When To Act as a Jew Was Popular (Miketz)

"When all of Egypt began to feel the famine, the people cried to the Pharaoh for food. Then Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph and do what he tells you."

What Joseph told them was to do a circumcision. In that, Joseph was correcting what Adam did. Here is the story. Adam had a falling out with his wife, Eve, and separated from her for 130 years. During all these years, Adam had relations with she-demons. In these relations, Adam caused the birth of souls that needed correction. These souls came back at the Flood and later at the time of Dispersion, but instead of correcting, they kept repeating the same mistake.

Now, these souls were reincarnated in Egypt. The 130 years of Jewish subjugation in Egypt correspond to the 130 years that Adam was separated from Eve. Their hard labor was to purify them. 

Joseph moved these people from city to city. The trouble of moving to another city also served to purify them.

They are called "people of Israel" and not "sons of Israel." They lived in communities in their towns, and they behaved like Jews. Jacob, too, taught and accepted converts when he came to Egypt. All these lived as Jews.

It was for these souls that Jews had to go down to Egypt to bring them back. They constituted the mixed multitude who went out of Egypt together with the Jews.

Art: Adam and Eve by Hans Holbein