incongruous facts

It was only after being locked up for three days in prison by Yosef, only after he had told them they could go home, provided they leave Shimon behind and agree to bring back Binyamin, that the brothers said to themselves

 וַיֹּאמְר֞וּ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־אָחִ֗יו אֲבָל֮ אֲשֵׁמִ֣ים ׀ אֲנַ֘חְנוּ֮ עַל־אָחִ֒ינוּ֒ אֲשֶׁ֨ר רָאִ֜ינוּ צָרַ֥ת נַפְשׁ֛וֹ בְּהִתְחַֽנְנ֥וֹ אֵלֵ֖ינוּ וְלֹ֣א שָׁמָ֑עְנוּ עַל־כֵּן֙ בָּ֣אָה אֵלֵ֔ינוּ הַצָּרָ֖ה הַזֹּֽאת׃ (42:21)

Abarbanel asks (see Shem m'Shmuel as well): why did it take them these three days to come to this realization?  Why didn't it hit them as soon as they were accused of being spies, or from the first moment they were locked up?

Abarbanel answers that when the brothers originally were accused by Yosef, they could easily have dismissed his accusations as those of a lunatic, a crazy dictator who for some reason took a disliking to them.  However, after the three days in lockup, look at how Yosef addressed the brothers:

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֤ם יוֹסֵף֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֔י זֹ֥את עֲשׂ֖וּ וִֽחְי֑וּ אֶת־הָאֱלֹקים אֲנִ֥י יָרֵֽא

 אִם־כֵּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם אֲחִיכֶ֣ם אֶחָ֔ד יֵאָסֵ֖ר בְּבֵ֣ית מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑ם וְאַתֶּם֙ לְכ֣וּ הָבִ֔יאוּ שֶׁ֖בֶר רַעֲב֥וֹן בָּתֵּיכֶֽם

First of all, he told them that he is a G-d fearing person, i.e. he is a moral individual.  Then he told them that not only can they return home, but they can also pack their bags with food.  The only condition he set is leaving behind Shimon as a means of guaranteeing their return.  

This is not the rantings of a crazy person or person who just hates them.  אֶת־הָאֱלֹקים אֲנִ֥י יָרֵֽא, these are the words of someone who seems to be a law abiding, ethical person, and who only wants to do the right thing.

The brothers could not in their minds find a way to bridge the incongruity of their having been locked up and wrongly accused and the Yosef who now presented himself as a reasonable, ethical person.  The only conclusion they were left with is that it is not some madness or hatred on Yosef's part, but rather it was their own misdeed in selling Yosef which caused Hashem to visit this strange punishment upon them.

This Abarbanel caught my attention because it is this incongruity that the brothers found so unbelievable which I think characterizes modern antisemitism more than the antisemitism of previous times.  

I just finished reading One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World, and there is one passage that stood out in my mind (I'm sorry I already returned the book to the library and can't quote it exactly).  Stella Levi had a sister who was an intellectual; she used to read anything she could get her hands on, she used to sit and talk late into the night about philosophy, politics, etc.  After the war, when Stella was once relating some of her experiences (she survived Auschwitz) in her sister's presence, she found that her sister had gone off and was sitting alone listening to the 9th symphony.  She could not deal with the incongruity of a "civilized" world, the world of humanism, liberalism, ideas and ideals that she had believed in before the war, and what had actually happened. 

Even when news of the concentration camps seeped out, people found it unbelievable because it was so at odds with the image of German culture and reason.  Surely reasonable, intelligent, ethical people would never behave in such a way. 

And yet, they did.