I know we are in middle of lighting Chanukah candles but this week’s פרשה reminded me of Purim. Huh? What am I talking about? I’ll explain. Many times, the Torah will use significant or uncommon words, phrases or ideas in multiple places for us to be reminded or draw a connection between those two stories. This is something that the מדרש discusses very frequently and the בעל הטורים also expounds on these connections. For example: the story of Yakov running from Lavan’s house and the Jews running from Mitzrayim have many linguistic/idea parallels. Both run in secrecy, the word ויברח is used in both places, both Lavan and Pharaoh are told on the 3rd day that their slaves have run away, both take their brethren to chase after them, both catch up on the 7th day, the word ויסג (and he reached) is used by both, and there are more. When you see something like this, the first reaction is usually that it is a coincidence, but God doesn’t do coincidence. And after a certain number of parallels it’s hard to deny that there is a connection. And the next steps are uncovering what the meaning of the connection might be.
In this week’s פרשה, Yosef tells Pharaoh, יעשה פרעה ויפקד פקדים על הארץ, Pharaoh should do and appoint trustworthy managers over the land [to gather the grain during the abundant years]. Both the word ויפקד and פקדים are both very uncommon, each only appearing less than 5 times in the entire תנ”ך. But they appear together only twice in all 24 books of תנ”ך. Once here, and the other time is in מגילת אסתר when the נערי המלך give אחשורוש an idea to find a wife to replace ושתי, ויפקד המלך פקידים בכל מדינות מלכותך. Let’s go through some more of the parallels. 1- in both places you have a נער talking to a king, the נערי המלך are the ones that give the idea and Yosef is called נער twice in the Torah, one being right before he is brought to Pharaoh 2- the concept of gathering, in our פרשה the idea is to gather grain and in the megillah they gather women, and in both places the word ויקבצו is used 3- in both stories someone is placed second to the king (I am referring to Mordechai at the end of the megillah in פרק ח’), 4- both times the king gives his legislative ring (law making ability) to that person, and the word ויסר is used 5- both Mordechai and Yosef get ridden around the country on the royal vehicle (horse or chariot), 6- both Mordechai and Yosef get dressed in royal garb.
At a certain point it stops looking like an accident and it seems like the Torah wants us to be reminded of Purim this Shabbos while we are listening to laining. I don’t yet have a full explanation of what this connection is. Obviously, there is the basic idea to never give up hope. Yosef was in the bottom of a pit and Mordechai was awaiting a holocaust, both had faith and ended up not only getting saved but also saving the day for their nation primarily through trust in God and also through smart political strategies and maneuvers. But that seems too vague, I sense that there is something much more specific to these two stories that the Torah wants us to see. Is the Purim story a repetition in some way of Yosef giving Pharaoh a 14-year economical plan? Is there a more specific underlying message that the two stories bring out together? I am not sure. I would love to hear if you have any ideas of what you think these connections might be pointing to.
Have a great Shabbos!