Parshat Vayeshev

‘And it was on that on the third day, it was Pharaoh’s birthday…’ (Bereishit 40,20)

This was the day of the feast which featured the restoration of the butler and the degradation of the baker, as forecast by Joseph in his interpretation of the butler’s and baker’s dreams.

Why though does the Torah mention Pharaoh’s birthday? It is the only ‘yom huledet’ (birthday) mentioned as such in the Torah. This may also have seasonal implications for us.

Rashi explains that it was Pharaoh’s actual birthday, but that it was called ‘Yom Ginosar’. This seems to be based on the Mishna ( Babylonian Talmud Avoda Zara 8a and further comments, on 10a)) which describes various pagan festivals. However, the Mishna, and Rashi in his commentary there, distinguish between a monarch’s birthday (yom huledet) and a day which celebrates the monarch’s coronation, a celebration which involved idolatrous offerings.

Is Rashi perhaps suggesting that in the case of Pharaoh, the two days coincided and thus a special feast was made?

The great 19^th century Lithuanian sage, Rabbi Baruch Halevi Epstein does not believe that they coincided. Although the Mishna quoted above lists the monarch’s birthday and the Yom Ginosar as separate idolatrous festivals, yet the Jerusalem Talmud (a parallel work to the Babylonian Talmud) says that the yom huledet and the yom ginosar are the same. Therefore answers Rabbi Epstein, Rashi is in fact following the Jerusalem Talmud’s explanation in his commentary on the Torah.

Why though would Rashi follow the Jerusalem Talmud in this case over the Babylonian edition which is normally pre-eminent? Rabbi Epstein answers that perhaps the Babylonian Talmud was referring to the Roman Caesars who, according to the Babylonian Talmud, would not appoint a monarch’s child to succeed a departing monarch. Therefore, each Roman monarch would celebrate not only his/her birthday, but also the day on which he/she succeeded to the monarchy. The celebration of succeeding to the monarchy was called Yom Ginosar.

In other monarchies, where a monarch’s child succeeded the departed monarch, there would be no Yom Ginosar, as the child simply succeeded to the throne through hereditary laws. Thus, there was no need to commemorate the succession on a yearly basis – perhaps in a similar vein to the public law provisions and associated customs regarding the British royal family.

Rabbi Epstein concludes that the name ‘Pharaoh’ refers to the name of a ruling family in Egypt, which passed on the monarchy on a hereditary basis. It is not a specific name of a monarch. Egyptian kings would not have a Yom Ginosar as they were born to be kings. Therefore, Rashi explains this verse on the basis of the Jerusalem Talmud to say that Yom Ginosar and Yom Huledet are the same day.

The Mishna at the beginning of Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Avoda Zara, defines various days which are idolatrous festivals – such as Yom Ginosar - , ruling that Jews should not conduct business during the three days preceding the idolatrous festival, with non-Jews who celebrate these festivals if that business will enable the idol worshipers to pay for their festival expenses. Ask your local rabbi if he thinks this has seasonal implications!

Shabbat Shalom and Chanuka Sameach - Happy Chanuka!