Parshas HaShavua Parshas Vayechi

Parshas Vayechi

The First Ghetto in Jewish History

by Rabbi Efraim Sprecher, Dean of Students, Diaspora Yeshiva, Jerusalem

Goshen in Egypt was the first �ghetto� in Jewish history. Historians say
that every place and every time, it was the Jews who created the ghettos, as
a way to keep apart from the people among whom they lived and so that they
could live in a Jewish atmosphere among themselves. The non-Jews only
erected the walls and gates to the ghettos, in order to prevent the Jews
from leaving the quarters which they themselves had set up. Sometimes, the
Jews were shut up in ghettos ostensibly for their own protection, but in
most cases it was done to prevent them from forming any close ties with
their neighbors.

The first voluntary ghetto of this kind was in Goshen. Kli Yakar says
Yosef�s brothers deliberately said, �Your servants are shepherds�, so that
Pharoah would move them away from the Egyptians, for �all shepherds are
detestable to Egypt.�

HaAmek Davar says that, in spite of the fact that living apart from the
Egyptians would make the Egyptians detest them, Yosef nevertheless wanted to
have his brothers in isolation, in order to preserve their purity as Jews.
R� Samson Raphael Hirsch takes this idea, and adds:
�As long as the ethical dawn of the other nations had not yet come, it was
the partitions which the other nations erected which preserved Israel from
being infected by the corruption of the people among whom it dwelled for
hundreds of years. That is why Yosef stressed here a step which would
arouse Egyptian loathing, with the clear intention of thereby having set
aside for his brothers a special place for their dwellings.�
Various rishonim, though, give different explanations for Yosef�s advice to
his brothers to have them tell Pharoah that they were shepherds. Yosef
wanted to involve them in productive and creative work, in which they would
be able to support themselves without excessive effort. It is true, says
Abarbanel, that Yosef could have made his brothers government officials, but
he did not want them to assume positions of authority, preferring to have
them engage in easy and clean work.
Rabbrenu Bachya lays great stress on the ethical value of working as a
shepherd. He lists two advantages of this type of work: (a) One earns money
from the wool, the lambs and the milk; (b) as �all shepherds are detestable
to Egypt�, the brothers would not have any competition and would have this
work entirely to themselves. This way they would find satisfaction and
sustenance in their work. This type of work, adds Rabbenu Bachya, also
brings about spiritual elevation. Shepherds live in the midst of nature,
and not with other people � and people are full of lies, talebearing and
other evil practices. The isolation which shepherds experience is a
necessary condition for prophecy. The greatest prophets, such as Eliyahu
and Elisha, isolated themselves in the desert. Other shepherds were Hevel
(Abel), Moshe, Shmuel, David and Shaul.
Living in the city involves the acquiring of more and more possessions and
luxuries, whereas Yosef wanted to enable his brothers to live a more simple
life.
Yosef wanted to instill in his brothers the characteristic of compassion,
and that was why he made them shepherds. A shepherd is compassionate
towards his flock, and all the more so, toward people. That was also the
reason that Pharaoh did not take them into his army. A person who was
taught to be compassionate could not serve in the Pharaoh�s army, because
being in the army meant being cruel and shedding blood.
Even before Pharaoh knew that Yosef�s brothers were shepherds, Yosef had a
message sent to Pharaoh that �My father and my father�s house�have come to
me.� He stressed that they had come, with the idea that they would be of
use to Pharaoh, just as Yosef himself was. However, after hearing that
Yosef�s brothers were shepherds, Pharaoh had no further interest in them,
and said, �Your father and your brothers have come to you.� He decided that
he had no need for them.
Yosef achieved the goal which he wanted, to separate his brothers from the
Egyptians, and to enable them to live an ethical life in which they would
support themselves from their work. Yaakov and his sons became shepherds,
settled in Goshen, and had no contact with the Egyptians. Yosef�s plan
eventually led to our early redemption from Egypt after 210 years, instead
of 400 years.

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