Breaking the chain of Generational Karma - Parasha Vayeishev, Genesis 37:1-40:23

Parasha Yayeishev begins the narratives about Joseph and his brothers that dominate the rest of Genesis. The words we read in Genesis really have a particular purpose, and they are to reflect the ways that Jews, really all people should strive to act since all human beings are fashioned with the divine image. Rabbi Ed Feinstein reflecting on the 2nd commandment, the one that says you shall not make any images of God, writes that we see God in each other; we are the image of God illuminated by our divine characteristics that we share with others daily.  But the human image can also be misappropriated and/or abused.  In this parasha we meet the ways of ga’avah (arrogance) and kin'ah (Jealousy or a grudge), something that I would say Rabbi Jonathan Sacks views as learned traits that do not represent that divine image.  As such, R’Sacks writes that the “tension” found in the prior relationship with Leah and her sister Rachel takes root in the next generation between their children, Joseph and his brothers. Unfortunately brokenness leads to generational unhealthiness, yet the Torah, vis-à-vis its teachings, also provides the cure. 

This parasha also contains a story within a story that at first glance may not seem connected but the opposite is so.  Yayeishev unfortunately begins poorly with negative, perhaps even learned interactions between Joseph and his brothers, ala R’Sacks above.  We read at the very start that Joseph brings (at least in the written Bible) an unspecified “bad report (about his brothers) to their father” that in turn angers them (Gen. 37).  After Joseph received a special Coat of Colors from his father, and had two dreams that one day he would rule over his family, his brothers “hated Joseph” because of his ga’avah (arrogance).  As a result they end up selling Joseph into slavery needing to create lies to cover up their misdeeds that are rooted in their kin'ah, jealousy of their brother.  Before the story continues about Joseph being a slave (see Gen. 39), we encounter the story of Judah and his children that appears out of know where; the story within the story (Gen. 38).  In this story Judah’s eldest son marries Tamar but then dies, so Tamar is wedded to Judah’s next son, per the laws of “levirate marriage,” who would die as well.  Judah did not want to risk losing his last son, so after a lengthy delay Tamar who feels wronged by Judah to be left as an agunah (lit. "a chained women," she is stuck as still considered married) deceives her father-in-law into sleeping with her (she dressed like a harlot) and becomes pregnant. Three months later Judah finds out that his daughter-in-law is pregnant and is furious that she did so outside of marriage, until the following.  Tamar sent Judah items that belonged to the man who made her pregnant, those being a family seal, the cord to wear it around her neck and a walking stick, which were Judah’s “down payment” for the harlot’s services.  In that moment Judah was humbled when he knew it was Tamar, recognizing that how she ended up responding was in compassion and kindness instead of revenge or anger.

What Judah did with Tamar was regrettable, both in denying her marital rights at that time and paying for her services as a harlot.  It was bold of Tamar to speak up since the tradition of the day stoned to death a woman who became pregnant out of wedlock.  So while Jewish tradition gives varying reasons why this story was inserted in the middle of the Joseph story, I believe it is there to teach us a lesson about our better inspired humanity that is shaped by the divine image within while Joseph and his brothers are engrossed in their family squabbles and lost in conflict.   In fact Rabbi Jonathan Sacks would even say that what Tamar did with Judah was virtuous, her actions would “become a model” of behavior that fueled the words of the Talmud (Bava Metzia 59a) that says; “It is more comfortable for a person to cast himself into a fiery furnace, than to humiliate another in public to avoid being cast into the same furnace.”  Tamar could have called Judah out, telling everyone that it was her father-in-law that was the father of her child, but she elected to keep it between them and not to shame her father-in-law, or herself, in public.  We read in another Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 24:7), “Rabbi Tanchuma says, “If you do this (shame another) -- know that God made the person you put to shame also in [the divine] image,” meaning that when you wrongly shame another person you shame God.  For Tamar the divine image within Judah deserved respect, not shame.

Joseph brought shame upon his brothers by giving an unspecified evil report and by his arrogance whereas the brothers brought shame on Joseph by selling him into slavery as well as to their father by their lies.  In the midst of all that the Torah via the story of Judah and Tamar wants to at that same moment remind us that the divine image is one of love and respect. Keep in mind we are talking about unhealthy shame that our tradition compares to murder!  It is sad that we see this type of shame with children to each other via social media or with our politicians in Washington either within their own party or on the other side of the isle, not to mention everyone in-between in all walks of life. Unhealthy shaming has become common place and is far too easily accepted as the norm.  This week’s reading wants to tell us that in the midst of the brokenness of Jacob’s children Tamar reminds us of one of Judaism's central commandments; love another like yourself, or per the interpretation of Hillel, do not do to others what you do not want done to you, recalling that the cure for many ills can be found in our mutual respect for one another per the voice of Torah.  

Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam