך גם אנחנו גם אדמתנו? קנה אתנו ואת אדמתנו בלחם; ונהיה אנחנו ואדמתנו עבדים‬
‫ ואת העם העביר אתו‬.‫ותהי הארץ לפרעה‬...‫ויקן יוסף את כל אדמת מצרים לפרעה‬...‫לפרעה‬
‫ הא לכם זרע וזרעתם את‬,‫ ויאמר יוסף אל העם הן קניתי אתכם היום ואת אדמתכם לפרעה‬...‫לערים‬
) ‫ כג‬,‫כא‬- ‫ (פרק מז' יט‬.‫הארץ‬
(The Egyptian people told Yosef:) “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land?
Acquire us and our land for bread; and we-with our land-will become serfs to Pharaoh;” Thus
Yosef acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh…and the land became Pharaoh’s. As for the
nation, he resettled it by cities,… Yosef said to the people, “Look-I have acquired you this day
with your land for Pharaoh; here is seed for you-sow the land.”
The Meshech Chochma believes that Yosef, based on his personal experiences, abhorred the
concept of human slaves and he sees this clearly through our pasukim-notice how the pasuk tell
us that the people were willing to become slaves to Pharaoh, ‫קנה אתנו ואת אדמתנו בלחם‬, but
Yosef rejects their offer, ‫ויקן יוסף את כל אדמת מצרים לפרעה‬-in exchange for their sustenance
only the land was purchased by Pharaoh; the people of Egypt became day
laborers/sharecroppers whose wages were paid in food. Yosef would not accept placing them
into slavery. The Meshech Chochma also uses this to explain an awkwardness in the phrase
‫ויאמר יוסף אל העם הן קניתי אתכם היום ואת אדמתכם לפרעה‬. If Yosef had purchased both the
people and the land, then ‫ היום‬is merely telling us a time frame, which makes the word a bit
superfluous and at best it would be more appropriately placed at the end of the statement i.e.
‫ הן קניתי אתכם ואת אדמתכם היום לפרעה‬. Placing it in-between the people and the land is
intentionally creating an inequality between the two items- the land was acquired by Pharaoh
in its totality and forever, but the people were not bought but rather employed on a daily basis.
This also adds an explanation as to why Yosef decided to relocate the people to other cities in
Egypt-to reinforce with them the idea that although they were free people who worked for a
living, their land no longer belonged to them-the monarchy owned it. Had he allowed them to
remain on their former property, each would cling steadfastly to their old homes as if it were
still theirs. Yosef wanted it absolutely clear that anyone’s association with a certain piece of
property was exclusively at the king’s generosity.
Earlier in ) ‫פרשת ויצא (פרק לא' טו‬, the Meshech Chochma informs us that in general, the Torah
disapproves and tries to dissuade any type of slavery among Jews. As per .‫בבא מציעא י‬, this is
exegetically derived from the pasuk in ‫ויקרא כה' נה‬: ‫ עבדי הם אשר הוצאתי‬,‫כי לי בני ישראל עבדים‬
‫ אותם מארץ מצרים אני ה' אלקיכם‬/For the Children of Israel are servants to Me, they are My
servants, whom I have taken out of the land of Egypt-I am Hashem, your G-d-servants to Me
and not servants to servants. This was already known and adhered to by Avraham Aveinu. This
adds a new dimension to the dramatic exchange that takes place later on, after Yaakov passed
away, between Yosef and his brothers: ‫ כה תאמרו‬:‫ אביך צוה לפני מותו לאמר‬,‫ויצוו אל יוסף לאמר‬
.‫ויאמרו הננו לך לעבדים‬...‫ועתה שא נא לפשע עבדי אלקי אביך‬...‫ אנא שא נא פשע אחיך וחטאתם‬,‫ליוסף‬
?‫ התחת אלקים אנכי‬,‫ויאמר אלהם יוסף אל תיראו‬/So (the brothers) instructed that Yosef be told,
“Your father gave orders before his death, saying: ‘Thus shall you say to Yosef, ‘O please, kindly
forgive the spiteful deed of your brothers and their sin…’; so now, please forgive the spiteful
deed of the servants of your father’s G-d.”…and they said (to Yosef), “We are ready to be your
slaves.”…But Yosef said to them, “Fear not, for am I instead of Hashem?” The Meshech
Chochma notices that the brothers tell Yosef ‫( שא נא לפשע עבדי אלקי אביך‬as opposed to what
they told the messenger that their father had said, ‫שא נא פשע אחיך‬.) They then tell Yosef, ‫הננו‬
‫לך לעבדים‬. To this Yosef replies, “Since you referred to yourselves as servants of your father’s
G-d, you cannot be my servants unless you forfeit Hashem-‫התחת אלקים אנכי‬, am I to replace
your G-d?” He adds that this is exactly what ‫ ירושלמי ברכות‬is telling us when it says that a slave
is absolved from reciting ‫קריאת שמע‬-since he has more than one master he cannot declare, '‫ה‬
‫אלקינו ה' אחד‬. This could also be part of what Yosef was telling his brothers: “When our father
on his deathbed asked us if we have any grievances with HKBH, we all told him, '‫שמע ישראל‬,
just as you, our father, have no complaints to G-d, so too are we one with Him, '‫ה' אלקינו ה‬
‫ '!אחד‬If so, you cannot become slaves to anyone else!”
Finally, the Meshech Chochma feels that the statement ‫ויאמר יוסף אל העם הן קניתי אתכם היום‬
‫ ואת אדמתכם לפרעה‬is more than the Torah informing us of an interesting episode regarding the
economic history of a once powerful nation. Rather, this becomes a very important piece of
information which later on will be used by our people in a contentious encounter with the
Egyptians. The :‫ גמרא סנהדרין צא‬relates: “The Egyptians came to argue with the Jews before
Alexander the Macedonian. They said to him, ‘Behold it says in the Torah, ‫וה' נתן את חן העם‬
‫בעיני מצרים וישאלם‬/and Hashem gave the (Jewish) people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and
they lent them gold and silver and other valuables, which the Jews never returned. Thus, we
claim from them: Give us the silver and gold that you took from us!’ Whereupon Geviha ben
Pesisa said to the Sages, ‘Give me permission and I will go and debate them before Alexander…’
He said (to the Egyptians,) ‘…it is stated in the Torah ‫ומושב בני ישראל אשר ישבו במצרים שלשים‬
‫שנה וארבע מאה שנה‬/and the stay of the Children of Israel that they stayed in Egypt was four
hundred and thirty years. Give us then the wages for the labor of our 600,000 men! This sum
surely far exceeds anything we might owe you.’ Alexander said (to the Egyptians,) ‘Respond to
them!’ They said (to him), ‘Give us three days time to prepare a reply.’ …They searched but did
not find an adequate answer.” Rav Meir Simcha questions why the Egyptians did not tell
Geviha, “Your wages were the responsibility of Pharaoh, why did you take our, the citizens of
Egypt, gold and silver?!” For this reason the Torah tells us here that Yosef acquired for Pharaoh
all the land and possessions of the people of Egypt and that therefore, they had every right to
take the gold and silver of Pharaoh as payment for their hard labor!
‫לזכר נשמת אבי מורי ישראל מנחם בן שלום ז"ל‬
‫ולזכר נשמת הרב יהודה בן אברהם שמחה (קופרמן) זצ"ל‬