Literary Devices – Bereshit 43
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Parallels and Contrasts
Key Words
אִישׁ (man) Tanakh Lab demonstrates that the word that appears most frequently in Bereshit 43 is “ish” (20 times). This alludes to the brothers’ lack of knowledge of the identity of Yosef, who in their eyes is simply a powerful and inscrutable man. The brothers too are referred to as “anashim” rather than being identified as Yosef’s brothers or Yaakov’s sons, reflecting their lack of awareness of the family dynamics at play as they descend to Egypt. The generic identifier of “ish” is used repeatedly for the various characters in the chapter as an expression of their concealed identities. The word “ish” also alludes to the power dynamics in the chapter, as the brothers struggle with Yosef’s bewildering ways of asserting power (“ish” often connotes authority).
Character Titles
