Parsha In Depth Content

"And Jacob settled," begins the Parshah of Vayeishev, "in the land of his father's dwelling, in the Land of Canaan."

His Charan years were behind him, with Laban many miles away on the other side of a pile of stones attesting to a non-aggression pact between them. A truce of sorts had been made with Esau. Dinah had been rescued and avenged, and his beloved Rachel had been buried and mourned.

The 100-year-old Patriarch now hoped that he had experienced enough hardship and heartbreak for a lifetime, and looked forward for some tranquil years in "the land of his father's dwelling" (Hebron) as his sons shepherded his flocks in the hills and valleys of Canaan.

But this was not to be.

Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a many-colored coat.

And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

Matters were not helped by the fact that Joseph preferred the company of the children of Bilhah and Zilpah--whom Leah's sons regarded as their inferiors because they were the "sons of the handmaids"--and that he was constantly bringing his father critical reports of his brothers' behavior.

And Joseph had dreams.

Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers... "Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and bowed down to my sheaf."

And his brothers said to him: "Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers: "Behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me."

His father rebuked him: "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to you to the earth?" But Jacob said this only to diffuse the jealousy between the brothers, while "keeping the matter in mind."

The Sale of Joseph

Jacob sends Joseph to check up on his brothers, who have gone north with the flocks. Joseph finally locates them in Dotan, near Shechem.

And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him.

And they said, a man to his brother, "Behold, here comes the dreamer...

"Let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, 'An evil beast has devoured him'; and we shall see what will become of his dreams."

But Reuben, the eldest of the brothers, says to them: "Let us not kill him... Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him." Reuben said this, attests the Torah, "so that he might save him out of their hands, to deliver him back to his father."

And it came to pass, when Joseph was come to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the many-colored coat that was on him. And they took him, and cast him into a pit; and the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

And they sat down to eat bread. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilad with their camels bearing gum balm and laudanum, going to carry it down to Egypt.

And Judah said to his brothers: "What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh."

Reuben was not there when Judah proposed that Joseph be sold; when he comes back, intending to rescue Joseph, he finds the pit empty. He berates his brothers, but the deed has already been done; now they must find a way to explain Joseph's disappearance to their father.

They dip Joseph's coat in the blood of a goat, and bring it to their father. "This we have found," they say.

And he recognized it and said, "It is my son's coat; an evil beast has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn in pieces." And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

All his sons and all his daughters rose up co comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, "For I will go down to the grave mourning my son."

Joseph, in the meantime, is taken to Egypt, where he is sold to Potiphar, a minister in Pharaoh's court.

Judah and Tamar

The saga of Joseph is interrupted to relate an incident in the life of Judah. Judah separates from his brothers, marries, and has three children: Er, Onan and Sheilah. When Er comes of age, Judah marries him to a woman by the name of Tamar.

Er "was wicked in the sight of G-d" and dies young. Judah tells Onan to perform "the duty of a brother-in-law" to marry the widow of a childless brother and "raise up progeny for your brother" (a practice called yibbum -- cf. Deuteronomy 25:5). Onan, who does not desire to father children that will be regarded as his brother's, "spilled his seed to the ground." He, too, dies an early death in punishment for his sin.

Since Onan, too, had died childless, Sheilah was now supposed to marry Tamar. But time passes and Tamar realizes that Judah has no intention of marrying her to his third son. She resolves to find a way to have a child from Judah's family, if not from Sheilah, then from Judah himself.

And it was told to Tamar, saying, "Behold your father-in-law is going up to Timna to shear his sheep." And she put off her widow's garments, and covered herself with a veil, and wrapped herself, and sat by the crossroads which is by the way to Timna...

When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot, because she had covered her face. And he turned to her by the way, and said: "Come now, please, let me come in to you"; for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law.

Judah promises her "a kid from the flock" in payment, but she insists that he leave "your signet, and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand" with her as a pledge until the payment is sent. Tamar becomes pregnant from him.

And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told to Judah, saying: "Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; and also, behold, she is with child by harlotry."

And Judah said: "Bring her out and let her be burnt."

When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man, whose these are, am I with child"; and she said: "Discern, I pray you, whose are these--the signet, and the cord, and the staff."

Judah acknowledged them, and said: "She has been more righteous than I..."

Tamar gives birth to twins: Peretz ("bursting forth" because he pushed his way first out of the womb despite the fact that his brother's hand emerged first) and Zerach ("shining" because the midwife had tied a crimson thread on his hand to mark him as the first born).

The Libel

Back to Joseph, who is rising in the ranks of the servants of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. "His master saw that G-d was with him, and that G-d made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found favor in his sight.... and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand."

Potiphar's wife was attracted to the handsome, fortuitous youth.

And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, "Lie with me."

He refused, and said to his master's wife: "Behold, my master... has committed all that he has to my hand. There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against G-d?"

Potiphar's wife persisted, and on one occasion, when no one else was home, she grabbed hold of his clothes. To get away from her, Joseph "left his garment in her hand, and fled, and went outside." She decides to avenge herself on him, and tells her husband that Joseph tried to force himself on her; "When I lifted up my voice and cried," she claimed. "he left his garment with me, and fled."

Joseph is thrown into the royal dungeon.

More Dreams

Joseph's charisma, enterprising spirit, and Divine blessing follow him to prison. Before long,

the officer of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatever they did there, he was the doer of it.... because G-d was with him, and that which he did, G-d made it prosper.

Years pass. Then Pharaoh's chief butler and his chief baker, each of whom had committed some offence to their king, are thrown into the prison where Joseph was, and are entrusted to his care.

One morning, Joseph finds them in a troubled mood. They've both had dreams whose meaning they cannot fathom. "Do not interpretations belong to G-d?" says Joseph. "Tell me them."

The chief butler relates his dream:

Behold, a vine was before me. And on the vine were three tendrils; and it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth; and its clusters brought forth ripe grapes. Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand.

Joseph offers the following interpretation:

The three tendrils are three days. In another three days shall Pharaoh lift up your head, and restore you to your place; and you shall deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand, after the former manner when you were his butler.

The chief baker, liking Joseph's interpretation of his colleague's dream, tells his own:

I also in my dream, behold, I had three baskets of white bread on my head. And in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked food for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.

Which Joseph interprets:

The three baskets are three days. In another three days shall Pharaoh lift up your head from off you, and shall hang you on a tree; and the birds shall eat your flesh from off you.

Joseph has a favor to ask from the soon-to-be-freed butler:

But think of me when it shall be well with you, and show kindness, I pray you, to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house.

For I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews; and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.

Three days later, Pharaoh celebrates his birthday, and remembers the two ministers he had ordered thrown in jail; he reinstates the chief butler and hangs the chief baker, "as Joseph had interpreted to them."

"The chief butler did not remember Joseph," concludes our Parshah, "but forgot him."