A Quick Torah Thought

Routinely, almost, Joseph seemed to plant seeds of discord between himself and his brother. From dreams, to flaunting his special garment, to twiddling his hair and admiring his own looks, and spreading gossip about them, Joseph unwittingly piqued their jealousy in a way that caused them to plot to kill him.  But, when Joseph has finally come full circle, and instead of putting himself at the center places God there - "Only God can solve Pharaoh's dreams" - Joseph still seems to bear a little bit of his initial pretentiousness, using the refrain, "my father," instead of "our father," when speaking to his brothers.  One could argue, very simply, based on what has been argued these past few weeks, that Joseph didn't want to sugarcoat the special relationship his father had with him, or his preference for Rachel, or special love for Benjamin. In other words he wanted to help prime his brothers and ease their realization that the same way his father he...

Ever so often, in the Bible, you get a glimpse of what leadership means. Often the Bible portrays it by creating a contradistinction between two different characters (in the Prophets, the most readily apparent one is Saul v. David, and the latter's willingness to admit mistakes), and in this light I'd like to spend a minute talking about what makes the difference between Reuven's failed attempt at leadership, and Judah's successful ascent that ultimately leads him to grandeur.  Joseph's ten brothers who have come down to Egypt are accused by Joseph of being spies. There is great acrimony between the brothers, accusations fly, and they find themselves face-to-face with Joseph's interpreter. As one, Reuven's brothers admit that they were remiss in not having heard Joseph's protestations, as he begged for mercy; they deafened their ears, turning a blind eye.  Reuven, hearing this remorse, says in plain English, "I told you so."  "I told you n...

Often sibling rivalry gets out of hand; never did my older brother, or sisters for that matter - though they may have been warranted - try to sell me. How then did the fraternal angst and animosity devolve to such an extent that Joseph was tossed into a pit, his brothers sat down to break bread, and only afterwards, on Judah's advice, lasso him up from the pit to sell him to God knows where?  The question is even harder to grapple with given the initial intent to kill him and claim that a wild animal had killed him (it was only Reuven's prescience that saved Joseph's life). So, how do we get to such acrimony, and what do we do to avoid it?  Truth be told, none of us are likely to ever experience such hatred nor are most parents likely to deal with this problem to the extent that Jacob did.  But, why is that? Jacob was in an impossible situation. Against his will, he was married to two women, one who he admittedly loved, but the other, who he loved far more. The seven init...

Jacob met a man, clouded in mystery, who came to do battle with him. Failing to overpower him, he ultimately changed his name, changing the destiny of the Jewish people.  This type of story seems bizarre to the core.  Who was this man? What did he represent? When Jacob asks for his name, he says, "Why are you asking for my name?" leading some to say that that was indeed his name.  Very infrequently do we have similar episodes in the Tanach where man meets angel; the two worlds meet, one ethereal, one very much grounded in reality, and a hidden message, once ensconced, becomes apparent.  This encounter speaks heavily to Hashem's choice of mankind over angel, harking to the famous midrashim about Hashem choosing to overrule angelic beings and indeed create man, against their fiercest objections. Jacob is not left unscathed from the encounter, explaining why - forever more - Jews are forbidden from eating the sciatic nerve. Though the sages teach that Jacob's wound heal...