exploitation by people who had the power to help him but didn ' t. In Potiphar’ s house, Joseph painstakingly cares for his master’ s property, only to be imprisoned for a false accusation without a second thought. In prison, Joseph eases the pain of a cupbearer by interpreting his disturbing dream, informing him he would soon be freed. His only request is to be remembered and advocated for after the cupbearer’ s release:
I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews; nor have I done anything. 40
And yet, as soon as he’ s freed from prison,“ the cupbearer didn’ t remember Joseph; he forgot him.” 41 Or Ha-Hayyim explained that the verse’ s emphasis on the cupbearer ' s forgetfulness was highlighting that the forgetting was deliberate. To forget, Or Ha-Hayyim claimed, is to actively“ blot something out” of one’ s mind. Alternatively, Rabbi Yaakov Mecklenburg claimed,“ Most usages of forgetting mean not putting one’ s attention to something, since it isn’ t important in his eyes to put his mind to it.” Joseph, a kidnapped slave imprisoned for a crime he didn’ t commit, didn’ t matter enough to the cupbearer to be remembered— despite Joseph’ s kindness. That remained the case until the cupbearer stood to benefit from Joseph when Pharaoh needed a dream interpreter. 42
40
Genesis 40:15
41
Genesis 40:23
42
Genesis 42:12
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