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Why Joseph in Egypt Was a Great Politician
A Torah scroll. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
In the Torah, Joseph (Yosef) comes across as a consummate politician. It starts off with the way he deals with his brothers, who have come down to buy grain and do not recognize him. The process of how he toys with them, threatening them, then compromising and threatening them again, seems to be a matter of taking revenge for what they did to him. But on the other hand, he has to be certain that they will now accept his authority in Egypt, given how much they rebelled at the start against what they saw as his arrogance.
The constant tension resolves when he finally breaks down and reveals himself to them — and then reassures them that he’s going to protect them and feed them. He harbors no ill feeling towards them because, as he tells them, this is all part of a Divine plan.
He invites the family to come down to live in Egypt. Yosef presents his brothers to Pharaoh, but in such a way as to make sure that they are neither seen as a threat, nor are they seen as fodder for Pharaoh’s regime. Yosef has already made clear that he wants his family to be living in Goshen, which is to the north of Egypt towards the Nile Delta — distant from the main seats of Egyptian power. This is why he emphasizes to Pharaoh that his brothers are shepherds. He has an agenda which is to avoid the integration of his family into Egyptian life and to make sure that they are not seen as a threat as other migratory tribes, such as the Hapiru, were.
Yosef then carries out the plan he always had in mind of how to deal with the famine. When it hits, he requires people with money to pay for the grain, both to eat and to plant it, in the hope of achieving a harvest. But then when the money runs out, they have to provide him with their livestock. When that runs out, they offer their land, and finally they agree that they will become serfs to Pharaoh, who in exchange will provide them with grain for their labor. They become indentured slaves working the land, giving 1/5 to Pharaoh and keeping 4/5 both for food and for agriculture. To use modern terminology, he nationalizes everything.
At the same time, he moves the population away from their original locations to make sure that they break their ties to their ancestral lands — the sort of policy Assyrians used towards those people it conquered. Thus, he ensured they will not re-constitute and become a threat.
The only people that he doesn’t apply this to are the priests. You might have thought that the ordinary Egyptians would have resented what had happened, losing their freedom. Maybe in due course, this will explain why under a new regime, Yosef was forgotten whether intentionally or not that. At any rate, in the Torah this week, it says that they were very grateful to him for this solution.
The lessons we can learn are applicable today. Politicians trying to enforce rigorous laws that may give rise to opposition, have to calculate who to alienate or not to alienate. Harsh policies might require sweetening but also appealing to self-interest. A politician has to show firmness and determination to do what he or she feels appropriate, and yet at the same time, must try to show a human caring persona to win popular support.
Yosef is an example of a good and effective politician.
The author is a writer and rabbi, currently based in New York.
The post Why Joseph in Egypt Was a Great Politician first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.