This week’s parsha, Vayeshev, is one of the most exciting and metaphorical episodes of Bereshit. While Joseph finds himself sold into bondage and Jacob sees his family cleaved, its ancient authors were informed by what they say around them, embedding their dreams and biases into the debut story of Judaism’s greatest dreamer.
It is important to note that while Torah may well come directly from the words spoken to Moses at Sinai, its stories were passed down as oral traditions for hundreds, if not thousands of years before being written down. The authors who then first put reed pen to papyrus came from many discrete communities with different motives and wrote in different styles, allowing scholars and students to reconstruct much older lost narratives that hint at much more than we might first think.
When Parshat Vayeshev was written, the nation of Israel was divided. Following the construction of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, the kingdom split into Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Here, we find two authors, one from the tribe of Reuben, and one from the tribe of Judah, one Northern and one Southern. Once brothers, these two authors were now political adversaries. By writing down rival narratives of the same story tradition, they could use them for political advantage, and so they did.
Now, back to Vayeshev!
Joseph, his father’s favorite son, adorned with his striped coat, famously interprets his dreams to his father and brothers. Joseph’s brothers grow to resent him, and these dreams only add to their hatred. When alone, they devise a plot to dispose of him, and soon he’d end up a slave in Egypt.
The Parsha focuses on two sons other than Joseph: Reuven and Judah. Conflicting story beats like their decision to either leave Joseph in a pit or sell him directly to slavers, or the confusing identities of the slavers (be they Ishmaelites or Midianites) reveal the seams between the two once-separate stories. At one point, Judah convinces the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery instead of killing him, in another Reuben convinces them to leave him in a pit instead of killing him so that he may come back to rescue him later.
The parsha states: “When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the pit. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought Joseph to Egypt” (Gen. 37:28). Joseph had just been left in a pit to be eaten by wild animals when the Midianites arrive, then suddenly they transform into Ishmaelites and his brothers reappear to sell Joseph to them.
Passages like these give scholars clues to the goings-on in the ancient, divided land of Israel.
While the Southern author, Judah’s spokesman, tried his best to make Judah the hero of the story by convincing the brothers to sell Joseph instead of killing him, he had the misfortune of doing it first. The Northern author, penning a “counter-write” makes Reuben out to be the hero, even planning to rescue Joseph, though he arrives too late. He may have also written the scandalous story of Judah and Tamar that interrupts the Joseph-Egypt narrative and forever taints Judah’s character and reputation.
In the end, Judah comes off as sleazy and an ineffective leader. Reuben, though his plan fails, comes off much less negatively.
The Northern author had grudges to hold; his kingdom was still resentful of the division Solomon caused. It’s also thought that he made his counter-write after the conquest of Northern Israel by the Assyrians, possibly even after the Babylonian Exile so the Reubenite author had a lot to prove living alongside Judahites, going full-force with his counter-write. It’s more than notable, then, that while the nation of Israel was divided and quarreled amongst itself, this story of fraternal disagreement was written down.
Though Joseph and his brothers were reunited some years later, the kingdom of Israel would never be the same. The Northern kingdom fell to the Assyrians just two centuries later forcing much of its population south, and two centuries after that, the Babylonian Exile began the Jewish Diaspora. Yet close to three millennia later, the fears and hopes felt by Parshat Vayeshev’s ancient authors still apply to us.
As the holidays rapidly approach, we all return to our families. Being the holiday season, unity seems to be on everyone’s mind. We must therefore remember that throughout history brother has turned against brother. That makes it our responsibility to find peace and fraternity within our generation and look past the shallow differences of opinion that threaten to cleave sibling from sibling. We must move forward from the mistakes of the past, past old grudges, and past petty disagreements
Joseph and his brothers remained apart for thirteen years. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah never truly reunited. It’s our duty not to let history repeat. Hug your siblings, sit through your eccentric uncle’s political rant, and have a happy holiday.
Chag Sameach
