Va-Yeishev / Genesis 37:1 ~ 40:23

Va-Yeishev: He Dwelt.

This Torah portion begins the Joseph story-cycle, which continues through the remainder of Genesis. In the center of this Torah portion are two stories of sexual encounters. One involving Tamar and her father-in-law, Judah, and the other involving Joseph and the wife of Potiphar ~ Joseph's Egyptian master.

The Torah portion begins with the teenaged Joseph tattling to his father about his older brothers. Jacob favors Joseph and gives him a coat of many colors. The other sons become jealous. Jacob, meanwhile, begins to have dreams, and in one, which he shared with his brothers, he is the center of attention and all his brothers bow down to him. The brother plot against Jospeh and want to kill him. Reuben, however, convinces them to merely throw Joseph in a pit, which they do, after stripping him of his coat of many colors. Then, they decide to sell Joseph into slavery to a caravan of traders. The brothers are twenty pieces of silver richer, and Joseph is sent on his way to Egypt, where he is sold to Potiphar.

The brothers take Joseph's coat and smear it with the blood of a goat. They bring the bloody coat to their father, who recognizes it and thinks that Joseph has been killed by wild animals. The brothers to not dissuade Jacob of this belief.

Here there is a brief interlude to follow the story of Judah and Tamar. Judah left his brothers and married a woman who bore him three sons ~ Er, Onan, and Shelah. When the eldest son was ready to marry, Judah found Tamar to be his wife. But Er was wicked and he died. Under the ancient custom of a levirate marriage, Tamar was then married to the second son, Onan. Under this custom, the wife of a deceased, childless man was married to a living brother, so that any sons born of that pair would be considered sons of the deceased man. Onan refused to properly cooperate, and he, too, died. The third son, Shelah, was too young to marry at the time, so Judah tells Tamar to go to her father until Shelah is older. Judah, however, decides not to allow his third son marry Tamar. Tamar, therefore, took it upon herself to rectify the situation.

Tamar discarded her widow's garb and dressed in a provocative manner. When Judah saw her, he mistook her for a prostitute and made her an offer. She asked for his signet ring and his staff. She became pregnant by him. When Judah learned that Tamar was pregnant, he wanted her killed, but she was able to produce his ring and staff, thus, he had to acknowledge that he had been deceived by his behaviour towards her. She later gave birth to twins ~ Perez and Zerah.

Meanwhile, Joseph was doing well in Potiphar's household until Potiphar's wife propositioned him. Joseph refused to take her up on the offer. She then accused him of rape. Potiphar has Joseph thrown into prison. His prison mates included the Pharaoh's chief cupbearer and the chief baker. Each has disturbing dreams, which Joseph interprets. The cupbearer's dream indicates that he will soon be pardoned. The baker's dream, however, is more bleak and foretells his pending execution. Both dreams come true. The cupbearer promises to tell Pharaoh of Joseph's skills, however, once he is freed, he promptly forgets, leaving Joseph in prison.