Friday, December 7, 2012

Parashas Vayeishev - What's With All The Emotions?


Here's a short time-line of the beginning of Parashas Vayeishev; the first aliyah:

  1. Yosef brought back bad reports about his brothers (to his father.)
  2. Yaakov loved Yosef more than any of his sons.
  3. Yaakov made Yosef a colorful garment.
  4. Yosef's brothers saw their father loved him more than the other sons.
  5. And they hated him.
  6. They could not speak to him peaceably.
  7. Yosef had a dream and he told his brothers he had a dream.
  8. And they hated him even more.
  9. He told them the dream.
  10. They hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
  11. He had another dream.
  12. He told it to his father and his brothers.
  13. His father 'rebuked' him.
  14. His brothers were jealous of him.

I've got several questions on this setup.

  1. If the brothers saw that their father favored Yosef, why would they hate [step 5] him? Isn't it more accurate to say they were jealous of him?
  2. Why did it say [step 8] they hated Yosef after he told his brothers he had a dream, but before he actually told them what the dream was?
  3. After his father rebuked him [step 13 - after the 2nd dream,] it says his brothers were jealous of him. Isn't it more accurate to say they were happy or relieved? Yaakov just put his favorite son 'in his place' – why would the posuk say they were jealous of Yosef after that?


I think the answer is:

  1. His brothers didn't hate Yosef for having been favored more than the rest. Yes, they probably felt hurt, but that emotion would be best defined as jealousy. So then why did it say they hated him [in step 5?] Perhaps it said they hated him in regards to step 6. Since they felt ill-will towards him, they could not speak to him in a peaceful manner. Doing that would mean they are two-facing him (loving him outwardly, but hating him in their hearts,) which the Torah commands us not to do.
  2. They didn't want to hear the details of his dreams because [step 10] the Torah mentioned they hated his words. Anything he said they hated. It's inferred that they didn't want to hear him talk, therefore, they didn't need to hear the details of his dream to hate him.
  3. When the Torah said they were jealous of him [step 14] right after their father 'put him in his place' wasn't because Yosef was put in his place. The Torah mentions they were jealous of him because they were jealous! The last emotion (jealousy) was going on the whole picture – not the individual steps.

There are many questions in these types of Parashas. Sometimes better questions than answers. I hope I helped answer a few.

Have a wonderful Shabbos,
Nisso

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