What we miss:

●  Birth and early life of Joseph the Dreamer

●  Judah and Tamar: Judah becomes a good soul

What We Read:

To say that the young Joseph experienced his share of adventures is an understatement. By the time he was a young adult, Joseph

-Was sold into slavery by his loving brothers,

-Became chief servant to Potifar (Pharaoh’s chief of staff),

-Resisted the advances of Potifar’s wife,

-Was imprisoned after being falsely accused of sexual crimes, and

-Interpreted dreams of Pharaoh’s imprisoned butler and baker.

We need to read and understand the Joseph saga on several levels.

First Level: Similar to the stories about Isaac/Ishmael, Rebekah and Jacob/Esau, we need to read the Joseph stories on both a visceral and metaphysical level. From a visceral perspective Joseph was a brash and somewhat overconfident young man. He so enraged his siblings that they sold him to foreigners and lied about his fate to their father Jacob. The Joseph story highlights a family struggling with familiar issues: Sibling rivalries/jealousies, and the challenges of parenting (i.e. conveying love equally to all children).

That being said, even sibling rivalry has its limits. Joseph’s brothers were not children. Although sibling rivalries/competing for a parent’s affection can last a lifetime, there is no excuse for selling a brother and then to so viciously deceive their father. Joseph becomes a displaced person, bereft of family and home. There is no valid excuse for the crime the brothers committed. Joseph is not only stripped of individual dignity, but he loses any personal control over his life.

The indignities only intensify as Joseph is forced into an alien world. The accusations of Potifar’s wife are clearly false; yet who would believe a wandering slave over the claims of a powerful Egyptian?

What makes Joseph so remarkable is that he never succumbs to despair, even when he eventually cries out to God for abandoning him. Despite all these seemingly insurmountable challenges which plague a young man, Joseph remains resilient and hopeful. He overcomes every challenge and obstacle with an upbeat demeanor.

Joseph never condemns his father or cites his brothers’ cruelty as an excuse for failure. Joseph eventually does have some fun at his brothers’ expense, but ultimately, he protects them. Today, many of us hold our parents accountable for severe physical and emotional defects, whose roots we trace back to our youth. From Joseph, we learn that we cannot hold our parents or environment accountable for our failures; we must learn to assume total responsibility for success and achievement.

Second Level: As I often explain, the entire Book of Braisheet/Genesis is designed as background for the slavery and eventual Exodus from Egypt. Braisheet/Genesis explain the origins of Am Yisrael. Selling Joseph into Egyptian slavery leads to the migration of his family into Goshen and to the conditions which lead to the emergence of Moses. The Joseph story is integral to the Braisheet/Genesis (and then Book of Shmot/Exodus) continuum.

Third Level: On a metaphysical level the Joseph saga carries theological overtones. Unlike the encounters between Joseph’s forebears and God, Joseph never directly “speaks” with God. In all the Torah’s lengthy story about Joseph we never read the words “And God spoke to Joseph,” etc. Nevertheless, God’s present is central to/in Joseph’s life. When interpreting dreams of the butler and baker for example, Joseph refers to God as the ultimate (and exclusive) interpreter of dreams. Joseph is God’s conduit and mouthpiece; Divine Providence is key throughout Joseph’s adventures. There is no need to constantly remind us of God’s relationship with Joseph; that relationship is evident throughout the story and understood by the reader. God’s presence is subtle and assumed. The Torah does not have to throw God in our faces.

Haftorah Reading - Amos 2:6 - 3:8

Amos was considered a social activist and a defender of the poor. He speaks to the citizens of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. People in the North are not deserving of their special status because they treat people indecently. Amos reminds them how they will be accountable for their actions just as other nations of the world are accountable for theirs. Being called Israel does not grant a free pass to being immoral…