בראשית מב ז-ח: ז ו י ר א יו ס ף א ת- א ח יו, ו י כ ר ם; ו י ת נ כ ר א ל יה ם ו י ד ב ר א ת ם ק ש ו ת, ו י אמ ר א ל ה ם מ א י ן ב את ם, ו י אמ רו, מ א ר ץ כ נ ע ן ל ש ב ר -א כ ל.ח ו י כ ר יו ס ף, א ת-א ח יו; ו ה ם, ל א ה כ ר הו. Rashi I am basing my opinion on the words of the גמרא and say that Yosef recognized his brothers because when he left (Was sold) they were already developed/grown men with beards, while he was still young and that is also why they did not recognize him he grew and now ואני לא באתי אלא לפשוטו man. was a bearded של מקרא... However there is still a question about the holy words of the Torah, the word ויכר is written in רש"י: {ח }ויכר יוסף וגו'. לפי שהניחם חתומי זקן )ב"מ לט: כתובות כז: והם לא הכירוהו.שיצא מאצלם בלא חתימת זקן. ועכשיו מצאוהו בחתימת זקן. ומדרש אגדה ויכר יוסף את אחיו, כשנמסרו בידו הכיר שהם אחיו וריחם עליהם, והם לא הכירוהו כשנפל בידם לנהוג בו אחוה: present tense while isהכירוהו written in past tense, and I do believe that I have found an excellent explanation to this conflict in אגדה,מדרש now I know that it might be odd to explain the usingפשט a מדרש however in this case, my מדרש really comes to explain the פשט in deeper way because I cannot let you think that there was just a grammatical error. I promise you that this midrash will teach you a lesson about Yosef as a person, a lesson that you, my dearest children who just started learning chumash, can appreciate. Yosef recognized his brothers and had mercy for them is in present tense) despite all of the hardship he had because of them, the ויכר) Torah teaches us that his brothers had no mercy for him in the past when they have sold him. What a צדיק was Yosef who was able to feel merciful when he saw his brothers instead of hatred and hostility.
רשב"ם: }ח{ והם לא הכירוהו - כי בא עתה לפניהם בחתימת זקן. ועוד שראוהו מושל בכל המלכות בבגדי מלכות וגם מן הקול לא היו מכירים אותו, כי ע"י מתורגמן היה מדבר עימהם, כדכתיב :כי המליץ בינותם. Rashbam: let me start with what my beloved grandfather whose heart was in peshat - quoted before me: Yosef recognized his brothers because when he lastly saw them, they were already mature men, but he was only a kid with no facial hair so they couldn t recognize him. I would like to rationalize it even further, based on global knowledge which we may call Derech Eretz, and the peshat of the pesukim which is renewed everyday. The fact that Yosef was the leader of Mitzrayim, and dressed in royalty as well as the lack of voice recognition due to the fact that Yosef did not speak directly to them and used a translator to deliver his word to them, gave more reason- to the fact that Yosef s brothers didn t or if I may say, couldn t have recognized him. Ibn Ezra: As a member of the pshat movement and a man who is in favor of a literal reading, I choose to address an important point, which has to do with the direct text. We have what may seem as a repetition in the pesukim. In pasuk ז the Torah told us that Yosef recognized his brothers, what did pasuk ח' come to add? Well אבן עזרא: {ז }ויתנכר.מגזרת נכרי הראה שהוא נכרי :קשות.שם התאר והטעם מלות קשות. וכן יענה עזות:ויכרם.בתחלה הכיר שהם אחיו. ואחר הסתכל בכל אחד והכירו וזהו ויכר יוסף את אחיו : allow me to explain, for the language and grammar of the Torah are dear to me and to my gaonic Andalusian exegetical friends. I always say go back to basic (far from being too midrashic like Rashi and other French mefarshim) for Scripture preserves the meaning but does not preserve the words every word in the bible is a divine text and just understanding the ideas behind each topic is not enough. For the words of any author, whether a prophet or a sage, have but one meaning,
although those with great wisdom argument this and infer one thing from another thing at times by way of derash or by way of asmakhta In pasuk ז' we simply hear that Yosef saw his brothers and was able to recognize them. Pasuk ח' adds that he took a second look that was deeper, at each of them as an individual and recognized him in a deeper meaning and understanding if you know what I mean (perhaps like a Gadol who can look into a person s soul). Radak: Let us rational with this whole idea of recognition. My students, let s think about it for a second. It is logic to think that the brothers may have not recognized Yosef as chachamim explain, however there is always a possibility that they actually did recognize him or suspected it could have been him, but because of the mental distance between: Yosef as the brothers which they have sold to slavery and Yosef as the master of all Egypt they gave up the thought that it might be him, after all, there are many people, strangers, who look alike. You see the words of chachamim are even more clear now. Now let s add to that scheme Yosef s behavior and actions towards them, acting -נכרי comes from the word ויתנכר like a stranger and speaking to them in a harsh way, all to ensure that they continue to think that it wasn t him. The Torah repeats the fact that Yosef recognized his brothers, and repeats it to strengthen the notion of Yosef not seeking revenge for רד"ק: }ז( וירא יוסף את אחיו ויכירם. פירשו רז"ל )ב"ר צ"א(שיצא בלא חתימת זקן אבל הם היו בחתימת זקן, לפיכך הכירם הוא והם לא הכירוהו. ואפשר שהכירוהו אע"פ שהיה בחתימת זקן, לולי שראוהו בגדולה והיה רחוק בעיניהם מאד שיהיה הוא יוסף שמכרוהו לעבד והוא אדון לכל מצרים. ואמרו בליבם אע"פ שצורתו דומה לצורת יוסף הרבה בני אדם דומה צורת זה לזה בקצת, לפיכך יצא מליבם שיהיה זה יוסף. ויתנכר. עשה עצמו כנכרי אליהם לדבר איתן קשות ולומר שמרגלים הם וכל זה להוציא מליבם שלא יחשבו כי הוא יוסף. }ח{ ויכר, כמו שפירשנו, ושנה אותו, כי הכיר להם האחוה שלא הרע להם והם לא הכירוהו שחשבו להמיתו והפשיטוהו והשליכוהו לבור ומכרוהו לעבד.
what they have done to him when they sold him. I feel we can learn so much from these pesukim, peshat and drash come together and present a whole mosaic history, commentaries, logic and inspiration. Isn t it amazing to learn so much? you see when you combine two great traditions (French and Spanish) you can actually gain from both worlds. רמב"ן: {ח{ והם לא הכירוהו.כלל ולא הוצרך עוד להתנכר אליהם ואמרו רבותינו )יבמות פח (בטעם ההכרה לפי שהניחם חתומי זקן והם לא הכירוהו שיצא מאצלם בלא חתימת זקן ועכשיו מצאוהו בחתימת זקן והנה יששכר וזבולון אינם גדולים מיוסף רק מעט אבל כיון שהכיר את הגדולים הכיר את כולם ועוד היה מכירם מדעתו שיבאו שם והם לא הכירוהו שלא נתנו לבם שיהיה העבד אשר מכרו לישמעאלים הוא השליט על הארץ ואמר רבי אברהם ויכירם בתחלה הכיר שהם אחיו ואחרי כן הסתכל בכל אחד והכירו. Ramban: After explaining the two optional ways of התנכרות that Yosef may,ז' have used to disguise himself in pasuk I find that pasuk ח' actually proves that whichever method that Yosef used (physical disguise or verbal) he was successful, for his brothers did not recognized him at all. I choose to bring the words of the Midrash of our chachamim here, (though I do know that some of the extreme rationalists anti midrashic chachamim such as ibn Ezra and Rambam or the Spanish tradition -may disagree with) that midrash explained that Yosef left his brothers when they were already mature men therefore it was easier for him to recognize them, while the brothers had a hard time recognizing Yosef due to the fact that the last time that they saw him, he was young and had no facial hair. I wish to clarify the point that they made, Yosef might have recognize his brothers just by their appearance, however יששכר and זבולון who were almost as young as he was at the time of him being sold, probably changed from young teens to mature men and they were also recognize because Yosef recognized the older brothers and thorough that he was able to recognize יששכר and.זבולון Another aspect that I wish to add is the fact that Yosef was assisted with the context of the situation he was in. He was expecting them and knew that sooner or later they would be at his door step for food, while they had no way to even suspect that the young man that they have sold to the ישמעאלים is now the ruler of the land! As a
member of the Synthetic tradition, I choose to combine close literal reading of the bible text and kabbalistic doctrines for the torah is not only about rationalism and we should adopt mystically oriented approaches as well. I believe that midrash and peshat are viable and that the scripture can bear all meanings, both being true!