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Yosef HaTzaddik

Yosef HaTzaddik

1562 BCE1452 BCE · Biblical · Egypt

Joseph, the favored son of Jacob and Rachel, rose from being sold into slavery by his brothers to becoming viceroy of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. Through his gift for interpreting dreams he foresaw seven years of famine and stored grain to save the region — and ultimately his own family, whom he forgave and brought down to Egypt. Known as Yosef HaTzaddik ("the Righteous") for withstanding temptation and keeping faith, he embodies divine providence working through hardship. He died in Egypt; his bones were carried up at the Exodus and buried in Shechem.

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Stop 1 of 2Lived

Egypt

What they did here

Sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers, Joseph rose from prison to become viceroy under Pharaoh, saved the region from famine, and lived there until his death at 110. (His bones were later carried to the Land of Israel and buried at Shechem.)

About Egypt

Egypt (Mitzrayim) is central to the Torah's narrative of the Israelites: Abraham sojourned there during a famine, Joseph rose to power there, and the descendants of Jacob were enslaved before the Exodus under Moses. In later centuries Egypt -- and especially Alexandria and, in the medieval period, Fustat (Old Cairo) -- was home to major Jewish communities; Maimonides served there as nagid in the twelfth century.

In Egypt at the same time

Yaakov Avinu

See other sages who lived in Egypt

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Yosef HaTzaddik’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

In the same tradition

Yaakov Avinu, Rachel Imenu

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers and teachers of other traditions whose lives overlapped with Yosef HaTzaddik’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

No works attributed in the corpus yet.

Related figuresYaakov AvinuSuggested by shared subject matter, not a documented teaching relationship.