Parashat Vayeshev 5782

by Rabbi Ellen S. Wolintz-Fields

In the Torah reading, Parashat Vayeshev, Joseph tells his dreams, which some see as prophecies, to his brothers who do not want to hear them. Clothing is an important symbol in both the Torah and haftarah. In the Torah reading, Joseph, the favorite child of his father Jacob, is given the coat of many colors. This gift makes Joseph’s brothers very jealous. Both the Torah and the haftarah provide shocking examples of hard-hearted behavior. In the Torah Reading, Genesis 37:24-25, Joseph’s brothers ate after they threw Joseph in a pit. According to a midrash, a rabbinic legend, the brothers moved away from the pit, so as not to hear Joseph’s calls for help. A central theme in both the Torah and haftarah, is the issue of personal responsibility. Reuben understands in Genesis 37:30 that as the oldest in the family, he should have protected his younger brother Joseph. He realizes that he will be held responsible for Joseph’s fate by their father Jacob. In verses 38:1-11, Judah neglects his responsibilities towards Tamar, his daughter-in-law. On the other hand, Tamar does all that she can to fulfill her responsibility to continue the family line, even possibly risking her own life (Genesis 38:12-30). The Torah reading is filled with examples of people being punished measure for measure for the sins of their past. For example, Jacob’s parents played favorites with their sons, ultimately hurting them both. Jacob plays favorites among his sons, ultimately hurting them all. Jacob lied to his father Isaac and Jacob’s sons lied to him. The blood of a goat is used to trick Jacob into thinking that Joseph was dead. Jacob had used a goatskin to fool his own father Isaac into thinking that he was his brother Esau. The coat of many colors is used to trick Jacob into thinking that Joseph was dead. Joseph’s brother, Judah, is later tricked by the clothes that Tamar wears. Joseph’s brothers show his bloody coat of many colors to Jacob, and ask him if he can “recognize this.” Tamar later sends Judah’s staff back to him, and asks “recognize this”. Both the Torah reading and the haftarah provide examples of how you cannot stop a good person from doing good. In the Torah reading, Joseph was a tzaddik, a righteous person, who was turned into a slave by his brothers. Furthermore, there is an example in the Torah reading, of a tzadikah, a righteous woman, Tamar, who lowered herself in order to fulfill her mission. 

In the haftarah that is paired b’yachad together with Parashat Vayeshev, Amos 2:6 – 3:8, Amos has a message from God that the people do not want to hear. In the haftarah, Amos states that even the mighty will be stripped naked of the garments that give them strength. In the haftarah the children of Israel insensitively exploited the poor and profited from their exploitation. In the haftarah, the children of Israel neglect their responsibility to protect the poor. Amos takes his responsibility to publicize God’s words very seriously, even if the others do not want to hear the message. Amos 3:2 states that God will call Israel to account for all its sins – and there are many examples how this statement holds true in our Torah reading. In the haftarah, prophets and Nazarites are tzadikim, righteous people, who are robbed of their power and in effect enslaved by the Israelites. The prophets emerge victorious, because after all, we continue to read the books of the Prophets and are generally influenced by their ideas even until today. The self-control of the nazarites in the haftarah stands in opposition to the self-indulgent behavior of Judah, Joseph’s brothers.