Vayigash

Someone told a joke: “How can you tell when a politician is lying?”  “His lips are moving.”
 
This is a political Torah portion.  Joseph, viceroy to the Pharaoh, begins to collect all the grain in Egypt storing for the predicted famine.  Then once the famine begins, Joseph’s deliberate process handing out food so that it would last through the seven years of hunger.
 
“Joseph the Mashbir” the one who dispensed goods for the land was now confronted by his brothers who came to Egypt in a desperate need for food to stave off the ongoing famine. “Give us bread,” they begged twice. Each time Joseph took something from them in exchange for the bread, much as he did when handing out bread to the Egyptians.
 
In essence, Joseph the Mashbir was also Joseph the politician who saved the population while enriching the nation. 
 
How does the story end? Not with riches but with reconciliation.  Joseph was savvy but even with his brilliance needed to learn the lesson of humility.
 

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