Joseph the Dreamer
Parashat VaYeishev - Genesis 37
Jacob settled where his fathers once stayed, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph, his son, when he was 17 years old, was a shepherd with his brothers; but he was a young boy. And Joseph would bring wicked reports about his brothers to their father Jacob. Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons since he had him when he was an old man and so he made him a fancy wool coat. His brothers saw that their father loved Joseph the best so they hated him; and they could not speak to them peacefully.
One time Joseph had a dream which he then told his brothers - and they hated him even more. He said to them: “Listen to my dream! We were all tying up bundles of wheat in the middle of the field when, all of a sudden, my bundle stood up and then your bundles gathered around and started bowing down to my bundle.” His brothers said to him: “Are you going to be king over us? Are you going to be in control of us?” And they hated Joseph even more - because of his dreams and because of the way he talked.
Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “Hey, I had another dream! In my dream the sun, moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me!” And he also told the dream to his father. His father scolded him, saying, “What is this dream?! Are we - I, your mother, and your brothers - supposed to bow down to you?” So his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the matter in his mind.
One day Joseph’s brothers went to Shekhem to put their father’s sheep out to graze. And Israel said to Joseph: “Your brothers are taking the sheep to graze in Shechem, aren’t they? Come on, I am going to send you to them.” Joseph said, “Here I am!” And he said to him, “Go now, see how your brothers and the sheep are doing and then come back to tell me.” So he sent him from Hevron and Joseph arrived in Shechem. [Note: this is 60 miles away]
A man found Joseph wandering around in the field. The man asked, “What are you looking for?” He said, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you please tell me where they are letting the sheep graze?” The man said, “They’ve moved on from here. I overheard them saying they would go to Dothan.” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. [Note: this is about a day’s hike away.]
His brothers saw Joseph from a distance. When he had not yet reached them, they decided to kill him. They said to each other, “Look, the dreamer is coming! Let’s kill him and throw him into a pit - and we will say that a wild beast ate him. Then we’ll see if his dreams come true!”
Reuben, the oldest son, heard what they said and rescued Joseph from their hands. He said, “We will not kill him. Do not shed any blood! Instead, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness - but do not hurt him!” He hoped to rescue Joseph and return him to his father.
And so when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped off his special coat and took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty and had no water in it.
The brothers sat down to eat. They looked up and saw a group of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead; their camels were carrying spices and they were on their way to bring them down to sell in Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What’s the point of killing our brother and then covering up his blood? Let’s sell him to these Ishmaelites. We won’t hurt him because he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. Midianite en who were traders were passing by. They lifted Joseph out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver - and those men brought Joseph to Egypt.
Reuben went back to the pit and saw that Joseph was gone! He tore his clothes [a sign of mourning]. He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! Where can I go?” They took Joseph’s coat, slaughtered a baby lamb and dipped the coat in the lamb’s blood. They brought the coat to their father and said, “Is this your son’s coat?” He recognized it and said, “My son’s coat! A beast devoured him! Joseph must have been torn to bits!” Then Jacob tore his clothes; he mourned for his son for so many days. All of his children tried to make him feel better but he would not let himself feel better, saying, “I will go to my grave mourning my son.” Joseph’s father cried and cried for him.
At this point the Midianites had sold Joseph in Egypt, to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials in charge of the butchers.
Steps For Completing this Torah Hangout
When appropriate, follow this level key: All / 2nd-3rd graders / 4th-6th graders
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2. Either on a sheet of paper or with a partner, discuss the following questions:
- Was it right for Jacob to favor Joseph? What could he have done differently as a father?
- Was it right for Joseph to tell his father and brothers his dreams? What could he have done differently as a son and brother?
- Was it right for Joseph’s brothers to hate him? What could they have done differently as sons and brothers?
3. Read the following commentaries and answer the related questions:
When the text says …. Rashi tells us it means …..
he was a young boy - He behaved childishly, fixing his hair and touching up his eyes so that he would appear handsome.
> According to this description, how would you describe Joseph’s personality? How does his personality affect the way you judge him, his brothers and his father?
His father scolded him - because he was bringing hatred upon himself.
> Why else might Jacob scold Joseph?
4. Share your response to one of the questions above on the blog.
