November 29, 2007
Vayeishev, Genesis 37:1−40:23
This week’s Torah portion is very familiar to fans of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber It's all there in chapter thirty-nine of Genesis!” and Tim Rice. In fact, if you’ve ever sung along with the song about Potiphar, the Egyptian who bought Joseph as a slave, you might recall that “
Whenever I read or hear or watch the Joseph story, I always wonder was in the minds and hearts of the brothers who did this evil deed to Joseph. In particular, I imagine what they might have been feeling when they showed the bloodied coat of many colors to their father, and allowed him to believe that his beloved son was dead.
Did the brothers feel guilty? Did they have any sense of remorse? Did any of them think about going back and trying to find those Ishmaelite to whom they had sold their brother? How did they live with themselves when their father moaned that there was no solace for his grief; he would go down to the grave as a mourner?
On a more textual level, whenever I read this Torah portion, I am always struck by the seeming randomness of a whole other story that is inserted right in the middle of the Joseph tale. Right after reading that Joseph is sold to a wealthy Egyptian called Potiphar, but before we learn what happens to Joseph down in Egypt, the story of Judah and Tamar is inserted. It is a total non sequitor, and never until this very week have I been able to find a fitting explanation for why the Tamar story interrupts the flow of the Joseph plot.
The story of Tamar and Judah is also one of intrigue, deception, and trickery—that is the hallmark of Jacob and his sons. Tamar is Judah’s daughter in law. She has married two of his sons, both of whom die before leaving Tamar a child. According to biblical law, every available man must offer to marry his brother’s childless widow. This doesn’t happen in Tamar’s case, so she takes the matter into her own hands in a very ingenious way. (It’s all there in Chapter 38 of Genesis! http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0138.htm)
In the end, Tamar’s scheme not only gets her the children and the honor that she deserved, but it brings out honesty in a previously deceitful Judah. And that is precisely why this story is placed, however awkwardly, in the middle of the Joseph tale.
At any given time during the scandalous plot to get rid of Joseph and lie about it to their father, the brothers could have changed their mind. They could have come clean. They could have used everything in their power to find Joseph. Rather, they go on happily for decades. It is not until they are literally starving, and find themselves on their knees begging for food from a brother they no longer recognize, that they admit who they are and what they did.
Judah’s gallant decision to admit to his misdeeds and take responsibility for what was his to do is an important lesson to learn, as is Tamar’s choice to take action rather than be a victim. This story is placed here as a reminder that is never too late to stop a rotten situation; to apologize for one’s own role in it, and then get out of the quagmire.
It will take several more Torah portions---adding up to many wasted years---for Joseph’s brothers to figure this out. We can learn from their mistakes. That is why the stories of our ancestors are not tales of saintly beings, but real human beings.