Like his father, Yosef was also prone to showing favoritism to certain family members. Just as Yaakov bestowed more attention, affection and material gifts to Yosef over his other children, Yosef, too, bestowed more attention, affection and material gifts to Binyamin over his other brothers, as it says, "He passed portions from before him to them, and Binyamin's portion was greater than the portions of all of [his other brothers] fivefold" (Bereshit 43:34). Also, "the sons of Israel [made arrangements to come to Egypt], and Yosef gave them wagons by Pharaoh's word, and he gave them provisions for the journey. To each of them he gave changes of clothing; but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing" (Ibid., 45:22). Clearly, Yosef is comfortable with openly displaying more concern for one brother over the others, thus making him susceptible to committing the same mistakes his father did. 

However, just as Yosef attempts to resettle his family in a new land, he is also burdened with the task of saving his adopted kingdom from famine's grip. Yosef, now Zaphenat-Paneach, Egypt's revered viceroy and darling wunderkind, must grapple with providing for his family on the one hand, and his fellow Egyptians on the other. Will Yosef repeat the same parental mistakes of his father on a national scale? Will Yosef give more to his family than he will to his fellow Egyptians, both of whom depend on him for their survival? The answer, is no. Yosef carefully and courageously overcomes his predisposition to give more to those he loves most, and treats his family and his adopted nation in the same way in an attempt to spare his family from the same fate he met due to preferential treatment – being envied, hated, rejected and brutalized. How did Yosef accomplish this?

In this week's parsha, Parshat Vayigash, we learn that when his family settled in the land of Goshen, "Yosef sustained his father and his brothers and all of his father's household with food according to the children" (Ibid., 47:12). According to the Sfrono, this means that, "Even though Yosef was in a position to allocate generous rations to the members of his family, he did not show them any preference and treated them on the basis of need, each family according to the number of souls. As our Sages have stated that at a time when the general population suffers shortage, even those who have ample provisions are to limit themselves" (Sforno on Bereshit 47:12). Thus, we see that Yosef treated both his family and the Egyptians equally. Perhaps, Yosef, who is now the leader and father-figure of two nations, learned that he had to establish, maintain and ensure peace between the Egyptians and the new Jewish inhabitants by not doing what his father had done: conferring equal treatment to all, despite his feelings. But what's more, as the severity of the famine intensifies throughout Egypt, Yosef decides to nationalize private land, as it says, "Yosef purchased all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for each of the Egyptians had sold him his field because the famine had become too hard for them; thus the land became the property of Pharaoh" (Bereshit 47:20). Once all of the land in Egypt came under government control, we learn that Yosef "then moved the people, city by city, from one end of the territory of Egypt to the other" (Ibid., 47:21). Why did Yosef do this? According to Rav Hirsch, "For the state to fully realize its newly acquired right, all those who had owned land were ordered to leave the land they had owned. Thus, a complete transfer of population took place...Our Sages point out the impact of this general population transfer on the new arrivals, the family of Yaakov. Henceforth, no Egyptian could look down disdainfully upon them as newcomers, since the Egyptians themselves no longer lived on their native soil" (Commentary on Bereshit 47:21). Here, we learn that not only did Yosef try to establish unity between his family and the Egyptians by not showing favor to one side over the other in terms of provisions, but he also tried to demonstrate equality by reinventing Egypt, in that all were newcomers now. 

Once he found himself in a position of power and responsibility, both to his family and to his country, Yosef made a conscious effort not to show favoritism, thereby avoiding the pitfalls of his past. Yosef, now the leader of two peoples, saw his role as being a unifier and a peacemaker, realizing that unity can only be achieved through fairness to all. Although many years later, the Egyptians would break that unified fellowship with the Jewish people, we can learn from Yosef's actions that once responsibility to provide for both loved ones and strangers is given to an individual, one must endeavor to do all they can to ensure that that care is given so that solidarity, peace and understanding can strengthen the bonds of family and turn strangers into friends. 

Shabbat Shalom,

-Rabbi Dan