Torah Study Vayeshev

All of Jacob’s sons were born in his old age. Issachar and Zebulun cannot have been more than a year or two older than Joseph. But old people pick one of their youngest children to stay near them and serve them. The old man relies on having the boy with him at all times, and that boy is “the child” of the man’s old age because he takes care of him. Jacob picked Joseph for this purpose. That is why Joseph did not go with his brothers when they took the sheep far away; he had to stay with his father. Onkelos is following the rabbinic idea that Jacob taught Joseph all the traditions and secrets of the Torah he had learned from Shem and Eber. He found that Joseph understood everything so intuitively that he seemed wise beyond his years. Note that in 44:20 Onkelos does call Benjamin “a child of his old age.” But he has noticed that our text does not say that.

Michael Carasik, ed., Genesis: Introduction and Commentary, trans. Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2018), 330.

Genesis 37:31–32“So they took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a billy goat, and they dipped the tunic into the blood. Then they sent the long-sleeved tunic, and it was brought to their father, and they said, “We found this. Do you recognize whether or not it is your son’s tunic?””

2. Where else do we read of a goat used for deception?

a. Genesis 27:15–16 “Rebekah also took her elder son Esau’s favorite clothes that were with her in the house, and she put them on her younger son Jacob, along with the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the hairless part of his neck.”

Genesis 38:1–2 “About that time Judah went down from his brothers and he camped near an Adullamite man, whose name was Hirah. There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man whose name was Shua, and he took her as wife and slept with her.”

3. Did Judah really take a Canannite as a wife?!?! #2

a. No

b. Genesis 24:37 “Then my master made me take an oath, saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I’m dwelling.’”

c. Deuteronomy 7:3 “You are not to intermarry with them—you are not to give your daughter to his son, or take his daughter for your son.”

d. Genesis 9:25 “So he said, “Cursed is Canaan: the lowest slave will he be to his brothers.””

e. NAHMANIDES There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite. Onkelos calls him “a merchant,” that is, someone from elsewhere who had come to Canaan for business reasons. His point is that Jacob’s sons would be careful to avoid marrying Canaanite girls, as their ancestors Isaac and Abraham had instructed. B. Pes. 50a also calls him a merchant. So Jacob’s sons must have married Egyptians, Ammonites, Moabites, or women who could be identified as descended from the sons of Ishmael and of Keturah. That explains why the text uniquely identifies Simeon’s son Saul as “the son of a Canaanite woman” (46:10)—he was the only one. Even in his case, the Sages took him to be the son of Dinah by a Canaanite man. But the matter was disputed. “R. Judah says: Female twins were born with each of Jacob’s sons, and they married them. R. Nehemiah says: Their wives were Canaanite.” But it may be that R. Nehemiah did not really know the women’s origins, meaning merely that they had married women whom they met in Canaan, but who could have been sojourners from the neighboring nations or from any other. He was just disputing R. Judah’s conclusion that they married their sisters. (For a sister of the same mother is forbidden to all descendants of Noah.) Following R. Judah’s opinion, the six sons of Leah would have had to marry the twins of the other six boys and vice versa. Or else R. Nehemiah is denying that these twins existed at all, saying that Jacob’s only daughter was Dinah (which is what the text seems to say). It is simply not correct to say that they all married Canaanites. That would mean that some of those who later inherited the land were descendants of Canaan, cursed to be “the lowest of slaves” (9:25)—right alongside the descendants of Abraham, who were commanded to proscribe the descendants of Canaan so that he would have not even a remnant surviving. In any case, this particular man was a merchant. The text would not bother to tell us that the man was an ethnic Canaanite, which all the inhabitants of that land were in one way or another, whether Perizzites or Jebusites or what have you. Adullam is certainly located in Canaan. The real question is why the text does not tell us this woman’s name as it does with Tamar, with Esau’s wives, and with many others. Instead, it tells us that her father was a merchant, ergo not originally a Canaanite at all. That is why it says that he “saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite”; he spotted a girl whose father made her marriageable. The fact that 1 Chron. 2:3 calls her a “Canaanite woman” simply means that she was this man’s daughter and has no bearing on the meaning of the expression. He may have been well known as a merchant, which is undoubtedly what brought him to live in the place. If Ibn Ezra’s comment to 46:10 is correct, however, then Shelah too was “the son of a Canaanite woman” (46:10)—but this, for whatever reason, went without saying. So “Judah saw” would simply mean that he saw her and desired her, as Samson “noticed a girl among the Philistine women” (Judg. 14:1). Rashi’s comment to 50:13 would seem to support Ibn Ezra, but our version of Genesis Rabbah differs from the one on which Rashi’s comment is based. Tamar too was certainly the daughter of someone who was a sojourner in the land and not an actual Canaanite. God forbid that our lord King David, our righteous Messiah—may he speedily be revealed to us—is a descendant of Canaan, the accursed slave. Our Sages say that Tamar was a daughter of Shem, whom they identify as Melchizedek, the “priest of God Most High” (14:18).

Michael Carasik, ed., Genesis: Introduction and Commentary, trans. Michael Carasik, The Commentators’ Bible (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2018), 340.

Genesis 38:6 “Then Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.”

4. Does anyone know who Tamar is in the linage of? Why Does it matter?

a. Shem and Eber. Shem is MelechTzadick

b. She is called more righteous than Judah.

Genesis 38:18 ““What kind of pledge shall I give you?” he asked. “Your seal, and your cord, and your staff in your hand,” she said. So he gave them to her and he slept with her, and she got pregnant by him.”

5. Is there a significance to the 3 items given to Tamar?

a. Seal - possibly a signet ring, proves identity, used to prove who a message came from or object belonged to. Could have also been a brand.

b. cord - possibly a sash around the waist or a head band. garment of ornament. It would reveal economic status.

c. staff - some call this a scepter or rod, another proof of identity, sign of authority.

d. Genesis 49:10 “The scepter will not pass from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs will come. To him will be the obedience of the peoples.”

Genesis 38:25–26 “As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law saying, “I’m pregnant by the man to whom these things belong.” Then she said, “Do you recognize whose these are—the seal, the cords and the staff?” Then Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I didn’t give her to my son Shelah.” He was not intimate with her again.”

6. How was Tamar more righteous than Judah?

a. She sought to bring about the children for her husbands following the law.

b. She was crafty in her method to accomplish the law as it was the only method she had to use.

c. She could have fled or moved or found a new husband but remained devoted to a family that might have blamed her for the deaths of the sons.

d. She new what the brothers did with regard to wasting seed and yet she seems to have preserved their dignity.

One of the twins of Tamar is named Perez. To this day this is a common name in Hispanic communities and it is thought that people with this last name might be of Jewish Decent.

Genesis 39:6 “So he released everything he owned into Joseph’s hand. With him in charge, he did not think about anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was handsome in form and handsome in appearance.”

7. Yosef was the 11th son and became the favored of his Father. He was sold as a slave and became 2nd to Potiphar. He will be a prisoner and become a King of Mitsrayim. Yosef in all of this maintains his purity even at lows he does not let go and at highs he does not let go if his devotion to HaShem.

Genesis 39:12 “Then she grabbed him by his garment saying, “Come, lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand, fled and went outside.”

8. Once again Yosef has a garment taken from him and used to lie about him to the one who has authority over him.

Haftarah Portion Zechariah 2:14 - 4:7

This Haftarah portion is normally Amos but it is in Zechariah on account of Chanukah.

9. What does this portion have in common thematically with Chanukah?

a. Cleansing of Kohen Gadol and the Cleansing of the Temple.

b. dedication of service

c. Zechariah 4:6 “Then he responded to me by saying, ‘This is the word of Adonai to Zerubbabel saying: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Ruach!” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.” undercuts the idea of Military might was what won the day during the Maccabean revolution.

Zechariah 3:1 “Then he showed me Joshua the kohen gadol standing before the angel of Adonai and the satan, standing at his right hand to accuse him.”

10. Which Yehoshua is standing here before angel of Adonai and the satan (accuser) and what is he accused of?

a. Traditionally this is thought to be the first Kohen Gadol after the return from the Babylonian exile.

b. Ezra 10:18 “Among the sons of the kohanim it was found that the following had married foreign women: The sons of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib and Gedaliah.”

Besorah Portion John 10:22 - 28

John 10:24 “Then the Judean leaders surrounded Him, saying, “How long will You hold us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us outright!””

11. Why do the people seem to be so focused on Yeshua’s Messiahship?

a. They are an oppressed people looking for relief and are desperate for rescue.

b. They really want it to be true.

John 10:28 “I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand.”

12. The Peshitta reads 28 And I give to them life eternal: and they will never be lost: nor will any one pluck them from my hand.