Parsha Pizzazz - VaYeshev
Nice Coat!
Yaakov loved all of his children-but Yosef was his favorite. He was an excellent student who loved to learn Torah with his father. And just as Yaakov loved Rachel more than his other wives, he also had a special love for Rachel's firstborn son, Yosef.
One day, Yaakov decided to have a very beautiful, striped coat made especially for Yosef. The coat was woven of threads of all the colors of the rainbow-it was absolutely magnificent! A king would have been proud to wear it.
Naturally, Yosef loved his special coat - but his brothers were more than a little jealous. In fact, they were so jealous of Yosef, they started to hate him.
What a Dream, Part I
One day, Yosef went to his brothers and said, "You just have to hear the strange dream I had last night! We were all together, out in the field, tying up our bundles of grain. And then-you won't believe this-my bundle stood up! And your bundles all made a circle around my bundle and bowed down to it! Isn't that weird?"
Well, his brothers didn't like that dream very much at all. They said, "Oh, really! You think you're so special, eh? You think we should all be bowing down to you? Ha! Keep dreaming, Yosef!" But that wasn't the end of it.
What a Dream, Part II
Yosef had another dream-and he went right to his brothers to tell them about it. "Listen to this one! There were eleven stars in a circle around me... the sun and the moon were with them, too... and all of them were bowing down to me! Pretty interesting, huh?"
Sure, it's interesting," grumbled Yosef's brothers. "Another dream proving that you think you're better than the rest of us! Do you really think you will rule over us? Give us a break!"
Yosef told his father the dream, too. Since all of the brothers were listening, and Yaakov didn't want them to get angrier, he wisely said, "Oh, Yosef, that's a silly dream. It doesn't mean anything at all. I understand that the eleven stars represent your brothers, and the sun represents me, but really, how could the moon be your mother? She could never bow down to you... she isn't even alive!"
But in his heart, Yaakov knew that one day Yosef would be a king, and his dream would indeed come true.
Do Your Father a Favor
When Yosef was 17 years old, his father said to him, "Yosef, I need you to do me a favor. Your brothers are all out watching the sheep over in Shechem. Would you please go and check on them for me?"
When Yosef finally caught up to his brothers, who had gone as far as Dotan, his brothers saw him coming.
"Look! Here comes Yosef the dreamer in his oh-so-special coat! Now's our chance to get rid of him, once and for all! Let's kill him and tell Father that a wild animal ate him."
But Reuven, the oldest, wasn't sure that was a good plan. After all, Yosef was really a good kid, and he didn't mean any harm with his dreams. So Reuven said, "Wait. Let's not kill him. We can just throw him into the pit and leave him there." Reuven had in mind to return to the pit later, pull Yosef out, and bring him safely home.
Into the Pit
The brothers agreed to Reuven's new plan. As Yosef came closer to them, they grabbed his colorful coat off of him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty... that is, there was no water in it... but it did have plenty of scorpions-and snakes! Yikes!
Yosef was alone and afraid. What would happen to him now?
Out of the Pit and Into Slavery
While Yosef lay in the pit, Reuven left for a while to take care of his father. The rest of his brothers sat down to enjoy a nice meal. Just then, a caravan of traveling Arab spice merchants passed by.
"Hey!" Yehudah said. "I have an idea. Why don't we sell Yosef to those Arabs? We'll make some decent money off of the deal, and let them do what they want with him. I'm sure he would make a fine slave!"
"Agreed", exclaimed the brothers.
In a flash, the deal was made. Within minutes, Yosef-the-slave was bumping along on the back of a camel, heading down to Egypt.
Gasp!
When Reuven came back to join the rest of the brothers, he saw that the pit was empty!
"Where's Yosef!!" he cried.
"Don't worry, Reuven! He's all right-for now, anyway. We sold him to some traveling Arabs."
"You did WHAT?"
"Reuven, calm down."
"Calm down? What are we going to tell Father!"
"Don't worry! Look-here's Yosef's fancy-shmancy coat. Let's smear some goat's blood on it and show it to Father. He'll think a wild animal got him."
They did just that.
When the brothers returned home and showed the bloodstained coat to Yaakov, he was overcome with sadness. "Yosef! My most special son, dead! I just can't believe it..."
Yaakov sat down and cried, his heart broken.
May I Have Your Attention, Please
Meanwhile, down in Egypt, Yosef had been sold to one of Paraoh's wealthy officers, Potifar. Yosef started out as a regular, lowly slave, but he did such a fabulous job that Potifar gave him more and more responsibilities. In fact, Potifar was so impressed with Yosef that he soon put him in charge of his entire mansion!
Even as a slave, Yosef was special.
Potifar wasn't the only one who was impressed with Yosef. Potifar's wife was, too. She thought Yosef was handsome and she even wished she could marry him instead of Potifar.
So she started to try to get Yosef's attention. She dressed up in her nicest dresses and wore make-up and her fanciest jewelry. She said, "Oh Yosef! Don't I look pretty? Let's spend a little time together!"
But Yosef just ignored her. He knew it wouldn't be right for him to act too friendly with a married woman.
Still, Potifar's wife kept trying. "Yosef! Come here. Why are you ignoring me?" she said.
But Yosef still didn't pay any attention to her.
Finally, one day, Potifar's wife saw a wonderful opportunity. Everyone was out celebrating a holiday and Potifar's wife told her husband that she wasn't feeling well and wanted to stay home.
Finally, Yosef and Potifar's wife were the only ones home in the whole palace. Potifar's wife gave it one last try: "Yosef! You are my slave and I command you to come here this instant!"
Yosef was almost tempted to listen to her when suddenly an image of his great father, Yaakov popped into his head and Yosef knew he must do the right thing.
He quickly tried to leave the room, but Potifar's wife grabbed him by the sleeve of his coat.
"Stay here!" she said. But Yosef escaped, leaving his coat in her hand.
When everyone else returned to the palace, Potifar's wife told all the servants, "I'm so angry with that slave, Yosef. He acted much too friendly with me while you were all out. Absolutely disgusting, don't you think?"
"I'll have him thrown in jail!" shouted Potifar-without waiting to hear Yosef's side of the story.
In Jail
Yosef was promptly taken to the dungeon.
After a while the prison guard realized that Yosef was nothing like the other prisoners... he was wise and trustworthy and was helpful to everyone with his wise advice. So he decided to put him in charge of the other prisoners and gave him special privileges.
Even as a prisoner, Yosef was special!
Fit for a King?
Years later, Yosef was still in jail, and two new prisoners were brought in. Apparently, Paraoh had become furious with his chief butler because he served a cup of wine to Paraoh-and it had a fly in it! So Paraoh sent him to jail.
Paraoh was also angry with his chief baker, because he served Paraoh a roll-and it had a pebble in it! And so the baker, too, was thrown into jail.
Of course, it was all part of HaShem's plan...
The Butler and the Baker
One morning, the butler and the baker both awoke startled. Yosef noticed that something seemed to be bothering them.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
"We both had very strange dreams but we can't figure them out. It's driving us bananas!"
"You can tell me your dreams, if you like, and perhaps HaShem will help me find some way to understand them," Yosef offered.
"All right. I'll start," said the butler. "I dreamed that there were three grapevines. I was squeezing juice from some of the grapes into Paraoh's cup, and then I gave Paraoh the cup. So? What does it mean?"
"Well," Yosef replied to the butler, "Yours seems like a good dream. Three grapevines... three days... lots of sweet, ripe grapes. This means that in three days you'll be given your old job back. You'll give Paraoh his wine cup again, and everything will be fine for you."
The butler was relieved to hear Yosef's explanation.
"Please do me a favor," Yosef said. "When you are out of jail and working again in the palace, don't forget me. Tell Paraoh that I'm here unjustly. I didn't do anything wrong. Maybe you'll be able to help get me out of here."
The butler agreed to Yosef's request, and Yosef turned to the baker.
"My dream," said the baker, "was that I was carrying three bread baskets on my head! I was going to give Paraoh some bread from the top basket, but some birds were nibbling at it-right from the basket on my head. I just don't understand what this could be about!"
"Well, I'm afraid your dream is another story. It doesn't sound good at all. Three baskets, three days... In three days, Paraoh will have you hanged!"
Three days later Paraoh's was having a grand birthday party for himself. He ordered the prison guard to bring him the butler and the baker. Just as Yosef had predicted, the baker was hanged, and the butler was given his old job back and began to serve wine to Paraoh at his party.
The butler was so happy to be free and so wrapped up in his job that he forgot all about his promise to Yosef. Two years passed, and Yosef was still sitting in jail, waiting and wondering...
