Something very different: A Dvar Torah -- Discourse on the Bible Why Did Judah “Come Down” so Strongly on Joseph?

Painting of Joseph and his brothers, Charles Thévenin, 1789

At the beginning of next week’s Torah portion, Vayigash, (Genesis 42) we are witness to Judah’s aggressive, unbridled and most undiplomatic behavior toward Joseph, Pharaoh’s viceroy. What went through Judah’s head as he approached Joseph? What caused him to unleash such an outburst that in the end caused Joseph’s emotional breakdown?

It appears that just one word in Joseph’s previous remarks incited Judah’s response.

First, let’s look the brothers’ conversations. Not just between Joseph and Judah, but look at all the conversations and dialogues between the Forefathers and their families when discussing travel between the Land of Israel and Egypt. Here’s an example of the Torah’s narrative of Abraham’s journey to Egypt:

And Abram descended to Egypt …And it occurred as he drew to entering into Egypt…But it happened at the entry of Abram into Egypt…Pharaoh called Abram… here is your wife; take her and go! And Abram went up from Egypt… (Genesis 12)

Note the different sets of verbs: descend - ascend or go down - go-up (yoreid-oleh) of Abraham’s journey versus the set of verbs enter-go or come-go (bo-lech) of Abraham’s interaction with Egypt and Pharaoh.

Is there a difference? So it appears.

When the Forefathers travel to Egypt by themselves or talk within the family they “ascend and descent.” On the other hand, when there is an external character, especially if his name is Pharaoh or his deputy, they use the phrases of “come and go.”

Is there a point behind the language changes?

Joseph and his brothers by Gustave Dore

It’s likely that Abraham and his descendants had a deep faith in the holiness of Eretz Yisrael and used a more spiritual term when they referred to the aliya to the land and the yerida from the land. But to outsiders, especially the ruler of Egypt who viewed his land as the center of the universe, the children of Israel were learned in the ways of diplomacy and they were careful not to insult their exalted hosts. They came and went; they did not descend and ascent.

Here are several examples to prove the “descend-ascend” and “come-go” pattern:

• And they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites…and they brought (vayavehu) Joseph to Egypt. (Genesis 37:28)


• And they said to Joseph … your servants have come (ba’u) to buy food. (Gen 42:10)


• (Joseph said to his brothers) go (lechu) and bring the provisions… (Gen 42:19)

But when traveling alone or speaking within the family:

• And Joseph had been brought down (hurad) to Egypt (Gen 39:1)


• And Jacob said to his sons there are provisions in Egypt go down (redu) there (Gen 42:2)


• And Jacob said to his sons (Benjamin) shall not go down with you (Gen 42:38)

There are several more examples of “come-go” verbs especially in the dialogue between Jacob and Pharaoh (Gen 47).

But there is one very unusual irregularity in this verbal code, so extreme that Judah was unable to restrain himself and Joseph was unable to contain his emotions.

At the very end of the Torah portion of Miketz (Gen 44:17) Joseph tells him “As for you, go up (alu) in peace to your father.”

[The division of the two Torah portions at this very point weakens our ability to comprehend the huge drama taking place here. It is possible that at this point Judah actually understood who was standing before him.]

Judah doesn’t believe what he heard and he responds immediately: Then Judah approached him…

After Judah heard the word “alu - ascend” he responded repeating the family verbal code in a blunt and pronounced fashion:

Then you (Joseph) said to your servants bring him down [horiduhu] to me… (note the anomaly since Joseph in Gen 42:20 stated “Your brother who is youngest you shall bring [tavi’u] to me”)… And it was when we went up to your servant my father… We said we cannot go down… then we went down … [Jacob said] you will have brought down disaster …Your servants will have brought down the old age of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave… and the youth (Binyamin) will go up with his brothers… For how can I go up to my father if the youth is not with me?

Eight times Judah used the ascend – descend verbs in his verbal challenge to Joseph. The code was broken, as was Joseph. When he understood that the brothers had uncovered him, he was forced to reveal his identity, and he continued to speak with them in the family verbal code. “Hurry and go up to my father… Come down to me, do not delay. You must hurry and bring down my father to this place.”

An additional point:

If there is such a family code based on the ascend – descend verbs, why did the brothers use their private code to the “man in charge of the house of Joseph… and they said we had indeed come down (yaradnu) to buy food... and other money we have brought down (horadnu)"? (Gen 43:20)According to the Midrash, the interpreter standing between Joseph and his brothers (Gen 42:23) was the son of Joseph, Menashe. And according to Bible commentator Yonatan ben Uziel (circa 450 BCE) Menashe was also the man in charge of Joseph’s house.

Thus one explanation of the brothers’ use of the family code is that after they had spoken to the young Hebrew-speaking interpreter they thought that he was privy to the family code. The approached him (vayigshu – the same verb describing Judah’s approach to Joseph), but they quickly concluded that he was an Egyptian and not a family member when he responded, “Your God and the God of your father has given you a hidden treasure... Your money came (ba) to me...” Gen 43:23.

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How much of the Palestinian Refugee saga is a fraud? Here's an example

There's little question that some of Palestine's Arabs date back a millennium. Indeed, studies show that some, particularly those in the Hebron Hills areas, were Palestinian Jews who were forced to convert to Islam.  Some families in places like Yatta still practice Jewish customs in secret like the Spanish conversos.

Nahr el Bared in 2007

But many Palestinian Arab families are relatively new to Palestine, some coming in the last century because of economic opportunities that developed as a result of Jewish enterprises.  British officials, such as Winston Churchill, described the improved economic conditions that brought them to the area.

A perfect example is evident in the population of the Nahr el Bared ["Cold River] Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.  As recently as three years ago, sources described many of the residents as originally coming from North Africans countries who immigrated to Palestine in the 1930s.

[The phrase "Nahr el Bared" was the code radioed to terrorists by Yasir Arafat to Sudan in 1973 ordering the execution of one Belgian and two American diplomats.]

The Nahr el Bared camp reportedly had a population of 30,000 in 2007, when a bloody battle broke out between camp radicals, led by Fatah el Islam, and the Lebanese Army.  Whole neighborhoods were destroyed during the four months of fighting. 

[Hundreds were killed, but the savagery of the fighting barely elicited a headline, a UN condemnation, or a solidarity vigil somewhere around the globe.]

This is how Wikipedia described the Nahr el Bared camp's components three years ago:

Nahr el Bared camp after four months of warfare

"The different sectors of the camp are named after areas of what is now the northern Israeli Galilee region: Safourieh, Sasa, Safad, etc. Other sectors are more commonly known by the origins of the families living there: e.g. the 'Maghrebi' area where families originally from Algeria, Tunisia or Morocco who had moved to Palestine in the 1930s now live."

Check out the Wikipedia entry today and see how this important fact of the Palestinians' origins was censored: 

"The different sectors of the camp are named after areas of what is now the northern Galilee region : Safourieh, Sasa, Safad, etc. Other sectors are more commonly known by the origins of the families living there: e.g. the 'Naseem' area where families originally from Acre, Canada or Morocco who had moved to Palestine in the 1930s now live. [What happened to Algeria and Tunisia?  Canada?]"

Yes, the families of many Arab refugees originally came to Palestine only in the last 100 years, and someone is trying to cover that up.

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Gingrich may have ignored current realities, but Winston Churchill agreed with his history

Churchill meeting el-Husseini in Jerusalem
1921 (Library of Congress)

When Newt Gingrich discussed the Palestinian Arabs last week, he echoed sentiments made by Winston Churchill to an Arab leader in Jerusalem 90 years ago. 

A reminder: Gingrich told the Jewish Channel, “Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire. We have invented the Palestinian people, who are in fact Arabs and are historically part of the Arab people, and they had the chance to go many places,” said Newt Gingrich.

Arab demonstration, Jerusalem, 1919/1920. The banner on
the left reads "We resist Jewish immigration," the banner
on the right reads "Palestine is part of Syria."

Churchill visited Palestine in 1921 while serving as Great Britain's colonial secretary. He met with the former mayor of Jerusalem and Arab leader, Musa Kazim el Husseini, who complained that life under the British was worse than under the Turks, who were vanquished three years earlier. El Husseini also complained about Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Churchill chided el Husseini and dispelled any notion of an Arab Palestinian sovereignty. "I thought, when listening to your statements, that it seemed that the Arabs of Palestine had overthrown the Turkish Government. That is the reverse of the true facts. It has been the armies of Britain which have liberated these regions."

Indeed, a year earlier, in 1920, the Arabs of Palestine identified themselves as residents of "southern Syria" and demonstrated in Jerusalem against the British Mandate, in favor of inclusion as part of Syria, and in opposition to Jewish immigration. 

Churchill went on to press el Husseini to accept the opportunity to work with the Jews who were building the land -- for their own benefit. "You can see with your own eyes," Churchill said, " in many parts of this country the work which has already been done by Jewish colonies; how sandy wastes have been reclaimed and thriving farms and orangeries planted in their stead. It is quite true that they have been helped by money from outside, whereas your people have not had a similar advantage, but surely these funds of money largely coming from outside and being devoted to the increase of the general prosperity of Palestine is one of the very reasons which should lead you to take a wise and tolerant view of the Zionist movement."

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