Miketz: Framed

Miketz: Framed

The parsha ends with a cliffhanger. The 11 brothers have left Egypt on their way back home to Canaan.But Joseph's (magical) chalice has been planted in Benjamin's sack. When they are stopped and searched ( ala Jacob leaving Lavan), they  say what  Jacob said to Lavan: let the thief be put to death! But the chalice is found in the sack of  Benjamin, the only remaining son of Rachel  (like mother, like son?)

The brothers, recalling their guilt for selling Joseph, ( and we) are confused by the justice of the situation. They are guilty of a previous crime for which they have not (yet) been punished.  Now they are on the threshold of reproducing that crime (selling [out] their brother), but now they will have to confront their father on this issue, and they have sworn that it would not happen..

 

 I have heard that many people in prison are innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted, but actually deserve their sentence (and often worse) for other crimes that they got away with. Is this how divine retribution works? Forced into sin so that we pay for the transgressions we committed voluntarily?

 

[When the gemarrah (Shabbath 22a) talks about the Chanukah lights, it mentions the Joseph story.  It expounds on  Bereshith 37:24.  The pit into which the brothers threw Jacob was empty, it did not have water, he was not thrown into the pit to drown.  But the pit had snakes and scorpions. The brothers did not want to kill Jospeph, but it would be OK if he were envenomated. 

 

Usually Chanukah is an antidote to the coincident winter holidays of the Goyim.  Holidays in which Christians  might see a parallel perfidy, selling the brother to the dominant temporal power.   This year Chanukah is associated with the American winter holidays: Thanksgiving ( appropriate) and Black Friday ( not).]

When the brothers' beasts are taken by Joseph's servant, they fear that -   לְהִתְגֹּלֵל עָלֵינוּ

 

translated by JPS as he may seek occasion against us. But the word evokes the idea of gigul shevuah, the rolling oath.  When a person is forced to take an oath, he can then be forced to swear about anything, no matter how irrevelevant. 

כא  וַיֹּאמְרוּ אִישׁ אֶל-אָחִיו, אֲבָל אֲשֵׁמִים אֲנַחְנוּ עַל-אָחִינוּ, אֲשֶׁר רָאִינוּ צָרַת נַפְשׁוֹ בְּהִתְחַנְנוֹ אֵלֵינוּ, וְלֹא שָׁמָעְנוּ; עַל-כֵּן בָּאָה אֵלֵינוּ, הַצָּרָה הַזֹּאת. 21 And they said one to another: 'We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.' 

 

Brothers keepers, losers weepers. 

Vayeshev: judgement

Vayeshev: judgement 

. 

The brothers hate Joseph because he is the favorite. Jacob makes Joseph a Pasim coat, a rainbow coat, a coat representing the coalition of the colors. 

 A coat of  pyes .   The Talmud reports that ,in the Temple,  there was a lottery to select the Cohen who would perform the service. The lottery would  bring peace among the Cohanim, so that they did  not kill each other over the privilege of doing the service. [This seems to have happened.] This coat does not bring peace.  Perhaps the coat becomes a symbol of fate selecting Joseph over his brothers and perhaps the dreams mean the same thing.  Does the fact that the winner is lucky,  or even talented- gifted from Gd, quench the envy? 

The murderous envy that the brothers had for Joseph is expressed in the words וַיְקַנְאוּ-בו, אֶחָי echoing the feelings that Cain had for Hevel. 

In this parsha, clothing [trappings?] is often the source of error.  Joseph's torn coat is enough for Jacob to erroneously conclude that Jospeh was mauled to death by a beast.  Tamar's veil is enough for Judah to take her for a prostitute. Joseph's clothing in the hand of Potiphar's wife is enough to imprison him for attempted rape. 

Jumping to conclusions on the basis of circumstantial evidence is risky.  These strories are training  for  scientific and legal minds. Far  fetched explanations  are sometimes true.  

Watch out for the fat tails.

Vayishlach: Fear

Vayishlach: Fear

The parsha reveals the ambivalence of Yaakov/ Yisroel., the mixture of fear and courage, principle and compromise that characterizes our ultimate father. 

Forshadowing  later events ( recalled in parsha Shleach), Yaakov sends messangers ( spies?) into the Promised land to evaluate his adversary, his brother Esau. Like the later spies, they return with a threatening report.( job security for spies, always a safer position for them to take). The spies were sent out of fear and their report magnifies the fear.  Fear is the rational response, And the fear prompts action: send a good will offering (bribe), divide the camp so that a portion can survive.  (How sad, our foundation story is concerned with suviving  decimation )

Then Yaakov  is called upon to fight.  He fights with valor an elicits a name changing blessing ( which does not seem to take hold on him personally, but changes the appellation of his descendants)

Yaakov and his family fend off Esau and his attempt to assimilate them into the local people. (33;15)

The rape of Dinah has many facets, including the battle against assimilation. The people of Shechem ( the Hivite relatives of Esau's wife) invite the Israelites to trade among them, become peddlers  and money-changers, rootless inhabitants of their land..  They invite the Yaakov family to become Jews in exile. 

The tables are turned, but the massacre terrifies Yaacov, both in terms of his logistics for survival as a small minority in the Land and because of the violence itself ( reflected in his blessings later )

Yaakov musters the courage to move on.  It seems that Yaakov's courage usually stems from fear of the alternative. 

Gd now changes his name ( it still doesn't stick).  Perhaps this man who calculates everything down to the heel cannot muster the recklessness it takes to fight with the angels ... unless there is no better alternative. 

The strongest thing that my father told me was not to fear.  It helps me alot, but I still fear.  He fearsd  too, unless fearlessness was the better alternative. 

Vayetze: Economics

Economics is the overwhelming theme of the parsha.  When Yaakov is given a blessing, he immediately arranges to pay for it:: 10% will be returned . The tithe and the income tax are born as one. 

He comes to the shepherd's well and criticizes the system of water  distribution. He seems to be accusing the shepherd's of slacking on the job, hiding behind a flawed agreement that the water will be distributed at a fixed time. He then takes matters into his own hands when he see Rachel.  He removes the stone over the well and waters her sheep ( ancient flirting?)

Jacob (on the lam) comes to Uncle  Laban  as a guest.  

יד  וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ לָבָן, אַךְ עַצְמִי וּבְשָׂרִי אָתָּה; וַיֵּשֶׁב עִמּוֹ, חֹדֶשׁ יָמִים.	14 And Laban said to him: 'Surely thou art my bone and my flesh.' And he abode with him the space of a month.
טו  וַיֹּאמֶר לָבָן, לְיַעֲקֹב, הֲכִי-אָחִי אַתָּה, וַעֲבַדְתַּנִי חִנָּם; הַגִּידָה לִּי, מַה-מַּשְׂכֻּרְתֶּךָ.	15 And Laban said unto Jacob: 'Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?'

Clearly, there was no free lunch at LAban's place. 

Then we have the series of deals: indentured servitude for the daughthers Bride price. Jane Austen

The deal by which Jacob acquires acquires his own assets has elements of speculation. Here  is another part of the foundation story of antisemitism. Jacob and Laban agree that the spotted sheep will belong to Jacob, the white (lavan)  sheep will belong to Laban.  Laban removes the spotted sheep and gives them to his sons. But the better sheep that are subsequently born are spotted ( a possible violation of Mendelian inheritance).  Jacob grows rich and Laban feels cheated.  Jacob becomes rich by virtue of speculation.  He wins a bet, a bet over which he exercises control ( the sticks at the watering troughs) that was not anticipated by the other side.  Is this the origin of the financial market?  How Jewish is that?

Ultimately, Jacob and Laban come to the parting of ways and the division of assets. Jacob, unaware that  a member of his party actualy stole the Trefaim  from Laban, launches the angry tirade of the victimized worker against Boss Laban.  Capitalist Laban answers:

מג  וַיַּעַן לָבָן וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל-יַעֲקֹב, הַבָּנוֹת בְּנֹתַי וְהַבָּנִים בָּנַי וְהַצֹּאן צֹאנִי, וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה רֹאֶה, לִי-הוּא; וְלִבְנֹתַי מָה-אֶעֱשֶׂה לָאֵלֶּה, הַיּוֹם, אוֹ לִבְנֵיהֶן, אֲשֶׁר יָלָדוּ.

43 And Laban answered and said unto Jacob: 'The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine; and what can I do this day for these my daughters, or for their children whom they have borne?

This is the  fundamental argument between capital ( our tradition from Laban) and labor ( our tradition from Comrade Jacob). 

I would love to see commentaries on this parsha from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Thorsten Veblen, etc. 

This is a part of the Torah. The Price is Right.

Toledoth: Cheating

Toledoth: Cheating

This parsha describes the image of the Jew in a Gentile land. The drama of Yaakov and Eisov continues to play out into the present . It is the foundation story of antisemitism. 

What happens here?  Eisov is the biological first born, the natural favorite of his parents. He is also favored by nature with physical prowess and  the courage of  a hunter.  Jacob is weak and hangs out.  Then opportunity knocks, Eisav is famished and Jacob has lentils.Jacob trades food for a contract.  He buys Eisav's  birthright through some combination of opportunity, cleverness, confusion, youthful misunderstanding...

Presumably, this purchase confers upon Yaakov the right to claim he is Eisav before his father Yitzchok when he comes to get the (first) blessing.  It is in this scene that Eisav shows his regret for selling the birthright. We hear Eisav characterizing Yaakov as a cheater.  I hear Eisav calling Yaakov  a Jew , with all of its derogatory implications. a pale, physically weak, opportunist, clever, cheater!  And the text lets us understand why the Gentile believes that.

This triumph of cleverness over the brute is our story - from both sides, ours and theirs. 

It is Abbot and Costello, the Smothers brothers, Laurel and Hardy.

 Sometimes it is funny.