Parshah Summary – P’shat
The parshah opens with Jacob/Israel and his family settling in Hebron. Joseph is his most beloved son, so he makes him a special multi-colored coat, which sparks jealousy in the other brothers. Joseph then tells his brothers two of his dreams which foretell that he is destined to rule over them, increasing their envy and hatred toward him even more. Shimon and Levi plot to kill him, but Reuven suggests that they throw him into a pit instead, intending to come back later and save him. The brothers strip Joseph of his special coat and throw him into the pit. Later, Judah convinces the other brothers to sell him to a band of passing Ishmaelites. The brothers then smear Joseph’s special coat with the blood of a goat and show it to their father, misleading him to believe that his most beloved son was devoured by a wild beast.
The text then shifts to Judah, who marries and has three sons. The eldest, Er, marries a woman named Tamar, but then he dies. So, Tamar then marries the second son, Onan, but Onan also dies. Judah is reluctant for his third son to marry Tamar, so she disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces Judah instead. Judah hears that his daughter-in-law has become pregnant and accuses her of harlotry, but when Tamar produces the personal objects he left with her as a pledge for payment, he publicly admits that he is the father. Tamar gives birth to twin sons, Peretz (an ancestor of King David) and Zerakh. Joseph is taken to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the minister in charge of Pharaoh’s slaughterhouses. God blesses everything Joseph does, and soon he is made overseer of all his master’s property. Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce Joseph, and when Joseph rejects her advances, she tells her husband that the Hebrew slave tried to force himself upon her, and has him thrown into prison. Joseph gains the trust and admiration of his jailers, who appoint him to a position of authority over the other prisoners. During this time, Joseph meets Pharaoh’s chief butler and baker, who were both imprisoned for some offense. They tell Joseph about some disturbing dreams they have been having, which he interprets: in three days, he tells them, the butler will be released and the baker hanged. Joseph asks the butler to intercede on his behalf with Pharaoh. When the predictions are fulfilled, the butler forgets all about Joseph and does nothing for him.
Torah of Awakening | Jewish Meditation Teaching
וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אָהַ֤ב אֶת־יוֹסֵף֙ מִכׇּל־בָּנָ֔יו כִּֽי־בֶן־זְקֻנִ֥ים ה֖וּא ל֑וֹ וְעָ֥שָׂה ל֖וֹ כְּתֹ֥נֶת פַּסִּֽים׃ וַיִּרְא֣וּ אֶחָ֗יו כִּֽי־אֹת֞וֹ אָהַ֤ב אֲבִיהֶם֙ מִכׇּל־אֶחָ֔יו וַֽיִּשְׂנְא֖וּ אֹת֑וֹ וְלֹ֥א יָכְל֖וּ דַּבְּר֥וֹ לְשָׁלֹֽם׃ Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons—he was his “child of old age”; and he had made him an ornamented tunic. And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than they, they hated him so that they could not speak a friendly word to him. - Bereisheet (Genesis) 37:4-5, Parshat Vayeishev
Rabbi Nahum of Stepinesht once said of his brother, Rabbi David Moshe of Tchortkov, “My brother is the one spoken of in the verse:
אֲסַפְּרָ֗ה אֶֽ֫ל חֹ֥ק יְֽהוָ֗ה אָמַ֘ר אֵלַ֥י בְּנִ֥י אַ֑תָּה אֲ֝נִ֗י הַיּ֥וֹם יְלִדְתִּֽיךָ׃ I am obligated to proclaim: The Divine says to me, ‘You are My child, today I give birth to you…’ - Psalm 2:7 “And when my brother chants from the Book of Psalms, Hashem calls to him: ‘David Moshe my son, I am putting the whole world into your hands – now do with it whatever you like.’ Oh, if only Hashem gave the world to me, I would know very well what to do with it! But David Moshe is so faithful a servant that when he gives it back, it is exactly as it was when he received it.” This anecdote of Rabbi Nahum is strange; it seems to say that non-action is a virtue, that one who does nothing to improve the world is better than one who tries to improve the world. How can this be? There is a hint is Joseph’s response to a request for interpreting dreams: הֲל֤וֹא לֵֽאלֹהִים֙ פִּתְרֹנִ֔ים: – Don’t interpretations belong to God? - Bereisheet (Genesis) 40:8 When Joseph is thrown into the dungeon, two prisoners come to him with their disturbing dreams, hoping that Joseph will interpret them. But Joseph clarifies: his ability to see the meanings of their dreams is a gift that comes from beyond; it’s not really his own doing. But what actually is a dream anyway? A dream is an experience we have when we’re sleeping, an experience that seems real when it’s happening, but turns out to be a projection of the mind. Similarly, our waking experiences too are comprehensible only because our minds project onto them a connected narrative. In order to do that, we need to be “asleep” to much of what is going on, so that the mind focus in and piece together a story that makes sense. And, central to that story is character of “I.” From our ordinary state of mind, in which we are mostly asleep, it seems that there is this “I” that does things, that acts on the world, that causes things to happen. But what really is this “I?” The “I” seems discreet and separate, but this is part of the dream, part of the narrative. In reality, everything is part of one unfolding; everything is really only ever different modulations of Existence, of Being, of God. This is the point of meditation: to “wake up” from this dream of the separate “I” into the Oneness that includes all things. And so, on this level, Joseph is saying: Isn’t this dream of life we are having correctly interpreted as the drama of God? Are we not witnessing, right now, the unfolding of the Divine in and as the world? From this point of view, Rabbi David Moshe isn’t being lauded by his brother for not doing anything, but rather for not seeing himself as the doer; he “gives the world back exactly as it was when he received it” – meaning, he gives credit back to God for what happens, just as Joseph does. This is why Joseph is able to endure such extreme hardship without any complaint; he receives everything from the Hands of God, including his own dreams, from which he knows that he will one day attain greatness. This is the foundation of his unwavering persistence through all his hardships; he is like cream, always rising to the top. Because when the world seems to hate him, he still regards himself as beloved by the Root of All Worlds. וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אָהַ֤ב אֶת־יוֹסֵף֙ – Now Israel loved Joseph… “Israel” means “wrestles” or “strives for God”– in other words, Joseph’s sees through the surface of things to the Divine love underneath, even though his experience of the world seems to be the opposite. וַֽיִּשְׂנְא֖וּ אֹת֑וֹ …וַיִּרְא֣וּ אֶחָ֗יו – And his brothers saw…and they hated him… “Brothers” represents the things and beings in the horizontal dimension of experience – the forms we encounter in time. But “Israel,” the “Father,” represents the vertical dimension of experience – our encounter with Timeless that abides within and as all things. This is the great skill of the spirit that we are called upon to develop: to know the love that flows from Being, even when hatred seems to flow from many beings. And through drawing on that Inexhaustible Love, bring the Eternal into the temporal by persisting in our meditation and in our lives with the undying quality of Netzakh.
Read past teachings on Vayeishev HERE
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