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Parshat Vayeshev
2004
A Broadway Story in a Very Off-Broadway Land
OK, this is getting ugly. Joseph has dreams about his brothers bowing down to him. The brothers truly hate him, tear off his coat of many colors (an "amazing Technicolor dreamcoat," as per Andrew Lloyd Webber) and leave him for dead. Donny Osmond's voice is ringing in my ears. Or was it David Cassidy?
Poor Joseph. At his father's request, he leaves his home in Hebron and travels to Shechem (Nablus, to CNN) to check on his brothers. The Torah tells us: "And they hated him... and they continued to hate him even more." A fire of hate and jealously raged inside of them. As he approached, they roared "here comes the dreamer, now let's get him and kill him."
If we have learned anything throughout our history, it's that Sinat Chinam - "Hatred for no reason" - is the mother of all our exiles and destructions. It is the story of hatred in this week's parsha that leads to the Jewish people's enslavement in Egypt.
Rabbi Menachem Sacks of Chicago, the grandson of Rabbi Zvi Pesach Frank, the great chief rabbi of Jerusalem, draws our attention to an eerie Talmudic passage (Megilah 16) relating to next week's parsha and connects it to our story this week. We turn to Parshat Vayigash next week, and the story of the brothers rediscovering Joseph in Egypt, as a Grand Vizier: "And Joseph cried on the neck of Benjamin his brother, and Benjamin cried on Joseph's." The Talmud explains that Joseph cried for the two temples that are to be destroyed in the future, whose location is in the portion of land allotted to the tribe of Benjamin, and Benjamin cries for the Mishkan in Shilo, which will be destroyed while sitting on Joseph's sons' parcel of land. It seems that both Joseph and Benjamin, Jacob's two youngest, understood that the strong and bitter poison of hate and jealousy will be the downfall of the Jewish people, both spiritual and material. It is no coincidence, says Rabbi Sacks, that the corresponding Haftorah to this week's parsha is a further portent of things to come.
One of the more fun Torah games we play in our family is to ask the kids to find the intended correlation between the weekly five books of Moses portion and the weekly Prophets/Scriptures portion known as the Haftorah. Vayeshev's Haftorah is taken from the book of the prophet Amos, who warns in Chapter 2, "so said God: On the first three sins of Israel I will forgive them, but on the fourth I will not." For the first three big sins - idol worship, adultery and murder - God will ultimately forgive the children of Israel and allow a second temple to be built. On the fourth - Sinat Chinam, or hatred for no reason - there is no negotiating. And so we wait, now thousands of years and counting, for the next temple to be built. Chalk it all up to "hatred for no reason" between brothers.
"Jewish history as Jewish destiny" is a frequent theme in the writings of Rabbi Ari Kahn, one of Aish Hatorah's leading teachers and one of the great engagement professionals in Jerusalem today. The author of two remarkable books (on the weekly parsha and on the meaning of the Jewish holidays), Rabbi Kahn finds this theme once again in this week's story of Joseph and his brothers. True to the spirit of a good Broadway show, Rabbi Kahn "takes it from the top."
"Vayeishev Yaakov b'eretz migurei aveev" - and Jacob settled in the land where his forefathers dwelled. Wow, the questions are racing through our minds already. Why did Abraham and Isaac "dwell" but Jacob "settle"? Is one better than the other? Would I rather be a settler or a dweller? (It's an apolitical question here.) Rashi explains that to dwell is a temporary state without a final resting place, but to settle infers that one has come to live in peace and tranquility. So what's the problem? Rashi introduces us to a Midrash from Bereshit Rabah that explains that "Jacob was upset, because he wished to settle in tranquility, but the episode of Joseph we're about to read confronted him." More questions, says Rabbi Kahn: What does this mean? Did Jacob truly expect to retire from active patriarchal service and enjoy the golden years? Furthermore, how could Jacob possibly think that tranquility or spiritual perfection could be manifested at this particular junction in history? Did God not previously promise Avraham (Bereshit 15) that his descendants would be enslaved for 400 years? And what's the deal with Jacob taking early retirement?
It's clear that out of the blue, Jacob's world view was shattered by the saga of Joseph and his brothers. Oftentimes, our own world views face the same fate as a result of unacceptably hostile attitudes between some of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Quoting Rabbi Kahn: "The narratives of Bereshit are more than stories. The vicissitudes of our forefathers are far more than ancient tales; they are spiritual realities pregnant with meaning, forming the fabric of Jewish history."
"Ma'aseh avot siman lebanim" - The deeds of the forefathers are signs to us, their sons and daughters. Jacob's tranquility will have to wait, as will ours.
Prepared by Robert Katz, Director of Development, New York Region
Learn More
Additional commentaries and text studies on Parshat Vayeshev at MyJewishLearning.com.
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