In the Torah portion this week, there is a line that chills me to the bone. It is an ominous literary moment that turns everything on its head and sets the stage for the horrors that are to come.
The reading starts with some innocuous genealogical details and then out of the blue hits us with :
וַיָּ֥קׇם מֶֽלֶךְ־חָדָ֖שׁ עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע אֶת־יוֹסֵֽף׃ A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
Exodus 1:8
Without context, that line may not sound like much, but just last week, we concluded the epic tale of Joseph. The story is focused on Joseph himself and the members of his family, but we can’t forget how it affects the world around them as well. Joseph saved Egypt from a famine that ravaged the rest of the world. Not only did the Egyptians have enough to eat, but he managed the crisis so expertly that Egypt amassed wealth beyond measure by selling their excess food. Joseph was made viceroy over the whole country and ran everything for some 80 years until he passed away.
By all rights, he was an Egyptian hero. He single-handedly made the country into a superpower. He had the type of legacy that goes down in history, that nations write songs about and build monuments for.
He’s not the type of person that the leader of the country would simply not know about.
So how then, just a couple short decades after Joseph passes away, does a king arise who does not know of him?
Rashi says, that the king made himself feel as if he didn’t know Joseph.1
Why would the king pretend that he’d never heard of this Egyptian national hero?
Because he wanted to enslave the Jewish people. He wanted to enslave Joseph’s family. And if he really considered what Joseph had done for Egypt, he would never have been able to do what he was about to do.
Pharaoh had to rationalize the evil he was about to commit. Had to first convince himself that it wasn’t evil. Once he managed that, the rest was easy…
When people rationalize, they tell themselves rational lies, and you can be sure what follows will not be for the good.
Be cautious when you see this happening in others.
And remember – it can also happen to you.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi A and the JET Team
1Rashi even says it’s not clear it was even a new king. That is, this king might have been the very same pharaoh who appointed Joseph in the first place!
So how do u know u r rationalizing a lie or accepting a truth?
We make decisions based on what we experience, read n hear from others. Facts are not always easy to get.
Great question. I wish there were an easy silver bullet answer to this for all situations. It’s helpful to do regular introspection about the things you really want (and thus where your blind spots might be). From there, speaking to an unbiased third party, like a mentor, can often clarify if we are on the right track or not.