On the Road to Egypt

The Torah says[1] that Osah, the wife of Levi, gave birth to Jochebed in Egypt. The Talmud understands[2] that this implies that Osah birthed her in Egypt, but she conceived Jochebed on the road to Egypt. This is difficult to understand because Jacob and his family descended to Egypt from the Land of Canaan during the famine years because of the global famine[3], and the Talmud says[4] that it is forbidden for one to engage in marital relations during a famine because it is not fitting that one should have pleasure while others are suffering. The source for this Talmudic ruling is the fact that the Torah specifically mentions that Joseph fathered his sons Ephraim and Manasseh before the famine began[5], which implies that once the famine began he no longer fathered any children because of the prohibition of relations during a famine. Accordingly, the conception of Jochebed whilst on the road to Egypt should not have occurred because Osah and Levi were not allowed to engage in relations during the worldwide food shortage.

Rabbi Eliyahu Mizrachi (1455-1525) answers[6] that since Levi had yet not fulfilled his commandment of procreation, he was not allowed to separate from his wife. On this answer, Rabbi Yosef Caro (1488-1575) asked[7] that Joseph also did not fulfill his commandment of procreation, so he should not have separated from his wife, yet the Talmud says he did. According Tosafos, one can answer the question of Rabbi Yosef Caro by explaining that Joseph held like Bais Shammai that one fulfills the obligation of procreation through two sons, while Levi held like Beis Hillel who required a son and a daughter. Tosafos answer[8] that technically there is no actual prohibition of engaging in relations during a famine, albeit one who is especially pious should nonetheless refrain from doing so, to sympathize with the suffering of others during the hunger. Had the requirement of abstention had the status of a full-fledged prohibition, then surely both Levi and Joseph would not have engaged in relations during the famine because even before the Sinaitic Revelation the Abrahamic family observed the Torah[9]. Rather, the idea of refraining from relations during a famine is a mere stringency, which pious men would accept upon themselves. Tosafos further explain[10] that Joseph accepted this stringency upon himself because he had already fulfilled his commandment of procreation, so he was halachakly allowed to separate from his wife for the duration of the famine. By this time, Joseph already had two sons, and so, according to Bais Shammai[11], he had fulfilled his obligation of procreation. Levi, on the other hand, had three sons, but he ruled like Bais Hillel who held that one has not fulfilled his obligation of procreation until he fathers at least a son and a daughter. Therefore, Levi did not refrain from relations because he could not accept a mere stringency if it conflicted with an actual obligation of procreation, for he did not have a daughter yet.

Rabbi Pinchas Horowitz (1731-1805) offered[12] a few possible answers. He explains that in addition to the commandment of procreation in which a man is obligated (and which both Joseph and Levi had already fulfilled); there is a commandment of populating the world[13], in which even a woman is obligated[14]. The obligation of populating the world is an obligation for every person in the world to have at least one child. Both Joseph and his wife and Osnath had fulfilled the obligation of populating the world when they birthed their first child, Manasseh. However, Levi had two wives: His first wife, Adina[15], had already mothered three sons, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, while his second wife, Osah, had not mothered any children whatsoever. Therefore, Levi was allowed to live with Osah even during a famine in order that she should be able to fulfill her commandment of populating the world through at least one child and through living with Osah on the road to Egypt, Levi and Osah birthed Jochebed. Rabbi Horowitz also answers that perhaps Levi never actually engaged in relations with Osah during the famine, rather she was impregnated by him through other means[16]. Rabbi Horowitz also entertains the possibility that Joseph separated from his wife not only because of the famine but because immediately before the famine she gave birth to Ephraim and the Talmud says that it is dangerous for a woman to have relations while she is nursing[17]. However, Levi's wife already gave birth awhile before the famine, so he was allowed to live with her during the famine to fulfill the commandment of procreation. Joseph, explains Rabbi Yaakov Reischer (1661-1733)[18], had already fulfilled his commandment of procreation because in addition to his sons, he had a daughter as is implied by Rashi[19]. The Maharal, Rabbi Yehudah Low (1525-1609) also entertained[20] this possibility, but rejected it because had it been true, then there were seventy-one descendants of Jacob who descended to Egypt, not seventy[21]. Rabbi Yaakov Reischer explains that this daughter of Joseph died young, so she was not counted as one of the seventy souls who descended to Egypt.

A student of Rabbi Horowitz, Rabbi Moshe Sofer (1762-1839)[22], explains that the commandment of procreation of a Noachide differs from the commandment of procreation of a Jew. He says that a Noachide is obligated to father only one child, while a Jew must father a son and a daughter. Therefore, he explains, since Joseph was considered a Noachide, he was only obligated to father one child, which he did, so he had no right to continue living with his wife during the famine. However, Levi was considered a Jew because he lived in the Land of Canaan[23], so he was obligated to have a boy and girl. Since at the time of the famine Levi only had three sons, but no girls, he was allowed to live with his wife in hopes of fathering a girl, which he did, Jochebed. According to this explanation, whether or not Joseph had fathered a daughter is irrelevant because anyways he was a Noachide and had already fulfilled the Noachidic commandment of procreation.

All the above explanations as to how Levi was able to live with his wife on the road to Egypt even though marital relations are forbidden during a famine assume that one is allowed to engage in such relations during a famine in order to fulfill the commandment of procreation or populating the world. Indeed, the Maharal and Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (1810-1893)[24] infer this from the fact that the Torah made a point of saying Joseph's children were born before the famine, so that Joseph was totally allowed to have birthed them. This implies that had they been born during the famine, Joseph's only permission to live with his wife would have stemmed from the fact that he had no yet fulfilled the commandment of procreation and thus was obligated to live with his wife. In such a case, there is a prohibition, but the prohibition was superseded by a positive commandment. The Maharal explains that in such an instance there is still a small remnant of the prohibition when one is performing the positive commandment, so the Torah is teaching us that in the birth of Joseph's sons there was not even a small hint of illicitness because the children were born before the famine, under complete halachik permissibility. However, Rabbi Menachem Meiri (1249-1310)[25] explains that even who has not yet fulfilled his obligation of procreation is not allowed to engage in relations during a famine, and Rabbi Dovid Segal (1586-1667)[26] rules in practical Halacha according to this explanation of the Meiri. How then was Levi allowed to live with his wife on the road to Egypt in order to have fathered Jochebed, if such relations are forbidden during a famine?

When the Talmud ruled that relations during a time of hunger are forbidden, the rationale was that it is improper for one to be in pleasure while others are suffering. Rabbi Yom Tov Asevilli (1250-1330)[27] and Rabbi Nissim ben Reuven of Gerona (1320-1380)[28] explain that according to this rationale, it is only forbidden to engage in relations if other Jews are in a state of suffering. Therefore, Joseph was forbidden to engage in relations because he thought that his father's family in the land of Canaan was in a state of suffering because of the famine. However, Levi was allowed to be with his wife because the family was actually not in a state of suffering during the famine[29]. Rabbi Isaiah of Trani (1180-1250) explains[30] that some members of the pre-Sinaitic Abarahamic family kept the Torah and some did not. He says that Joseph did keep the Torah before the Sinaitic Revelation, so he was bound by the prohibition of marital relations during a famine, while Levi did not keep the Torah before receiving it at Mount Sinai, so he was allowed to live with his wife during the global drought.

Rabbi Yosef Engel (1859-1910) writes[31] that one is forbidden to separate from his wife during a famine, if one feels that otherwise he would be tempted to commit grave sins. Accordingly, one can answer that Joseph, who knew that he would be able to pass the test of temptation to sin during the famine as he passed the temptation to sin with the wife of Potiphar[32], was allowed to be strict with himself and separate from his wife during the famine. However, Levi had not been able to withstand such a test (albeit he never failed such a test either) and there was not necessarily able to act stringently, so he was not allowed to separate from his wife. Alternatively, the Maharal explained that Joseph was not allowed to live with his wife because he knew that the famine was temporary and would last only seven years. However, Levi did not know that the famine was destined to last only seven years, so had he separated from his wife for the duration of the famine, for all he knew he could have been separating from her indefinitely, so he was allowed to stay with his wife[33]. As a result, Levi and Osah merited birthing Jochebed, the mother of Moses, the savior of the Jewish Nation from the exile in Egypt. May it be the will of HaShem that the current—a famine lasting almost two millennia—shall not extend indefinitely rather arrive at its end with the arrival of the Messiah and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem speedily and in our days: Amen.


[1] Numbers 26:59
[2] Bava Basra 120a, ibid. 123b, Sotah 12a
[3] See Genesis 41:57ff
[4] Taanis 11a
[5] Genesis 41:50
[6] Re'em to Genesis 41:50
[7] Beis Yosef, Orach Chaim §574
[8] To Taanis 11a
[9] As the Maharsha to Taanis 11a points out
[10] Da'as Zekanim to Parshas Miketz as quoted by the Cheshek Shlomo
[11] Yevamos 61b
[12] Panim Yafos to Numbers 26:59
[13] See Yevamos 62a which learns this obligation from Isaiah 45:18
[14] Shulchan Aruch, Even HaEzer §1
[15] See Seder HaDoros Year 2364
[16] I.e., his semen entered her while she was in the bath; see Chagigah 15a which discusses whether a woman can become impregnated through such means. According to Jewish folklore, the mother of Ben Sira was impregnated by Jeremiah in such a fashion (see Mishnah L'Melech to Laws of Marriage 15:4 and Seder HaDoros Year 3298).
[17] Yevamos 11b
[18] Iyun Yaakov to Taanis 11a
[19] To Genesis 44:19
[20] Gur Aryeh to Genesis 41:50
[21] See Exodus 1:5
[22] Chasam Sofer to Parshas Miketz as quoted by Tehillah L'Yonah to Taanis 11a.
[23] See Nachmanides to Leviticus 18:25 who wrote that the pre-Sinaitic Abrahamic family only kept the Torah inside the land of Canaan/Israel, but not in the Diaspora.
[24] Meromei Sadeh to Taanis 11a
[25] Beis HaBechirah to Taanis 11a
[26] TaZ, Turei Zahav, Orach Chaim §574:2
[27] Chiddushei Ritva to Taanis 11a
[28] Chiddushei HaRan to Taanis 11a
[29] Moreover, Joseph either was presumed dead or was considered a Noachide, so his suffering had no bearing.
[30] Tosafos Rid to Taanis 11a
[31] Gilyonei HaShas to Taanis 11a
[32] See Genesis, Chapter 39
[33] See Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim §575:6 who says that one can only separate from his wife for a set amount of time, but not indefinitely.