Yosef recognized his brothers, but his brothers didn’t recognize him (Bereishis 42:8). Why they didn’t recognize him is discussed (see Rashi), but what about the Egyptians? If we follow the storyline, it would seem that the Egyptians should have realized that the brothers were relatives of their viceroy. After all, it was known that Yosef was an עברי, as evidenced by Pharaoh’s officer identifying him as such (41:12), and the Egyptians didn’t eat with the brothers because they were עברים (43:32. Yet, the Egyptians seem surprised to learn that these עברים were Yosef’s brothers (45:16). Why didn’t they realize that the עברים Yosef was paying special attention to were his relatives?
Radak says Pharaoh and his servants were pleased to find out who Yosef’s brothers were (45:16) “because they saw that [Yosef] came from a well-respected family, as Avraham’s family was well known.” Similarly, when Yosef told his prison-mates that he was kidnapped from “the land of the עברים (40:15,” Radak explains that “the family of the עברים, i.e. the Patriarchs, who lived in the land of Canaan, was well known, so the land was ascribed to them.” Even though Yosef could have been saying he was kidnapped from that land even if he wasn’t part of the family, since he was identified as an עברי by Potifar’s wife (39:14/17) and by Pharaoh’s bartender (41:12), they must have known that he was part of this well-known family. Why didn’t the Egyptians put two and two together?
Several reasons are given as to why the Egyptians would not eat with עברים. Unkeles says it was because עברים ate the same animals that the Egyptians worshipped. Ibn Ezra (46:34) says the Egyptians didn’t eat meat (or drink milk); since עברים ate meat (see 43:16), they were despised. Rashbam and Chizkuni say the Egyptians were haughty, and looked down on all foreigners. Some modern scholars attribute it to Egyptian hygiene; the Egyptians wore linen clothing, which could be kept clean, while עברים wore wool and leather, which had an odor. [This would explain why Yosef gave his brothers a change of clothing (45:22), as well as why shepherds were despised by Egyptians (46:34), as dealing with animals includes being able to tolerate their odors.] Without getting into the pros and cons of each of these approaches, one common denominator is that the Egyptian distaste wouldn’t be limited to עברים, but applied to anyone who shared these characteristics. It is therefore possible that the Egyptians didn’t realize they were עברים, only that they did things that were abhorrent to them. Nevertheless, the Torah implies it was because they were עברים, not because they did things that were distasteful to Egyptians that others also did.
Yosef said he was kidnapped from (ארץ העברים (40:15, the only time in Tanach this term is used. We can understand why he didn’t refer to it as the Land of Canaan, he was telling his prison-mates that he wasn’t really a slave; since the descendants of Canaan were designated as slaves by Noach (9:25-27, see Radak on 10:19), saying he was from Canaan could undermine the point he was trying to make. But he would still need to use terminology that was understood. Even though his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were well known (and had amassed a great amount of wealth, see 13:2, 26:14 and 30:43, which included having a large staff), referring to it as “their” land is a bit awkward, since they were just one family. But was it really just one family?
Bereishis Rabba (42:8) quotes three opinions as to why Avraham was called an עברי. Rabbi Yehuda says it was because the whole world was on one side (עבר) and he was on the other side (referring to his being monotheistic and confronting those who weren’t); Rabbi Nechemya says it was because he was a descendant of עבר (who was monotheistic); and the Rabbanan say it was because he came from the other side (עבר) of the river (the Euphrates) and spoke לשון עברי. Hak’sav V’hakabala (Bereishis 14:13) says all three agree that the main reason he was called an עברי was because of his monotheism, not because of his family or place of origin. Eiver did have other descendants (and Avraham was more well-known than Eiver), and many others lived east of the Euphrates. The other opinions are only adding that the term עברי applies for other reasons too.
When Avraham and Sarah moved from Charan to Canaan, they brought “the souls they had made in Charan,” i.e. those they had converted to monotheism (see Rashi on 12:5) with them. Shem and Eiver (who were also monotheists, but did not confront those who weren’t) had academies (and judicial courts) in Canaan (as I discussed a couple of weeks ago). Avraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov had their own yeshivos in Canaan as well (Yoma 28b). There was clearly a decent-sized monotheistic movement underway in Canaan, with Avraham being the founder of this movement. And since he was called an עברי because of his monotheism, those who followed his lead were referred to as עברים. Having a well-known community of עברים in Canaan made it possible for Yosef to refer to his home, from where he was kidnapped, as ארץ העברים.
We don’t know what happened to this monotheistic community after Yaakov and his sons moved to Egypt. It may have fallen apart, or it may have remained intact enough to become integrated into כלל ישראל in ארץ ישראל 40 years after the Exodus. It is clear that the term עברי would eventually refer only to those who were part of כלל ישראל (see Ibn Ezra on Shemos 21:2). Nevertheless, it seems likely enough that, when the brothers went down to Egypt to purchase food during the famine, there was a large enough community of עברים in Canaan that the 11 עברים who had to eat separately from the Egyptians were not assumed to be related to the עברי who was the viceroy of Egypt.
Rabbi Dov Kramer is a committed monotheist living in Passaic, NJ. His email address is RabbiDMK at gmail dot com.
