Parashat Vayeishev
Genesis 37:1-40:21
Amos 2:6-3:8
To recap last week’s parashah and haftarah, Vayeishev begins the Joseph story. In this parashah, we have three distinct narratives –
1. The story of Joseph and his brothers. We have the famous colored tunic which Jacob gives to his son. The brothers do not appreciate their brother or their father’s favoritism and seek to do away with him. They first speak of killing him, but Reuven talks them out of it and suggests throwing him into a pit, for which he will later come and rescue Joseph. Meanwhile the brothers decide to sell Joseph to some Ishmaelites who take him to Egypt where he is sold into Potiphar’s household. Reuven, returning and not finding Joseph, rents his clothes thinking he is dead, and asks the brothers what happened. They say they sold him and then take the tunic, drench it in goat’s blood and give it to their father. They simply ask, “is this your son’s tunic?” From which Jacob infers that Joseph is dead and he, too, rents his clothes and mourns his beloved son.
2. The story of Judah and Tamar. Tamar is married to Judah’s son Er, but he dies because he did not fulfill his husbandly duties. Tamar then marries Judah’s next son Onen, because of the laws of Levirite (technically this law has not yet been given in the Torah narrative, but it assumes and assures that a man who dies without an heir, will be granted one via his widow marry his next of kin. The first child of their union, is an heir to the deceased husband and then any subsequent children are heirs to the second husband). Onen dies for the same reason as his brother, he does not fulfill his husbandly duties (hence the sin of Onen- spilling/wasting the seed). Judah does not want to marry his youngest son, Shelah, to Tamar, so he asks her to wait until Shelah is older. Judah forgets or ignores his promise to marry Shelah to Tamar, so Tamar takes matters into her own hands. She disguises herself as a prostitute, knowing that Judah will be on the road, and he comes upon her, does not recognize her, and they have relations. Before doing so, she asks for payment, he says he will send her payment but in the meantime leaves with her his staff, cord, and seal. He sends a servant with the payment but cannot find her. Later, Judah hears that Tamar is pregnant and brings her to court on adultery charges. Instead of revealing the name of the father she pulls out the staff, cord, and seal and says, “these belong to the father.” Judah recognizes them and admits that he is the father and that he was in the wrong by not marrying Tamar and Shelah and that she was right. Later Tamar gives birth to Perez and Zerach. Zerach’s arm comes out first and a red cord is tied around it to mark him as the first born, but he pulls it back into the womb and his brother, Perez, is born first. From Perez we have the lineage of King David.
3. We return to the story of Joseph. Time has passed and Joseph has been in Potiphar’s household. We are told that God has been with Joseph and he has found favor with him. Joseph we are told is handsome. Potiphar’s wife has taken a liking to Joseph and constantly asks him to “lie with her.” Joseph repeatedly says no. One day, she is a little more aggressive, as she takes hold of his clothing while being suggestive. Joseph pulls away, his clothing still in her hand, and runs from her. She then uses his clothing to accuse him of trying to “lie with her.” Potiphar has Joseph thrown into jail. It is hear that we learn more of Joseph’s God given ability to interpret dreams, and he interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s cup bearer and baker. Both interpretations come true – the baker is executed and the cup bearer returns to court. Joseph asked the cup bearer to remember him and recall him to Pharaoh, but as the story ends the cup bearer does not remember this promise.
What do these three stories have in common?
There is deception that is going on. We also see punishment for those who deceive – “what comes around goes around” – in that Judah was a ring leader in the deception over Joseph and then he himself is deceived by Tamar. Is this punishment?
We also see the important motif of clothing. Clothing is utilized in all three of these stories to “bear witness” to what happened or what one wants someone else to think happened, i.e. in the assumptions made over Joseph’s clothing.
In Torah study a question was asked about the renting of clothing upon thinking one dead, and this is where the tradition comes from of renting one’s clothing (or today utilizing a kriah ribbon) to mark/acknowledge the death of a loved one (child, parent, spouse, sibling).
The haftarah portion comes from Amos.
Amos was a prophet born in the Southern kingdom of Judah, but he spent most of his time in the Northern kingdom of Israel. As with most prophets no one was really interested in hearing what he had to say.
His message is one about behavior and punishment. In this particular section he is speaking out against the ills of society, mainly that Israel has become wealthy but is doing despicable things with that wealth. They are not taking care of the poor, they are not listening to prophets, and are so debase that they are forcing Nazarites to drink wine. (A Nazarite is one who takes an extra vow or oath, for a specific period of time, to God. During this period he/she cannot cut his/her hair, go near a corpse, nor eat or drink anything from grapes.)
Amos tells the people that when bad things will befall them it is because God is punishing them for their behavior. A difficult theological statement, as we question does God really punish in that way for our behavior?
One could say yes, based on the Torah portion. It is God who causes Judah’s son’s to die because they are not fulfilling their duty of procreation with Tamar. Judah could be said to have been punished for his earlier actions. And, we also see that God is with Joseph, as Joseph continues to acknowledge his relationship with and devotion to God. This is why he won’t “lie with” Potiphar’s wife, because it would not be good in God’s eyes, and he is always careful to acknowledge that his gift of dream interpretation comes from God.
Rabbi Brigitte Rosenberg
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