Vayeishev – וַיֵּשֶׁב (Genesis 37:1−40:23)

Parsha Vayeishev – וַיֵּשֶׁב Torah Summary:

Jacob is shown to favor his son Joseph, whom the other brothers resent. Joseph has dreams of grandeur. (Genesis 37:1-11) After Joseph’s brothers had gone to tend the flocks in Shechem, Jacob sends Joseph to report on them. The brothers decide against murdering Joseph but instead sell him into slavery. After he is shown Joseph’s coat of many colors, which had been dipped in the blood of a kid, Jacob is led to believe that Joseph has been killed by a beast. (Genesis 37:12-35) Tamar successively marries two of Judah’s sons, each of whom dies. Judah does not permit her levirate marriage to his youngest son. She deceives Judah into impregnating her. (Genesis 38:1-30) God is with Joseph in Egypt until the wife of his master, Potiphar, accuses him of rape, whereupon Joseph is imprisoned. (Genesis 39:1-40:23) Vayeishev – וַיֵּשֶׁב Genesis 37:3 “Now Israel (our father Jacob) loved Joseph best of all his sons—he was his “child of old age”;* and he had made him an ornamented tunic.*” The Rabbis, in their wisdom, say it is because of a few pounds of cotton that Israel (the people) will be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years in Egypt. If Jacob were a better parent and did not discriminate between his children, causing them to hate each other, we would not have to suffer Egyptian slavery.