At the end of parashat Vayigash, we read about Joseph’s economic reforms:

Let us not perish before your eyes, both we and our land. Take us and our land in exchange for bread, and we with our land will be serfs to Pharaoh; provide the seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become a waste. So Joseph gained possession of all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, every Egyptian having sold his field because the famine was too much for them; thus the land passed over to Pharaoh. And he removed the population town by town, from one end of Egypt's border to the other. Only the land of the priests he did not take over, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh had made to them; therefore they did not sell their land (Genesis 47:19-22).

Nahmanides (Spain, Eretz Israel, 1194-1270) explains Joseph’s response to the Egyptian pleas, as follows:

Take us and our land: They asked him also to take them as slaves to Pharaoh…but it says “So Joseph gained possession of all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, every Egyptian having sold his field,” and it does not say that he took their persons, only their fields. And the reason is that they asked that he take them as slaves who do the king’s bidding, and he wished only to purchase the land, and stipulated with them that they would cultivate it forever as Pharaoh’s serfs. And he said to them: “Whereas I have this day acquired you and your land for Pharaoh,” not as slaves, as you asked, but you will be his only with the land. And though it is proper that the king, who owns the land, take four parts and you a fifth, I will show compassion, and you will take the owner’s portion and Pharaoh will take only the portion of the serf, but you will be his in that you may not leave the fields…

R. Meir Simha b. Shimshon Kalonymus Hakohen (1843-1926) takes a similar approach in his commentary Meshekh Hokhma:

Take us and our land: But Joseph detested the ownership of slaves by which a person is master over another person to his detriment, and therefore it says: “So Joseph gained possession of all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh,” but not of them as slaves. Only the land was taken for Pharaoh, but they were only taken temporarily to work for their living, and to be day laborers in the fields…Therefore Joseph said, “Whereas I have this day acquired you” – that is, temporarily – and your land in perpetuity. That is why he removed them to the towns, so that they not possess their land, for how else would it be clear that he had acquired their land if they were not sold and continued to occupy their land?

As opposed to these commentators, it would appear that Rashbam (R. Samuel b. Meir, grandson of Rashi and elder brother of R. Jacob Tam: France, c. 1080 – c. 1174) took a more critical view. Rashbam comments only upon verse 21, saying: “And he removed the population town by town: As did Sennacherib, as it says ‘to a land like your own land’ (2 Kings 18:32), so that each one not claim a right of possession over his land after its sale.” In his commentary to the Etz Hayim: Torah and Commentary, R. Harold Kushner writes: “Rashbam criticizes Joseph as ruthless, comparing his dispossessing the people of their lands to the actions of Sennacherib (infamous Assyrian king, 2 Kings 18, esp. vv.31-32).” R. Kushner goes on to say: “A generation later, the Egyptians would take their revenge on Joseph for having reduced them to slavery, by enslaving his people.”

1. The desire to refrain from enslaving people, which the Meshekh Hokhma ascribes to Joseph, should remind us of the Torah’s approach to slavery: “For it is to Me that the Israelites are servants: they are My servants” (Leviticus 25:55), and the words of R. Yohanan b. Zakai, who said: “For it is to Me that the Israelites are servants – and not servants of servants” (Babylonian Talmud, Kidushin 22b). Does the text support the view expressed by Meshekh Hokhma?
2. The acquisition of the land also begs a comparison. The Torah states: “But the land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine; you are but strangers resident with Me” (Lev. 25:23). Does Joseph act in conformance with this ideal?
3. Not taking over the land of the priests also reminds us of the Torah’s denial of land to the Priests and Levites: “But they shall have no territorial share among the Israelites” (Numbers 18:23). Does a comparison of Joseph’s actions with the Torah’s ideals support the harsh criticism implied by Rashbam’s commentary?