Vayeshev
20 Kislev 5774 / Nov.
22-23, 2013
This week’s portion, Vayeshev, contains a significant chunk
of the Joseph
narrative. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite
son, and the wearer of a “coat
of many colors.” He also had a knack
for having vivid dreams, and then sharing them with his siblings – even if
their content was sure to enrage them.
Needless to say, he was young and immature.
His siblings harbor such hate for him (some of that is on
Jacob for playing favorites to be sure) that they conspire to kill him, until
eldest bother Reuben intercedes on his behalf.
The brothers settle on throwing Joseph into
a pit, and when Reuben leaves, they sell him as a slave to passing travelers
and lead their father to believe that a wild animal killed him.
Joseph ends up a servant in Egypt to a powerful man named
Potiphar, and is given a considerable amount of power and influence in the
home. Potiphar’s wife notices Joseph’s
talents and pursues hard. Upon
repeatedly being rejected, she falsely accuses him of attempted rape, and he
ends up in jail.
And yet even in jail, he is given significant
responsibilities by the guards, and has the chance to interpret the dreams of
Pharaoh’s baker and butler respectively (which turns out great for the butler,
and poorly for the baker). His one
request to the butler was to remember him once he was reinstated in Pharaoh’s
court – which the butler fails to do.
Also in this portion is a seemingly random interlude between
Judah (one of Jacob’s sons) and his daughter in law Tamar, who tricks him into knocking
her up (he thought she was a
lady of the night…). In the end,
Judah takes responsibility for his actions and shortcomings.
I can’t help but be struck by the amazing juxtaposition
between last week’s portion, where Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi slaughter an
entire town’s male population in order to defend their sister’s honor, and this
week’s, where they, along with their brothers, are prepared to kill their own
brother! Joseph may have been an
incredibly annoying little brother who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut,
but there’s nothing in the text that suggests the desire to kill him was a
rational response on the part of his brothers. Where does their intense hatred
come from? Did they find thrill in their
previous killings, and crave
more bloodshed? If so, why didn’t
they simply kill Joseph when Reuben left, rather than selling him into slavery? And how could they live with themselves,
knowing what they had done, and knowing the incredible pain they had caused
their father?
One of the most frustrating portions of the narrative to me
is that the story closely follows the adventures of Joseph after he is sold,
but doesn’t tell us much about what’s going on with the brothers, until many
years later when we learn there’s a famine in the land (and ultimately, they
are reunited). In some ways, that’s why
it’s almost refreshing to have the Judah and Tamar interlude included in this
week’s portion (as weird as it is) – to remind us that there were 11 other
brothers who each had their own life trials and tribulations leading up to
(spoiler alert!) the eventual reconciliation with Joseph in Egypt. The brothers had to grow up themselves before
they would be able to pass Joseph’s tests, and as a result of passing, have
their lives spared from starvation.
Joseph too had to grow up, and demonstrates his maturity by
noting the overarching Divine plan that while not great for him personally at
times, allowed for his entire family to be saved.
We are all, as human beings, on our own unique paths. Some of us grow up more quickly than
others. Some need more time to
develop. Some need to get anger and
hatred out of their systems. In the end,
we need to respect the process of the journey, own up to our shortcomings, acknowledge
that we all have room to grow, and trust that things will fall into place.
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