Musings on Parshat Vayeishev

Overview

Yaakov favors Yosef and gives him a special long-sleeved coat…Yosef angers his brothers with his dreams and interpretations …Yosef is sold by Midianite traders to Ishmaelite merchants traveling in a caravan headed to Egypt and then resold to Potifar, Pharaoh’s Chief of Staff…Yosef’s siblings dip his special coat in the blood of a slaughtered goat and present it to their father with the words Haker Na… Yaakov concludes that Yosef is dead, having been torn to pieces by a wild animal and is inconsolable… Tamar the Canaanite displays courage in founding a family with Yehudah her father-in-law (without publicly embarrassing him), that leads to the birth of Peretz, the ancestor of King David …Yosef in Potifar’s house…Mrs. Potifar’s unsuccessful seduction of Yosef…Yosef interprets dreams in prison.

Yehudah and Tamar

The unfolding story of Yosef and his arrival in Egypt is interrupted with a story about Yehudah, who “goes down from his brothers”, marries a woman named Shua, and sires three sons—Er, Onan and Shelah. Yehudah takes a wife named Tamar for his son Er. When Er dies, Yehudah commands Onan to perform Yibum, and marry his brother’s widow so that there will be offspring to perpetuate Er’s name. When Onan also dies Yehudah instructs Tamar to return to her father’s home and wait until Shelah is old enough to marry.(The real reason is his fear that were Tamar to marry him,Shelah would die like his brothers.)

Yehudah’s wife dies. After the mourning period ends he goes to a sheep-shearing in the town of Timnah. Upon learning this, Tamar dresses like a cult prostitute and waits at the crossroads on the road to Timnah. Yehudah is attracted to her (unaware that she is his daughter-in-law) and agrees to send her a kid from the flock in payment for her services. Tamar demands and receives Yehudah’s signet, cloak and staff as collateral until the kid is delivered. (Biblical scholar Robert Alter notes that this was not an inconsequential request; it is the equivalent of a demand for one’s credit cards in contemporary times.) Yehudah impregnates Tamar, after which she returns home and dons her garments of widowhood. Yehudah‘s friend is sent to deliver the kid and recover the collateral but is told by the locals that there was no cult prostitute in the area. When the friend reports his findings, Yehudah calmly expresses the hope that he will not be made a laughing stock should the prostitute show his personal things to others.

Some three months later, when Tamar’s pregnancy becomes evident, Yehudah angrily rules that she should be burned to death (or, according to some, be branded) for committing adultery. Tamar quietly asks to meet with Yehudah, privately shows him the signet, cloak and staff in her possession and asks if he knows to whom they belong. Yehudah realizes what happened; says that Tamar is more righteous (or more in the right) than him; and no longer sleeps with her. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s view is that Yehudah is undergoing a transformation from being cold and calculating to becoming “ethically passionate, loving, and responsible”.

Tamar is carrying twins. During labor, when one of the twins puts out a hand, the midwife ties a scarlet ribbon on it. As the hand is pulled back in, the second twin comes out and the midwife names him Peretz (breach) because “what a breach you have made for yourself”. The baby with the scarlet thread comes out and is named Zerach because of the shining appearance of the scarlet thread (ZeRiCHas).

Tamar displays a sterling character: When told that she would be put to death for committing adultery she could have announced that she was impregnated by Yehudah. Instead of publicly embarrassing him this way, she chooses to quietly and privately confront him. (From this incident the Sages concluded that it is better for one to die by fire than to publicly shame another human being.)

Benno Jacob’s view is that the purpose of this story is to show how this non-Jewish, extraordinary individual perceived the role Yehudah would play in creating a nation and wanted to be part of this destiny. (The novelist Thomas Mann speculates that Tamar was aware of the tradition in Yaakov’s home regarding Yehudah’s critical role in the nation building.) When there is no longer a son for her to marry with whom to procreate, she turns to Yehudah in a variation of Yibum. After all, she reasons, the wife of Yehudah’s deceased son is no more closely related than the wife of a deceased brother.

Tamar gives birth to Peretz the ancestor of David and the Judean royal dynasty. The comparison with Ruth is striking in that both were ethical women of foreign origin that considered themselves part of their Jewish in-laws’ family; and both contributed to the building of the House of Israel in a significant way. It is interesting how the two are linked in the closing verses in the Book of Ruth where the genealogy of King David starts with Tamar’s son Peretz.

Rav B.S. Jacobson, in his Meditations on the Torah, observes that Tamar is the most appealing character in this episode. Unlike Yehudah’s wife, whose name is not mentioned, Tamar’s name is repeated over and over. Mrs. Yehudah is a passive, anonymous personality who bears three sons only to tragically witness the deaths of the two older ones, until she herself passes away. Tamar, on the other hand, personifies independence and daring. She is a person who takes the initiative, using everything within her power to achieve her goal of serving as a critical link in the building of the nation of Israel. No wonder the name Tamar is so popular!


Rabbi H. L. Berenholz

Musings on Parshat Vayishlach

Following are some of the ideas, insights and interpretations that emerge from our weekly Chumash learning group at the Young Israel of Oceanside, Long Island. We cite sources when possible. Some of our interpretations derive from ideas we may have seen elsewhere, possibly without attribution. Or we may simply have forgotten the source. For this we apologize. We invite your comments, observations and participation.

Overview

Yaakov prepares to confront his brother Eisav by sending messengers to express his submissiveness ; by preparing gifts for him; by preparing to do battle and by praying to G-D…At night and all alone, Yaakov wrestles with an Ish and experiences  a dislocation of his hip socket, when the Ish  touches him there in an unsuccessful attempt to prevail.  Yaakov is informed that he will be given an additional name, Yisrael, because he successfully fought with this force  from Hashem and with men. The sun rises and Yaakov limps…Yaakov and Eisav meet ,embrace, appear to reconcile  and then part ways…Yaakov’s only daughter Dinah is raped by Shechem, son of Chamor, prince of a local clan. When Chamor proposes to Yaakov that  Shechem be permitted to marry Dinah, Yaakov’s sons agree, but only on the condition that the locals are circumcised.Chamor agrees and on the third day after the circumcision, when the people were in pain, Shimon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers from the same mother Leah, murder all the males. When Yaakov objects to this behavior, the brothers respond  “Could we allow them to make our sister into a harlot?”…Yaakov journeys to Beis-Ail… as predicted by Ish, G-D gives Yaakov  another name , Yisrael…While giving birth to Binyamin, Rachel dies and is buried on the road to Beis-Lechem… following a practice among ancient Eastern heir-apparent to take possession of his father’s wives, Reuven lies down with his father’s concubine Bilhah…listing of Yaakov’s descendents…Yitzchak dies at 180 years and is buried by his sons Eisav and Yaakov…Eisav’s descendents…listing of the Kings of Edom.

Yaakov and the Ish

Fearful that  when they meet the next day Eisav will murder him and his family for his  having stolen the Blessings from under him, Yaakov prays to G-D but gets no response. That night, after organizing into groups and moving  both his family and the large number of animals he  plans  give as a gift , Yaakov crosses the ford of Yabbok and falls asleep  alone and afraid. An Ish appears and wrestles with him all night and , when he realizes he cannot prevail, grabs Yaakov in the hollow of his thigh (most likely his genitals) knocking his thigh out of joint. When Ish pleads to be let go since the day is breaking, Yaakov responds that he will only free him if he gives Yaakov a blessing. After asking Yaakov his name (i.e., his essence, his persona, how he perceives himself) Ish says that he will be given another name, Yisrael, sometime in the future. Wanting to know whom to thank for the Blessing, Yaakov asks Ish to identify himself but gets no response, only another Bracha. Awake, and with the sun shining, Yaakov realizes that he has seen(confronted) G-D face to face and was saved. To commemorate this experience and realization Yaakov, limping from the nighttime injury, names the place Peniel (Face of G-D).Therefore, concludes the text, “to this day the Children of Israel  do not eat the  Gid H’anawsheh (sinew of the hip --sciatic nerve) which is on the hollow of the thigh, because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh on the sinew of the hip.”

How are we to understand this incident and its meaning(s)? Who is Ish? Did the wrestling really happen or was it a dream or vision? Why the details on Ish’s fighting dirty by “hitting below the belt”? Why did Yaakov need to get a second name? Why the focus on Gid H’anawsheh? Who instituted the prohibition and for what (deeper) reason?

It is noteworthy that with the passage of time, the nature of dreams changes. Initially, dreams seem to have served as a vehicle for G-D’s communication with Man. But starting with Yaakov the dreams become expressions of internal, unconscious conflicts and are filled with extensive symbolism.

Maimonides  the rationalist opines that any verse  in the Torah that has an incident involving angels or angelic speech is  a dream or prophetic vision. During a sleep state anxiety, agitation during a dream, tossing and turning,  physical exhaustion from the moving during the day can combine to create physical injury brought on by a frightening dream. Psychosomatic  injuries are the body’s response to unconscious desires or conflict.

The Midrash defines Ish as the Patron of Eisav, embodying his unique strength and attributes. Yaakov has been struggling and continues to struggle with his guilt over his treatment of  Eisav some 20 years earlier during the dark, lonely depressing night. A psychological regeneration is at work. It is only after night departs that the  truth about his behavior fully “dawns” on Yaakov. It is only when the sun shines (when there is clarity and optimism) that Yaakov is able to face the Truth (Panim el Panim) in himself.

Ish  may be viewed as the dark, selfish side of Yaakov (and of anyone)—the Yeitzer Harah. The active internal struggle with one’s dark side sets the stage for ultimate transformation and real character change. One goes  from the  nighttime/darkness of struggle to the sunshine of self-awareness, change for the better and victory over the Yeitzer Harah. Some note Yaakov’s  high level of sexual activity. He  was  the  Patriarch who sired a large number of children(13)with four women; his father and grandfather each sired only two children each. Perhaps  the dream’s allusion to the touching of the genitals reflects some internal conflict Yaakov was experiencing  relating to his sexuality.

Benno Jacob adds that, ironically, it was the physical weakening of Yaakov (limping, hobbling along with difficulty, appearing like a defeated man) that saved him from the hateful wrath of his brother Eisav. Seeing Yaakov in this condition brought on a change in Eisav (who was thirsting for revenge) prompting him instead to run , embrace, kiss then weep  together with his younger brother. Yaakov's  dream may be the manifestation of his  (unconscious) need to present himself as weak (as a protective mechanism) for  the meeting with his brother.

 

Ish  also can be understood as the embodiment of the National Character of Edom. It is the battle of the cultures: ours versus theirs. The struggle  in the dream is a forerunner of the Jewish people’s constant  battle--for both physical  survival and ethical behavior-- against  surrounding foreign cultures. The yerech --the ultimate source of semen for procreation--is used in a number of places in the Torah as a euphemism for genitals. The enemies of Israel in every generation use every means at their disposal  to destroy our ability to grow and thrive as a people by murdering us and by crushing our ability to  reproduce.

On eating the  Gid H’anawsheh

The source for the prohibition  is its inclusion with all the other commandments promulgated at Mount Sinai. It is presented here for its historical context.(The same applies to the Mitzvah of Bris.) …”the children  of Yisrael do not eat” means, according to Radak, that it was Yaakov’s sons who immediately  took it upon themselves to adopt this rule as a sign of respect  for their injured father or, according to others , for their failure to respect their father.

Rabbi B. S. Jacobson views the prohibition of eating the animal’s thigh with the sciatic nerve, a mainspring of locomotion, as a metaphor for  our need to avoid  improper and impure behavior of Ish in living our lives. Rav Avigdor Miller thinks that the prohibition serves as a reminder that letting  down one’s guard in fighting Evil for even one minute (as Yaakov did)  can have painful consequences. Sandra Gottesman opines that the prohibition reminds us that throughout our history we have come so close to death at the hands of our enemies,  but were saved by G-D and given the opportunity to again “walk in the sunshine”(i.e., be optimistic). Similarly, Rashbam points to how close we were to death but were given a lighter sentence instead(i.e., Ish , the embodiment of Evil , sought to castrate but instead “only” caused injury to the area).

Some think that “you are what you eat” is the operative idea. Ish seems to have touched the most vulnerable part of Yaakov. Eating  that body part would  remind us of our weaknesses and stir up  an internal state of negativity. Yehuda Valladares observes that we  do not want to ingest “weakness”. Bnai Yisrael should not consume and absorb some of the crooked behavior associated with the name (and person) Yaakov. Marty Langert thinks the Torah did not want us to eat anything  having to do with displacement (of hip from socket) in that it would stir up the memory of  the many displacements, expulsions and exiles that the Jewish people endured over the course of time.

Rabbi H. L. Berenholz