Selections
from Vayeshev Genesis 37.1 to 40.23
More and more Jacob loves Joseph a son
in his old age
And makes him a coat of many colors Joseph’s aura
At age 17 Joseph is feeding the flock
with his brothers
He brings evil reports to his father.
Most of his brothers
Won’t speak peacefully with him out of envy and resentment
Joseph dreams and reports: I’m binding
sheaves in the field
My sheaf arises standing upright.
Yours bow to mine
The sun, moon and eleven stars also
bow before me
Sign of
self-mastery, transcending the forces of nature
Joseph goes to find his brothers. They
see him from afar
Here comes the dreamer, they say Gen: 37.19
Their conspiracy is to kill Joseph, throw him in a pit
and say an
evil beast has slain him. Rubin delivers Joseph out of their hands, saying take
no life, just cast him in the pit, intending to restore him to Jacob
They strip Joseph of his coat of many
colors and cast him in a pit
Let’s not hurt him, says Judah, but
sell him. He’s our brother, our flesh For 20 silvers they sell Joseph into
slavery
Rubin returns, sees Joseph is no
longer in the pit, and says
The child is not and as for me, where
shall I go? Gen: 37.30
They kill a goat and dip Joseph’s coat
of many colors in its blood
And bring it to their father: Is this
your son’s?
An evil beast has devoured him, he
cries, and begins to weep
They rise to comfort him. No, he
cries, I’ll go to my grave mourning
While his
father was grieving, Judah moves away
He goes down and marries Shua’s
daughter from Canaan
They have three sons, Er, Onan and
Shelah
Judah brings Tamar to marry Er, who
dies. Judah instructs Onan
To wed Tamar. Raise up seed for your
brother. He chooses not to
He also dies Judah caused Jacob’s grief. Now two of
his sons die
Judah’s wife dies. He’s comforted and
goes for the sheep-shearing
Tamar removes her widowhood robes,
veils herself
As a sacred fertility prostitute and
sits in the entrance on the way
Judah sees her. Thinking she’s a
religious temple prostitute
To prosper
his flock He turns to her saying, please
let me come into you
What will you give me? She asks. A kid from my flock, says he
Until you send it, give me your
pledge: your signet, cord and staff
He gives them and then joins her. She
conceives and leaves
To get back his pledge he sends the
kid by the hand of a friend
Who can’t find her Tamar knows she’s to bear a child
through this line
Three months later Judah learns Tamar
is pregnant
By promiscuity, he believes. Bring her
forth to her death, he orders
How cruel
Judah is here; how noble he will become
On her way to martyrdom Tamar sends a message to Judah
I am pregnant by this man’s signet,
staff and cord now
hers
He sees them and
declares: She is more righteous than I Tamar turns him; Judah awakens He continues to know and love Tamar
Mystics teach
that Joseph and Tamar are the masculine and feminine
Personifications
of Yesod, the infinite depth of
Righteousness and Illumination
During this
time Joseph enslaved is carried down
into Egypt
And sold there to Potiphar. God is
with Joseph who is prosperous
And noted by Potiphar who appoints him
overseer of his house
Joseph is very handsome.
Potiphar’s wife Zuleikha is attracted to him Lie with me, she says. How dare I
do that, he says
Day by day she entices
him. She takes hold of his clothing, he flees
She calls the men,
saying. He brings a Hebrew who tries to lie with me
The master is angry, has
Joseph beaten and puts him the king’s prison
God is with him. Whatever he does, God makes it prosper Cream rises
The warden commits all
the prisoners to Joseph’s hand
During this time the
king’s chief butler offends him and is imprisoned
Joseph ministers to him.
He has a sad dream. Joseph says
Interpretations belong
to God, speak it
The butler’s dream: A
vine, three branches budding, blossoms shooting Becoming clusters of ripe
grapes. In my hand is Pharaoh’s goblet
The interpretation, says
Joseph: three branches are three days
In three days Pharaoh
will restore you unto your office
Then remember, show
kindness, and mention me to Pharaoh
Three days later on
Pharaoh’s birthday the butler is restored
But he forgets Joseph
who remains in prison two
more years
