Friday, January 13, 2012

Joseph The Perfect Egyptian?

I was listening yesterday to a class on the Parasha by Rabbi Meir Spiglman. The classes are available online, and I really recommend them as Rav Spiglman is incredibly original.

One of his comments on this parasha, was that Joseph died at the age of 110 years. Apparently, in Egypt 110 was considered the full life of a perfect Egyptian - much as we talk of 120 years. I was slightly skeptical, however an online search showed that this was a valid fact. Rav Spiglman seems to read this as the Torah saying that Joseph died as a perfect Egyptian. This of course leads to the question of just how "Egyptian" vs "Jewish" Joseph's lifestyle (remember he was married to the daughter of an Egyptian priest) really was..

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