VaYeshev

Bereishit 37-40

The Bonds of Siblings

Michael Rosenberg, 5764

I dedicate this devar torah to the memory of Shira Palmer-Sherman z"l, a friend of mine from college; this Shabbat, the first day of Hanukka, 5764, marks her third yahrzeit.

From now until the end of Sefer Bereishit, we find ourselves reading the super-dramatic tale of Yosef. (There is no greater cliffhanger in the Torah than the end of parashat Mikketz). Look at the story of the brothers' betrayal of Yosef in Chapter 37:12 until the end of the chapter. The outlines of the story are familiar: Yosef, the favored child, gets sold into slavery by his brothers-after they consider killing him. In some ways, the story is totally typical of the book of Bereishit; we've already seen Kayin kill Hevel, Sarah banish Yishma`el on account of his brother Yitzhak, and, most recently, Ya`akov cheat his brother `Esav and the latter threaten to kill him in return.

And yet, for me, this story is more dramatic than any of these other cases of poor sibling relationships. In part, this increased drama is the result of really good character development. Yosef, the apparent protagonist of our story, comes off as an arrogant, spoiled kid who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Re'uven, we see, is a well-intentioned but perhaps cowardly man who attempts to save Yosef--not by standing up for him, notice, but rather, by tricking his other brothers (37:22):

We can hear Re'uven's sincere anguish when he finds that Yosef is missing from the pit: "וַיֹּאמַר הַיֶּלֶד אֵינֶנּוּ וַאֲנִי אָנָה אֲנִי בָא" -- "The boy is no gone! Now, what am I to do?!" (37:30). The story provides us with the details of the other brothers' callousness, evidenced by their going to eat after having just sold their own brother into slavery: "...וַיִּקָּחֻהוּ וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ אֹתוֹ הַבֹּרָה וְהַבּוֹר רֵק אֵין בּוֹ מָיִם. וַיֵּשְׁבוּ לֶאֱכָל לֶחֶם" - "They took him and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat bread..." (37:24-25). This is just a really great story.

But there's another element that highlights the tension in the narrative. Read the opening verses of the story (12-17) more closely. Pay attention to what stands out. What parts of this opening seem least relevant? What might one take out such that there would still be a coherent story about the brothers betraying a member of their own family?

One significant element of these verses is the issue of place. The Torah tells us that Yosef's brothers had gone to Shekhem. Ya'akov, for obscure reasons, sends Yosef to check up on his brothers there. And then, in a very perplexing passage, Yosef goes there, only to be found by an anonymous man who somehow knows who Yosef and his brothers are, and who tells Yosef that his brothers "have gone from this [Heb. "זֶּה"], for I heard them say, `Let's go to Dotan.'" What is the point of this strange interchange? The story would make just as much sense had Yosef gone directly to Dotan, or if we simply didn't know the intermediate steps of Yosef's trip to Dotan. And what does it mean that they have traveled from "this"-shouldn't it be "from here?"

There is significance to place, and especially to Shekhem. This name occurs in a few other places in Sefer Bereishit, most prominently in chapters 33-4. In last week's parasha, we read about the rape of Dina, an extremely troubling story. In 32:18, Ya'akov arrives in Shekhem, and the following chapter relates the story of a local prince (confusingly, also named Shekhem) who rapes Ya‘akov's daughter Dina. Ya'akov, in response to this crime, apparently does nothing: he remains silent (34:5). The sons of Ya'akov, however, respond; after encouraging Shekhem to circumcise himself and the people of his city, Shim'on and Levi exact revenge on the recovering locals, killing all men of the town.

A great deal can be said about the moral implications about the characters' actions in response to Dina's rape, be it the silence of Ya'akov or the revenge taken by Shim'on and Levi. What is important for our discussion, however, is the way the Torah refers to the Shim'on and Levi here. They are called "אֲחֵי דִינָה" - "the brothers of Dina" (34:25). I heard a teacher suggest (I can't recall who it was) that they are referred to here as Dina's brothers-rather than as the sons of Ya'akov or some other description-because they act they way siblings should for each other. This is not to say that we as readers should necessarily validate their bloody revenge, nor is it to deny that Shim'on and Levi may have been acting out of some sense of family dignity rather than pure concern for their sister. But it does mean that, at least in part, they act they way siblings ought to act for each other: they are protecting Dina.

Shekhem is the place where true siblinghood is manifest. It is the place where brothers are willing to kill to defend their sister. What a difference we see when we read about Yosef's brothers. They are prepared to kill their brother. To be certain, I think most readers can understand why the brothers feel hostility toward Yosef: his eagerness to share his dreams of leadership doesn't make him an instantly lovable character. But siblings love despite character flaws, even serious ones. This, I think, is what Rashi means when he explains the difficult phrase "they have traveled from this" to mean that they have left behind brotherhood. Siblings take care of each other despite shortcomings or mistakes. The brothers cannot look past Yosef's arrogance. They are no longer in Shekhem.