Genesis - Parashath VaYeshev.

PARASHATH VAYESHEV.

ALIYAH 1 [37:1-11] - JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS.

Jacob settles in Eretz Yisrael (unlike Esau, who settled on Mount Se'ir).  Joseph, the second-youngest of his sons, is his favorite [37:3].  Even though Benjamin was even younger, and also a son of Jacob's beloved wife Rachel, it is Joseph who is singled out for favoritism.  He spends time with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher) as they are closer to him in age, but brings unfavorable reports about them to Jacob.  The grandiosity of Joseph's dreams, which he eagerly reports, does not help matters.

ALIYAH 2 [37:12-22] - THE ATTACK ON JOSEPH.

Jacob sends Joseph out to check on his (older) brothers, who are out tending sheep.  Joseph tracks them down in Dothan with the help of a paserby.  Seeing Joseph approaching, they conspire to kill him and toss his body into a pit, but Reuben persuades them to just throw him into the pit, planning to come back later to rescue him.

ALIYAH 3 [37:23-36] - THE SELLING OF JOSEPH.

On 37:23, Alter comments, "Only now do we learn that Joseph has had the bad judgment to wear on his errand the garment that was the extravagant token of his father's favoritism."  The brothers attack Joseph and strip him of his colorful tunic.  Judah, seemingly also having qualms about the contemplated murder, proposes selling him to the Ishmaelites.  In Reuben's absence, the other brothers sell Joseph.  They then dip Joseph's fancy tunic in a goat's blood and present it to their father as proof of his death by wild beasts.  And that is how Joseph finds himself enroute to Egypt.

ALIYAH 4 [38:1-30] - JUDAH AND TAMAR.

In what seems to be a digression, we learn the story of Judah, his three sons, and his daughter-in-law Tamar.  Judah's firstborn, Er, dies young and childless; the obligation to perform levirate marriage (yibum) to continue the family line then falls upon the second son, Er, who refuses to consummate the union.  Tamar returns to her father's house, unmarried and childless.  Judah's wife then dies, and he sets out to travel to Timnah.  Learning of Judah's destination, Timnah meets him on the road, disguised as a harlot, and they have relations.  She secures certain personal items from him as payment.  Later, when Tamar's pregnancy becomes apparent, Judah orders her executed for immorality, but Tamar produces the tokens that Judah had given her and forces him to admit that he is the father.  Tamar gives birth to twin sons, Zerach and Peretz.

It's interesting that, as in the preceding episode, a random emissary provides intelligence to facilitate an ambush - although in this case, presumably both parties end up being disrobed.

ALIYAH 5 [39:1-6] - JOSEPH AND POTIPHAR.

Joseph, enslaved in Egypt, serves with distinction in the home of the high-ranking official Potiphar.  

ALIYAH 6 [39:7-23] - JOSEPH AND POTIPHAR'S WIFE.

Potiphar's wife makes a pass at Joseph, but Joseph resists her advances.  She goes to Potiphar and makes a false accusation of rape, and Joseph is imprisoned.  Even in prison, Joseph shows management and leadership ability, and wins the respect of the warden.

ALIYAH 7 [40:1-23] - THE CUPBEARER AND THE BAKER.

Two of Joseph's fellow inmates, the royal cupbearer and baker, reveal that they are troubled by recent dreams, which they confide to Joseph.  Joseph interprets the dreams, and correctly predicts both outcomes:  freedom for the cupbearer, the gallows for the baker.  The cupbearer promises to put in a good word for Joseph, but once he's free it's out of sight, out of mind.  [600]