Yaakov’s Love for Yosef

The Chida (in Pnei David, Vayeishev 24), based on the above ideas, explains why Yaakov loved Yosef more than all his sons. Yosef’s outward appearance resembled that of Yaakov’s natural beauty, which was akin to that of Adam HaRishon. At the same time, Yaakov taught Yosef all the wisdom he had learned from Shem and Ever, and Yosef absorbed it fully. Upon seeing that Yosef possessed both of these seemingly contradictory qualities — beauty and wisdom — without one diminishing the other, Yaakov realized Yosef’s mission was an extension of his own. Just as he was a reincarnation and spiritual spark of Adam’s soul and charged with his mission, Yosef too shared that same root and Divine mission in his own unique way.