ON THE PARSHA Parshas VaYeishev by Dovid Lipman, Israel Year 3, No. 9 Introduction This parsha, which tells how a schism in the Jewish nation originated, has six parts: 1) Yoseif's Dreams 2) Yoseif is Sold 3) Yehuda's First Wife 4) Yehuda and Tamar 5) Yoseif's Temptation 6) Yoseif in Prison 1. Yoseif's Dreams -- 37:1 [Beg.] to 37:11 [Aliyah 2] Yaakov favors Yoseif over his older brothers, and makes him a special robe, arousing their jealousy. Yoseif then has two dreams, each showing him ruling over them. Upon hearing the dreams, they hate him [out of jealousy]. The Principles of Shabbos (37:7) "...we were gathering bundles in the field..." This pasuk is an examples of #4 of the 39 Melachos of Shabbos: Me'amer, gathering. This prohibits collecting anything that grows from the ground into one place on Shabbos. However, the Issur is only in the place where the product grew, like in our pasuk, where gathering is done in the field. Once taken elsewhere, Me'amer is not an issue (M.B. 340:37), but there are still limits because it's a "weekday act" (see O.C. 335:5 and M.B.). Sometimes, Me'amer is even in a different place. Some items are first gathered together, but then brought together even tighter, like packing figs into a cake form. This second step is considered Me'amer also, and since such a step isn't necessarily done where the item grew, the Issur applies anywhere. (O.C. 340:10 and M.B.) 2. Yoseif is Sold -- 37:12 [Al. 2] to 37:36 [end, Chap. 37] Yaakov sends Yoseif to check on his brothers, who tend the sheep near Sh'chem. As he approaches, they plan to kill him, but Reuvain convinces them to throw him in a pit. Then, while Reuvain is away, they sell him to a passing caravan headed for Egypt; Yehuda's idea. Reuvain is stunned at the failure of his rescue plan, but he helps trick Yaakov, who indeed believes Yoseif killed by beasts, and mourns him. From the Gemara (37:14) The word "aimek" meaning "valley" can't mean that here, for Chevron isn't lowlands. So Rashi brings the gemara (Sotah 11a) that sending Yoseif came from the "deep" (Amukah) idea of Avraham, who was buried in Chevron (the slavery in Egypt, which came about from this). But Hashem decreed the slavery UPON Avraham - so why is it called Avraham's idea? But the Midrash tells us that Avraham was given a choice for his seed - exile or Gehinnom - and he chose exile. That's the "deep" idea Avraham had: that the hardest exile is better than Gehinnom. 3. Yehuda's First Wife -- 38:1 to 38:11 Yehuda marries a merchant's daughter and has three sons, Eir, Onan, and Sheilah. Eir marries, but dies soon for his sins. Yehuda tells Onan to fulfill 'Yibum', to marry his Eir's wife Tamar, but Onan, does the mitzvah in an evil way, and he too dies. Yehuda delays having Sheilah marry Tamar, and he sends her home to wait. Words according to Chazal (38:11) "Almanah". The Torah uses this word to mean a widow, but the gemara (Kesu. 10b) says it comes from the word "Manah", Hebrew for the amount of money a husband is Rabbinically obligated to his wife in her kesubah, if she was already widowed. The gemara cites this as an example of the Torah relying on something in the future to describe the past. 4. Yehudah and Tamar -- 38:12 to 38:30 [End, Chap. 38] After Yehuda's first wife dies, he buries himself in shepherding, near the home of Tamar, who sees her last chance to have children. She disguises herself and is successful, taking Yehuda's personal items as security for payment. When Tamar is found pregnant, she tells Yehuda the father is the owner of those items, and he publicly admits it was him. She later has twins. Worthy of Note (38:12) "...and Bas-Shua, Yehudah's wife, died..." This fact seems to have no significance in the story. Maybe its meaning is linked to the words of Yehudah: "She is right...for I did not give her to my son Shelah." Tamar married Yehudah as a pre-Torah form of Yibbum (see Ramban), but she still needed the reason "for I did not give her to Shelah", as a justification for fooling Yehudah - it was only fair because he should have given her Shelah anyway. So we can add that if Bas-Shua had been alive, there would have been the added factor of causing pain to her (how would SHE have felt?), and Tamar would have had to admit that she had no claims against HER, so how could she cause her pain just to fulfill her own wish to have children from Yehudah? But now that Bas-Shua was dead... 5. Yoseif's Temptation -- Chap. 39 Yoseif is sold to the Egyptian Royal Slaughtermaster, who soon promotes him repeatedly until he runs the whole household. When his master's wife tries to seduce him, he refuses, and finally she has him thrown in prison, where he's also put in charge, caring for the prisoners. Answers to Do You Remember -Parshas Vayishlach 1. Avraham had prayed in Sh'chem for Shimon & Levi's success - and that's why they were confident. 2. One may not have pleasure from the Gin HaNasheh. One source is that it's not considered food - so what ELSE can the Issur to "eat" it really mean? 3. Jews have power over angels because they don't depend on an angel for their Heavenly protection. 4. There's a tradition that Shimon & Levi were 13 at Sh'chem - and we see THEY were called "man"! 6. Yoseif in Prison -- Chap. 40 Two officers of Par'oh are thrown into Yoseif's prison, and he interprets a disturbing dream for each; one is to be restored (the Chief Steward) the other hung (the Chief Baker). Yoseif asks the Steward to get him out of jail, but though he's saved, he forgets Yoseif. Do You Remember? - from the files of On the Parsha 1. Who claimed responsibility for Tamar's pregnancy? 2. Why is an unmarried man called a "Ravak"? 3. When did Reuvain admit his sin? 4. Does the Issur of meat & milk apply only to goats? 5. Yehuda saved Yoseif from the pit - is he a hero?