Wednesday, January 1, 2020

                    וישב

לז,לא וַיִּקְחוּ, אֶת-כְּתֹנֶת יוֹסֵף; וַיִּשְׁחֲטוּ שְׂעִיר 
עִזִּים, וַיִּטְבְּלוּ אֶת-הַכֻּתֹּנֶת בַּדָּם

לז,לב וַיְשַׁלְּחוּ אֶת-כְּתֹנֶת הַפַּסִּים, וַיָּבִיאוּ אֶל-אֲבִיהֶם, וַיֹּאמְרוּ, זֹאת מָצָאנוּ:  הַכֶּר-נָא, הַכְּתֹנֶת בִּנְךָ הִוא--אִם-לֹא.

לז,לג וַיַּכִּירָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר כְּתֹנֶת בְּנִי, חַיָּה רָעָה אֲכָלָתְהוּ; טָרֹף טֹרַף, יוֹסֵף.

Its interesting that the midrash says that this כתנת is actually the same garment that יעקב used to fool his father יצחק, in thinking that he was blessing his brother עשו. 

There are some interesting terms used in these pasukim that can possibly be reminding us of the conflict between יעקב and עשו and the deception of יצחק.
The terms שעיר and אדום) דם)  seems to allude to the other names of עשו.
The fooling by Joseph's brothers of יעקב, with the same garment to convince יעקב that his son is dead; when in fact he was really sold(as עשו sold the firstborn rights to יעקב). 
The other reminder is the fact that the garment was dipped in the blood of עיזים-the same animal that רבקה prepared the dish for יעקב to feed his father יצחק. Also notice the language of the pasuk when יצחק bless יעקב-
כז,כג וְלֹא הִכִּירוֹ--כִּי-הָיוּ יָדָיו כִּידֵי עֵשָׂו אָחִיו, שְׂעִרֹת; וַיְבָרְכֵהוּ
And now the language of הכר נא and ויכירה when the brothers are fooling יעקב

We also saw this play out when לבן told יעקב after switching לאה ( the oldest) for רחל in marriage. Hear the irony in the words of לבן when לבן says in פרשת ויצא

 כט,כו וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן, לֹא-יֵעָשֶׂה כֵן בִּמְקוֹמֵנוּ--לָתֵת הַצְּעִירָה, לִפְנֵי הַבְּכִירָה

when it was לבן's sister (רבקה) that devised the plan in the first place; in order that יעקב should steal the blessings from her oldest son. Where would רבקה learn the rules of deception, if not from the family of her childhood-לבן

As long as we are on this subject of לבן, this may  also explain where the midrash picked up the story that רחל gave the סימנים to her sister לאה in order that she not be humiliated; just like רבקה gave the סימנים to her son יעקב in order to fool his father. The only difference here is that the midrash is having the youngest daughter give the סימנים to the oldest daughter, in order to fool her future husband.  Now in this parsha, the children of the oldest are using סימנים to once again deceive the parent of the true whereabouts of the youngest.

Is the Torah being critical of the deception by Yaakov of his father יצחק, by showing us in these stories consequences of our actions/decisions  and how history repeats itself...?



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