| One of the essays that made Jamaica Kincaid | | | | Miss DeVore School of Charm. |
| famous was “Charm” about the Ophelia | | | | Perhaps this is the meaning of the Midrash that |
| DeVore School of Charm for young black women. | | | | describes an angel spending an entire night with |
| “At some point, all this will become extinct. As black | | | | Joseph to teach him 70 languages. The angel had to |
| people integrate, they won’t want to do the special | | | | teach Joseph how to act as royalty. He had to learn |
| little things that they needed to do in an earlier time to | | | | diplomacy, political theory, business management, urban |
| get them across.” Ms. Devore was certainly | | | | planning, and a dab or two of Machiavellian theory. |
| correct, and her school is now extinct. | | | | That’s a lot to learn in one night. The former |
| Still, there are a few people who can use her charm | | | | shepherd boy also had to learn how to dress, walk, |
| school. I am thinking about one person in particular: | | | | even how to eat. |
| Joseph! | | | | It was too much even for an angel to teach in a single |
| Joseph was a newly freed slave, an ex-con, who did | | | | night. “Until one of the letters of God’s name |
| such an excellent job interpreting Pharaoh’s | | | | was added to the now Yehosef.” |
| dreams that he was appointed to be the second in | | | | Joseph was limited as long as he was focused on |
| command over all of Egypt. | | | | himself – his success, even an angel couldn’t |
| People were willing to forget the slave and prisoner | | | | help him. However, when he was conscious of |
| parts of his past, but not his being a former carnivore. | | | | God’s hand controlling his life, he lived without |
| He needed to rise to the occasion and learn proper | | | | limitation. Let’s say he was just like a small jar of oil |
| court etiquette and practice. Joseph needed his own | | | | that could burn for 8 days! |