Shemos 1:8 · unit 2

Parashas Shemos · Passuk 1:8

The Complete Passuk

וַיָּ֥קָם מֶֽלֶךְ־חָדָ֖שׁ עַל־מִצְרָ֑יִם אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־יָדַ֖ע אֶת־יוֹסֵֽף׃

A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Yosef.

Chabad.org — 1:8

Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to Sotah 11a (verified).

Sefaria — Sotah 11a

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text — Sotah 11a

אשר לא ידע את יוסף — דהוי דמי כמאן דלא ידע ליה כלל.

English: “Who did not know Yosef” — it was as if he did not know him at all.

On the daf / in context: On the view that the same king merely renewed his decrees, the phrase “did not know Yosef” is read as deliberate amnesia: he acted as though the benefits Yosef had conferred on Egypt never existed. The language is stronger than simple unfamiliarity.

Type of Learning

Custom — intensifying reading of “did not know.”

What Is Learned

Chazal teach that the new policy was not ignorance but a willful erasure of Yosef’s contribution to Egypt.