Vayeshev

Shabbat Shalom! I hope the holiday season is going well for everyone so far! If you're tired of the cold, here's a story from the desert to warm you up. This week we read about Joseph and his many colored coat. Vayeshev means "settle down" and that's exactly what Jacob did. He was tired of all the battles and struggles so he chilled for a while and had some kids with his wives. These kids became the 12 Tribes of Israel (he also had a daughter, Dinah, but she didn't count because she was a girl) and they were all great, but one stood out from the rest. Joseph was the favorite, the dreamer, the hopeful one. Joseph was the only son of Jacob's true love, Rachel so he made Joseph a beautiful rainbow coat (an amazing technicolor dreamcoat perhaps?) to show his love, which made his brothers jealous. Now, Joseph was only 17 so he didn't understand that his brothers secretly hated him. Not only was he naive, he had dreams that hinted at him ruling over his brothers. Joseph was the baby of the family (until Benjamin came along) so who was he to say that he would be in charge of his brothers? One day, Jacob asked Joseph to go check on his brothers out in the field so like the daddy's boy that he was he did as he was told. I can only imagine how his encounter with his brothers went:

"Hi, Brothers! How are your sheep today?"
"Why do you care? Did dad send you over just so you could tell him we're doing everything wrong?"
"No, he just sent me to check on you guys."
"Whatever. Oh and look you brought your little coat, how special."
"It is special! Dad made it for ME. He just thinks I'm special, like in the dreams I had of you bowing down to me."
"Oh really? How about you fight us and then we see who's special?"
"No, no! No fighting! Please, forgive me, I'm sorry for what I said! I didn't mean it!"
"This kid's pathetic. Let's just throw him in this well and forget about him. We can take his coat and dye it with sheep's blood so Dad will think that he's dead."

At this point Reuben is thinking that he will come back later and rescue Jacob but he is taken by merchants and sold into slavery in Egypt before he can be brought back. He ends up in prison after being falsely accused of rape by Potiphar's wife and is stuck there for a long time. Joseph uses his prophetic dreams to help out his fellow inmates, which gives him a good reputation in jail. The lesson here is to not hate people for being themselves. Joseph was happy being loved by his father and dreaming but his brothers ruined that happiness by leaving Joseph to die. Though Joseph's experience in Egypt made him into a strong leader, he did not understand that many people don't understand that being different is ok. This week do something that makes you happy even if those around you don't understand. Drinking Jell-o through a straw, skydiving, ballroom dancing, looking at gifs of kittens, people watching, dancing around your room to Beyoncé, ANYTHING. And if anyone tells you to stop, tell them this story and maybe they'll reconsider.