“I am Joseph! Does my father still live? The brothers were unable to answer because they were confounded” (Genesis 44: 3). Although this sentence serves as the climax of the Joseph narrative, it raises more questions than it answers. Through most of the narrative, Joseph’s brothers had been speaking about their elderly father. Of all the questions Joseph could have asked his brothers after revealing himself, his father’s status should not be one of them.

The midrashic commentary on this verse only serves to confuse us further: “Abba Kohen Bardela said, ‘woe unto us on the day of judgment, woe unto us on the day of rebuke. Joseph was the youngest of the tribes, but his brothers were unable to respond to him because they were so confounded. When God rebukes us…how much more so?’” (Genesis Rabbah 93:10). The midrash suggests that Joseph was rebuking his brothers, but there seems to be no hint of such sentiments in Joseph’s statement.

Rabbi Joseph Dov Bear Soloveitchick, the author of the Beit Halevi and great-grandfather of Rabbi Soloveitchick (the Rav), argues that these questions imply another reading of the verse. Judah and the rest of the brothers were arguing with Joseph to protect Benjamin. If Benjamin is taken away, they argued, what would happen to their father? Their father Jacob would die from the loss of his youngest son. When stating his true identity Joseph is not just revealing who he is but also sarcastically rebuking his brothers. “I am Joseph,” he replies. Despite my loss, “is not my father still alive?” If you really cared about my father, would you have sold me into slavery and faked my death? Did you think about my father’s feelings then? By turning his brother’s arguments on their head, Joseph profoundly rebukes his brothers by demonstrating their hypocrisy.

This is the reading of the verse hinted at by the midrash. The previously meek Joseph was able to silence his brothers through his sarcasm. In the future, the midrash teaches, God will silence those with other hypocrisies. The person who claims to be too poor to give charity will be asked why he was able to spend money on a Bentley. Joseph’s implicit rebuke to his brothers also serves as a message and a warning to us.