Yaakov’s warning to his sons alerts us to the fact that overly concerning ourselves with our reputation and honor is not only vain, but also self-defeating and potentially dangerous.
We read in Parashat Miketz of the harsh drought that ravaged Egypt, Canaan and the surrounding regions, and Yaakov’s decision to send his sons to purchase grain in Egypt, the only nation which had stored grain during the preceding years. Yaakov introduces his instruction to his sons with the rhetorical question, “Lama titra’u” (42:1), a phrase whose precise meaning is subject to considerable discussion. Rashi, in his commentary, cites a surprising interpretation of this verse from the Gemara (Ta’anit 10b), according to which Yaakov and his family did not actually have to go to Egypt for grain. Yaakov was telling his sons that they should not “appear…as though you are satiated” in the eyes of the surrounding peoples. At this point, the family still had food supplies, but Yaakov nevertheless decided they should purchase grain from Egypt rather than be seen enjoying comfort and stability while the other people in the area suffered from hardship and deprivation.
Rav Yisrael Yaakov Yaffe, in his work Kenesset Yisrael, explains the Gemara to mean that as Yaakov and his sons were men of wealth, they were able to purchase grain from the local merchants. By the law of supply and demand, the price of grain in Canaan soared during the drought years, and the poor were compelled to journey to Egypt to purchase grain, which was available for a far more reasonable price there than in Canaan. But the wealthier classes had no need to undertake the long, grueling journey, as they could afford to pay the high price charged by their local proprietors. Yaakov’s sons belonged to this second group, and they felt it would be undignified and beneath their stature to join the peasants in purchasing provisions from Egypt.
Yaakov, however, warned that they were endangering the family by protecting their pride. As difficult and humiliating as the trip to Egypt might be, it was nevertheless preferable to join the lower classes in purchasing from Egypt rather than stand out as wealthy and comfortable by paying high prices and Canaan. Rav Yaffe adds that Yaakov may have likely been affected by the memory of when his father, Yitzchak, brought upon himself the hostility of the Philistines by amassing wealth during a time of grave financial hardship. Yaakov understood that although he and his sons had the means to weather the financial storm, at least at this early stage of the famine, it was wiser for them to join the peasant class in purchasing grain in Egypt.
Yaakov’s warning to his sons alerts us to the fact that overly concerning ourselves with our reputation and honor is not only vain, but also self-defeating and potentially dangerous. If we determine our course of action based on the norms of our self-perceived “class,” we end up wasting valuable resources and also arousing the jealousy and animosity of the people around us. Sometimes it’s preferable to “go to Egypt,” to compromise our comfort and prestige, for the sake of maintaining peaceful relations and goodwill.