The main stories in this Sidra focus on Joseph and Judah whose tribes became the leading tribes of the Israelite nation, later in Biblical history. In today’s Sidra Joseph and Judah play a major role, as individuals. They clashed bitterly. The Sidra recounts their terrible and tragic downfall. Joseph ended up in a pit; was sold as a slave and then became a prisoner in Egypt. Judah severed all connections with the family. His brothers disowned him. He married a Canaanite woman, which was an act of betrayal of the highest order, contrary to the religious principles of his ancestors. As a punishment for his actions against Joseph, he himself brought up a dysfunctional family and ended up in a situation in which he was on the verge of ordering the execution by burning of his own daughter in law, Tamar. It is a remarkable fact, that after many years from the traumas of the family feud. They achieved a miraculous reconciliation. They reunified the family and became its leaders again.
The Sidra begins with Joseph’s two dreams. The Torah tells us that Joseph was by no means an ordinary person. His brothers ridiculed him by referring to him as a Master of Dreams. However, he was, indeed, a serious Master of Dreams. Rabbi Adin Steinsalz explains that in biblical times dreams had the potential of being prophetic. A Dreamer had a lower status than a Prophet. In the book of Deuteronomy, the Torah mentions the Prophet and the Dreamer in the same passage and instructs us as to what we should do when they appear to interpret and predict the future.
Sometimes, dreams proved to be true, but, on other occasions, they were not. When Joseph dreamt, he believed that they were prophetic. He was, for this reason, that he told them to his brothers. He passionately wanted them to share in, what he regarded, as a genuine vision of the future. He wanted to prepare them. He may well have been rather naïve, but he did not recount his dreams in order to boast. However, Joseph failed to persuade his brothers. He had the same problem that many other prophets and dreamers experienced in later periods. His brothers simply regarded the dreams as an instrument of arrogance. They considered his interpretation as entirely subjective. They refused to accept them as prophecies. Joseph was unaware of the feelings of animosity towards him until the moment that he was cast into the pit. The truth is that, for many years, Joseph himself was unable to authenticate his dreams. It is for this reason that, when the 10 brothers finally appeared before him in Egypt to buy food and bowed down to him, that the first thing that came into his mind were the original dreams, which had caused so much bitterness in the past. It was the most significant moment of his life. It was a momentous realisation. Nachmanides explains that all his subsequent actions towards his brothers were based on the belief that his dreams had to be fulfilled before he finally revealed his identity.
Jacob recognised that Joseph was a special person. He had a special affection for him. In chapter 37 verse 3 the Torah tells us that Jacob regarded Joseph as his BEN ZEKUNIM. The simplest explanation of this expression is that Joseph was the son born to him in his old age, when he was 91 years old. However, Nachmanides rejects this explanation on the grounds that all of Jacob’s sons were born when he was very old. Issachar and Zevulun were only one or two years older than Joseph. Even Rashi is unsure that this is the only possible explanation. He cites the Aramaic translator ONKELOS, who explains that the expression refers to Joseph’s exceptional wisdom. This explanation is based on the fact that the term ZAKEN, is also used in Hebrew when referring to wise people.
Nachmanides explains that this expression means that Jacob appointed Joseph to be his special assistant. Joseph helped Jacob to move around and never separated from him. Ben Zekunim, therefore, means ‘the servant of his old age’. It is, for this reason, says Nachmanides, that Joseph remained at home when all the other nine brothers travelled to Shechem.
The Torah recounts that Joseph went in search of his brothers. When they saw him from the distance, they planned to kill him. Re’uven was the only brother who objected to these plans. He ordered his brothers to stop this cruelty, but they refused to listen. So he suggested an alternative plan to them. He told them to cast Joseph into a nearby pit so that they could achieve their aims without being directly responsible for his murder. The brothers agreed to this. They cast Joseph into the nearest pit. According to our rabbis, it was full of snakes and scorpions. From a later passage in the Torah we learn that Joseph cried bitterly. The brothers remained heartless. They walked some distance away so that they would not have to hear him anymore.
The Torah emphasises their callousness by narrating that while he was crying, they sat down comfortably to have a meal. They didn’t even glance in the direction of the pit, as they did not wish to know what was happening to him. While they were talking to each other, Judah had the idea of selling Joseph as a slave. In his conversation he twice referred to Joseph as their brother. Sadly, however, even as he called Joseph his brother, he remained completely oblivious to the impact of what he was saying, for he displayed no brotherly feelings towards Joseph whatsoever. Judah was the most powerful of the brothers. He had much more influence over them than Re’uven. He was the only brother who could have saved Joseph. If he would have suggested that Joseph should be returned to his father, his brothers would have listened. But he failed to do his duty. He sinned grievously. As stated previously, his punishment was that he was banished from the family, soon afterwards. In chapter 38 we learn that he suffered very greatly. One of the most important themes of the book of BERESHIT is that there is justice in this world. God ensures that people get what they deserve; MIDDAH KENEGED MIDDAH, measure for measure.
In the meantime, the Midianites passed by, next to the pit and pulled Joseph out of it. They rescued him because he was a valuable commodity to them. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 silver coins, which was the normal price for a slave in those days. Joseph still had a very long way to go in order to climb out of the deep pit into which he had been thrown by his brothers.