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Parshat Vayeshev

By: SFW Students & Alumna
Tobie Harris, SFW ’04-‘05

The Yosef story is one of the most complicated and puzzling of the entire Torah. Not only do the actions of Yosef and his brothers seem unworthy of people of their stature, but at times they also seem entirely illogical. One particularly confusing example is Yosef's telling his dreams over to his brothers. Unlike bringing the brothers' evil report to Yaakov, which can be explained fairly easily by good intentions, this seems entirely foolish and/or nasty. How could Yosef, or any reasonably intelligent person, not be aware that his brothers hated him, given the fact that "they could not speak to him peaceably"? How could he not be aware that telling them that he dreamed of ruling over them would not increase their dislike for him? Even if this was a result, as the Sforno says, of foolishness caused by his youth, there must have been some explanation or logical justification in Yosef's mind.

The Abarbanel explains that the key to understanding the entire Yosef story lies in realizing what it was that the sh'vatim feared. For the entire course of Jewish history thus far, there had only been one son who was allowed to continue to be a father of Am Yisrael. Yishmael and the sons of Ketura were sent away; Eisav was not chosen to be part of the nation. The sh'vatim had no way of knowing that this time, all the sons were meant to remain within the picture. As they looked at their own household, it seemed like the same old story was being played out once again- a younger son was favored and beloved, and seemed bent on having his brothers eliminated from the nation by turning their father against them. It was the fear of being written out of the family and the Jewish people that led the brothers to hate Yosef.

What, then, was the telling over of the dreams meant to accomplish? The Meshech Chochmah gives one answer, saying that by telling his brothers of a prophetic dream predicting that he would rule, Yosef was telling them that his position was the will of Hashem, and therefore they should not hate him for it.

I think that it is possible to give another explanation of Yosef's motives, based on an understanding of what it was that the brothers really feared. Central in Yosef's first dream is the fact that it begins as all the brothers are binding sheaves together. The brothers' sheaves then form a circle around Yosef's sheaf and bow to it. The image there is not one where all but one of the brothers are sent away, never to be heard from again, but rather a description of a single nation, united around a central leader. By telling his brothers this dream, Yosef was trying to tell them that greatness of his part did not entail their being written out of Jewish history; instead, the family would become a nation composed of several parts, with one leader and other members who served separate roles.

The second dream serves to reinforce this idea. By telling that his dreams also involved Yaakov bowing to him, Yosef thought that it would make it obvious that those bowing were not going to be eliminated from the nation, any more than Yaakov could be written out of the family. Instead, Yosef was destined to enjoy a position of prominence within the Jewish nation.

The brothers, however, refused to accept this. The Abarbanel suggests that after the second dream, the brothers started to believe that perhaps Yosef's status was actually Hashem's will, rather than his own arrogance. This, however, only caused them to be jealous of him in addition to their hatred. At first, this seems odd- would the sh'vatim really resent something that they acknowledged as the will of Hashem? I think that it is obvious that their reaction must have been unconscious. The sh'vatim undoubtably thought that they did not believe that Yosef's dreams were really sent by Hashem, but in reality this decision was tinted by their own jealousy.

The implications of this are frighteningly huge. Even the sh'vatim, for all their greatness, could be brought to something as horrible as fratricide by a slight tinge of jealousy that they were unaware that they possessed. By being unwilling mentally to accept a reality that entailed that they might be secondary, they were brought to oppose what they secretly believed was the will of Hashem. The tragedy of Yosef, then, teaches not only to guard against jealousy or arrogance, but also to be wary of motives that may be affecting your judgment in ways that are difficult to realize.