Genesis The Patriarch who wasn’t a Patriarch

Parashat Va-Yiggash (Genesis 44:18-47:27)

What makes a Patriarch a patriarch? What makes a Matriarch a matriarch? Genesis provides the stories of characters in each generation, some of whom we have designated as leaders of their generation, ultimately including them in our prayers. We do this for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah (Berakhot 16b:13-14). The rabbis suggest that each has a different relationship with God such that we repeat the phrase ‘God of…’ each time in the Avot [v’imahot] paragraph of the Amidah prayer. The rabbis suggest it is their zekhut—their merit—that marks them out. We are able to invoke their deeds and Divine relationships as we pray for God’s protection and salvation and hope that we are worthy to receive it.

The portion Va-Yiggash continues the long narrative of Joseph and his struggle with his brothers. For the past three parashiot, we have read of the challenging and heroic journey of this man Joseph. Unlike his father, grandfather and great-grandfather, he journeys alone in life with no Matriarch at his side. In fact, he is not considered a Patriarch at all. God does not seem to have a direct relationship with him as with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Rather, God inspires him with dreams and interpretations of dreams, from which he derives his prophetic power. From being a young, precocious boy showing off his ambitious aspirations and annoying his brothers by being the favorite with the multicolored coat, he becomes the second-highest authority in the land of Egypt. Yet the Torah dwells not on his success or his power to do good. It rather emphasizes his growth as a human being, his maturity as a family member and his capacity for forgiveness and reconciliation. This is an altogether different type of exemplar for us, one in which we learn from his journey, more so than his final outcome. This is highlighted by the fact that moving his whole family to Egypt will eventually lead to their enslavement for 400 years.

The God-infused direction of the Patriarchs and Matriarchs who have so long been our symbolic exemplars gives way in the latter part of Genesis to a different type of character. The Joseph presented in this biblical novella presents us with a story of inner emotion and turmoil with self-conscious identity and emergent sexualities. Unlike his forebears he lives in constant exile, removed from the anchors of family, People, and Land that nurture our ancestors. As Thomas Mann depicts in his 1933 novel, ‘Joseph and his Brothers’, we are dealing with a complex psychological character trying to find himself, and discern his purpose and meaning in challenging and often threatening circumstances.

When he dresses in a k’tonet pasim—an exuberant garment, we first come to wonder at his egocentric and scandalous behaviour in front of his father, mothers and brothers and sister in interpreting himself and his destiny into his dreams. When he first emerges from the bor—the pit in which his brothers have thrown him—he is the young handsome slave who becomes sexualised and seduced by Potiphar’s wife, ultimately betrayed by a garment. When he next emerges from jail with his companions, the Hebrew word also is bor. Both of these places of confinement and concealment have sharpened his identity and relational consciousness. He acknowledges his own humility and interprets Pharaoh’s dream in God’s name. A change has come about and he recognizes the importance of his task; he feeds the Egyptian people during their famine now dressed in Pharoah’s bigdei-shesh—robes of fine linen.

When Joseph’s brothers arrive to buy food, he disguises himself. At first unsure as to whether they are truly repentant for abandoning him or not, he forces them to repeat their actions of potential betrayal with Benjamin who is the only other son of Joseph’s mother Rachel. However, this time, the brothers protect Benjamin and remain loyal to their father Jacob. Joseph realizes they are truly repentant and reveals himself to them in private. He even gives them garments of colored cloth! It is a true act of forgiveness and reconciliation. (Later, the brothers question this reconciliation, becoming afraid again when Jacob dies and there is no father to plead for them.) Jacob and Joseph meet in these final chapters of Genesis, with Jacob eliciting promises from Joseph about the ultimate destiny of this family and God’s promise for a People and a Land.

Joseph is our last hero in the Book of Genesis. He starts out like many such heroes as a young inexperienced boy and is thrust into adventure far away from home and family. We watch him struggle with this alienation and the choice points he has to make along the way. We may think like Shakespeare’s Polonius that the ‘Apparel oft proclaims the Man’ in all the references to clothing and fine cloth. But Joseph’s story, unlike the Patriarchs and Matriarchs, is an inner journey of resilience, forgiveness and self-awareness. He overcomes many obstacles to finally realize God’s purpose for him. He brings his family of origin to him along with his own wife and sons carving out a new destiny for them all. It is his father Jacob who finally seals his legacy for us in the deathbed blessing offered to him as n’zir ekhav—a Prince of his People.

Joseph is a wild ass,
The archers shoot at him, but his arms remain firm by his trust in Jacob’s God.
He receives blessings of heaven above and the deep below .
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb
The blessings of your fathers rest on the head of Joseph
Who is a Prince of his People.
(Abridged Genesis 49:26)

Rabbi Dr Michael Shire is a faculty member of Hebrew College in the ordination programs, education programs (MJEd, Certificate and Matarot) and Tamid adult learning programs. He is also the Director of Internships for the Ordination programs. He serves as Rabbi at Central Reform Temple in Back Bay. He was formerly Dean of the Shoolman School of Jewish Education for ten years and Chief Academic Officer at Hebrew College. He is the founder of Torah Godly Play, an innovative pedagogy of Torah learning and Spiritual Development. He has published four books of Jewish liturgy using medieval illuminated Jewish manuscripts and contributes to the research literature on Jewish Spiritual pedagogy.

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