Parashat Miketz: Joseph, the master of ‘provention’

The Torah reminds us of a slower tempo. That cadence can enhance our ability to act more long term and proactively, as we face so many dilemmas, to be more like Joseph and practice “provention.”

By MICHAEL M. COHEN DECEMBER 27, 2024 12:11

An illustrative image of farming in Israel. (photo credit: FLASH90)

Like the explosion of the Big Bang, the Book of Genesis begins at breathtaking speed. Its opening 35 verses cover some 13.8 billion years, from that first moment of the universe through the appearance of humans on the Earth around 400,000 years ago.

Paralleling the universe, the Book of Genesis then slows down its pace. Dutch science writer Govert Schilling points out that “in the first couple of billion years after the Big Bang, the expansion slowed down due to the mutual gravitational attraction of all the matter in the universe.” We certainly feel that deceleration in the 500 verses of the Joseph Cycle that takes place over only 93 years.

In this week’s Torah portion, Miketz, Joseph is quickly brought out of prison to interpret the dreams of Pharaoh. He is so impressed by Joseph’s astute interpretation of the dreams, anticipating “seven years of great abundance coming throughout the land of Egypt, but seven years of famine to follow them” (Genesis 41:29), that Pharaoh heeds Joseph’s advice:

“Let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him in charge of the land of Egypt. Then Pharaoh should appoint commissioners over the land to take a fifth of the harvest of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. They should collect all the food of these good years that are coming and store up the grain under the authority of Pharaoh, to be kept in the cities for food. This food should be held in reserve for the country, to be used during the seven years of famine that will come upon Egypt, so that the country may not be ruined by the famine” (Genesis 41:33-36).

Joseph as a model for provention

Joseph models for us the concept of “provention.” Australian diplomat John W. Burton, who established the Center for the Analysis of Conflict at University College London and authored Conflict: Resolution and Provention, explains, “Prevention implies suppression: provention is intended to imply anticipation and avoidance.”

SCRIBES FINISH writing a Torah scroll. (credit: DAVID COHEN/FLASH 90)

Unfortunately, we do not utilize this orientation and approach, so important and critical, as much as we should. More often than not, we think and act for the short term and are reactionary; we do not consider the long term and are not proactive. Short-term, reactive thinking has its place, and there are situations when it is absolutely the correct way to act. Our challenge, our very human challenge, is that too often we fall back on that approach, negating long-term, proactive options.

Feike Sijbesma, the cochairman of the Global Center on Adaptation, explains:

“For many, dealing with long-term, disruptive change is not always easy. Perhaps this is unsurprising. Throughout our evolution, our minds have evolved to handle immediate problems and threats. When, for example, we see something moving in the bushes in front of us, our first instinct is to consider danger instead of opportunity.

“While short-term thinking is not surprising, it can be problematic. In his 2004 book, A Short History of Progress, Ronald Wright describes human beings in today’s world as running 21st-century software on 50,000-year-old hardware. The results can be catastrophic.”

Which brings us back to Joseph. As Torah commentator Naomi Graetz points out, “Dreams conceal all sorts of hidden things and one needs a psychiatrist, or a Joseph, to interpret them.” When we think about Joseph, we naturally focus on his ability to interpret dreams with an emphasis on his capability to translate the messages and symbols of dreams. 

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But Joseph’s mastery of interpretation in general is perhaps more important. The Hebrew used in the text for “interpretation” is fitron (Genesis 41:11). As modern Hebrew developed, the related word pitaron became “solution.” In other words, to find a solution, we need to properly interpret events, words, and ideas.

Too often in our search for solutions, we interpret while wearing short-term, reactive glasses, and we forget to put on our long-term, proactive spectacles, and so we neglect to follow through, as Joseph did, with “provention.” Joseph could not prevent the famine, but through his actions he was able to mitigate its impact.

With so many of the dilemmas and challenges we face throughout the world, “provention” is a proven and successful tool that we should take advantage of in greater fashion.

Years before the coronavirus appeared, scientists and others told us it was only a matter of time before the world would experience a global pandemic. Yet, we did not do nearly enough beforehand to limit its deadly consequences, and as of today the virus has killed more than seven million people.

We know there will be more deadly pandemics in the future, and yet we discard “provention” and refuse to take appropriate measures. This will have deadly consequences. Avian flu, or bird flu, which has the ability to jump to humans, is making the rounds, and once again we are failing to do what we should.

This says nothing of our falling farther and farther behind what we must do to address the catastrophic consequences of the ongoing changes to the world’s climate.

In the past century, we made huge strides against some of the world’s deadliest diseases, such as polio, whooping cough, and measles. Voices calling for the end of vaccinations will be nothing short of approving unnecessary tragic suffering and deaths. In 2019 the prime minister of Samoa was convinced to stop vaccines against measles. The result? Children died from measles. It’s one thing to not practice “provention”; it’s amoral to undo where it has succeeded.

Joseph’s advice to collect one-fifth of the harvest during the seven years of good yield (Genesis 41:34) was not necessarily easy for the farmers, but by doing so Egyptians did not “perish in the famine” during the ensuing seven years (Genesis 41:36).

Recently, we have learned that the expansion of the universe has accelerated, increasing cosmic distances to somewhere around .007% in one million years because of a mystery of empty space called “dark energy.” The pace of the Torah, however, does not increase its speed. In fact, the final book of the Torah, the Book of Deuteronomy, shifts to an almost snail’s pace, covering some 47 days in about 955 verses.

The expansion of the universe picking up speed mirrors in so many ways the faster pace of our lives. With that, the Torah reminds us of a slower tempo. While the universe operates in allegro, the Torah prefers adagio. That cadence can enhance our ability to act more long term and proactively, as we face so many dilemmas, to be more like Joseph and practice “provention.” ■

The writer is a Reconstructionist rabbi emeritus of the Israel Congregation in Manchester Center, Vermont. He teaches at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies on Kibbutz Ketura and at Bennington College.