Parshas Vayeishev
Yaakov settles in Canaan. His son Yosef, now seventeen years old, is a shepherd with his brothers. He is closest with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, and he would bring bad reports about his brothers to his father. His father loved Yosef more than the rest of his sons and made him a fine woolen tunic. The brothers saw that their father loved Yosef most of all and hated him and could not speak peacefully with him.
Yosef has a dream, which makes the brothers hate him more. He dreams that they were binding stalks in the field. His stalk suddenly rises and the rest bow down to his. He dreams another dream that the sun, the moon, and eleven stars are bowing down to him. Yosef tells this dream to his father and brothers. His father scolds him but keeps it in mind. The brothers become jealous of him.
Yosef’s father sends Yosef to check on the welfare of his brothers when they are tending the flock in Shechem. He finds them in Dosan, after being directed there by a man he meets on the way (see commentaries as to who this “man” was). When the brothers see him approaching, they say, “Look! The dreamer is coming!” and decide to kill him. They decide to throw him into a pit and say that a wild beast devoured him. Reuven convinces them not to murder him but to just place him in a pit. He plans to come back later and save him.
When Yosef shows up, they take his tunic and cast him into a pit. They then sit down to eat when they suddenly see a caravan of Yishmaelim coming from Gilead, on their way to bring spices down to Egypt. In an attempt to save Yosef from death, Yehudah suggests that they sell him to the caravan and the brothers agree. They sell him for twenty pieces of silver, and Yosef is brought to Egypt. Reuven then returns to the pit to rescue Yosef and sees that he is gone. He is distraught and tears his clothes.
The brothers dip Yosef’s tunic in a goat that they slaughter and bring it to their father. They ask him to identify it and Yaakov recognizes it and cries out that a beast must have attacked and eaten Yosef. Yaakov tears his clothes and mourns for many days. He refuses to be comforted by his sons and daughters. Yosef is eventually sold to Potiphar, a courtier of Pharaoh, the Chamberlain of Butchers.
Yehudah marries the daughter of a merchant named Shua. Bas-Shua (the daughter of Shua) bears three sons to Yehudah, named Er, Onan, and Shelah. Yehudah takes a wife for Er, named Tamar. Er, Yehudah’s firstborn was evil and G-d caused him to die. Yehudah told his second son, Onan to marry her, as halacha (Jewish law) requires. But Onan knows that if Tamar bears children they will not be considered his (but rather his brother’s), so he refuses to let her conceive. G-d kills him for his evil deed, as well. Yehudah sends Tamar back to her father’s house as a widow, to wait for Shelah to grow up. (Yehudah did not want Shelah to die like his brothers.)
Eventually Yehudah’s wife dies and he travels to his friend, in Timnah, where Tamar is from. When Tamar hears he is coming, she removes her widow’s garb and covers herself with a veil and wraps herself up and waits by the crossroads on the road to Timnah. She hopes to lie with Yehudah (to fulfill the above mentioned halacha), because she sees Shelah has grown and she has not been given to her as a wife. Yehudah sees her, and not recognizing her, thinks she is a harlot. He says he will send her a goat to lie with her and leaves her a pledge until he sends it. The pledge he leaves with her is his signet, wrap, and staff. She conceives and then puts on her widow’s garb.
Yehudah sends the goat through his friend to retrieve the pledge, but he couldn’t find her. The people say there was no harlot by the crossroads. So Yehudah drops it.
Three months later, Yehudah hears that his daughter-in-law has committed prostitution and has conceived by it. Yehudah orders her to be burned. As she was taken out, she sends the pledge to Yehudah and says her child is from the one to whom these things belong. Yehudah recognized the signet, wrap, and staff and realizes he is the father, because he did not give his son, Shelah to Tamar. Tamar is saved, and gives birth to twins. They are named Zerah and Perez, from whom Mashiach will descend.
Meanwhile, Yosef is in Egypt, purchased by prominent Potiphar. G-d is with Yosef and he becomes a successful man, but he remains in his Egyptian master’s house. Potiphar sees that G-d is with Yosef and appoints Yosef, who has found favor in his eyes, over his household. G-d blesses Potiphar’s house on Yosef’s account.
Potiphar’s wife begs the handsome Yosef to lie with her, but he refuses. She coaxes him every day and every day he refuses. One time, when they are alone, she grabs his garment, but he runs away, leaving his garment behind. She uses the garment to convince her husband that Yosef tried to rape her. Potiphar imprisons Yosef, but G-d, once again allows Yosef to find favor in the prison warden’s eyes. Yosef becomes in charge of all the prisoners, and whatever he does, G-d makes him successful.
One day, the king of Egypt’s royal Chamberlain of the Cupbearers and Chamberlain of the Bakers are sent to jail, for transgressing against him. They are assigned to Yosef’s ward. They each have a dream and become upset. Yosef interprets their dreams, in the name of G-d. The following are a recount of the dreams and their interpretations: The Chamberlain of the Cupbearers- There was a grapevine with three tendrils, and its blossoms bloomed and ripened into grapes. Pharaoh’s cup was in his hand and he took the grapes, pressed them into the cup and placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. This means that in three days, he will be restored to his post. The Chamberlain of the Bakers- There were three wicker baskets on his head. In the uppermost basket were baker’s handiwork of food for Pharaoh and the birds were eating them from a basket above his head. This means that in three days his head will be lifted and he will be hung on a tree and birds will eat his flesh.
Yosef also asks the cupbearer to mention him to Pharaoh to get him out of the jail. Three days later, Pharaoh holds a feast for all his servants and these two chamberlains are counted among them. The cupbearer is restored to his place, and the baker is hung, as Yosef predicted. But the Chamberlain of the Cupbearers forgets Yosef.
Dvar Torah
The Midrash relates then when Yosef heard he was being sold into slavery by his brothers, he fell at the feet of his oldest brother there and begged him for mercy. When the hoped-for reaction was not forthcoming, he fell before each of his brothers in turn, pleading for compassion-but they were convinced they were doing the right thing. They ignored his cries.
Rabbi Dovid Goldwasser comments: “Yaakov’s sons were angels compared to ordinary men of later generations. To judge them with our limited vision would be brazen and ignorant. Their actions were based on pure, untainted concern for the honor of Heaven, and if they erred it was only by the yardstick of their lofty level. However, the lesson we must learn from them applies to us on our level: We must be attuned to the pain of another. Whether his cry is silent or expressed, we must hear it.”
Rabbi Goldwasser illustrates this point with a story: The Ba’al HaTanya, the first Lubavitcher Rebbe, was once studying on the third floor of a large house. His son, the Mitteler Rebbe, was on the second floor, and the Mitteler Rebbe’s baby son slept in his crib on the first floor. Suddenly, the Ba’al HaTanya heard the baby crying. He ran down two flights of stairs, picked up the child, and brought him to his father. The Mitteler Rebbe asked his father, “How did you hear him crying? I was one floor closer to him, and I heard nothing.” The Ba’al HaTanya simply replied, “When a child cries, you must hear.”
We must hear the cries of every individual, and be sensitive to his needs.