Vayeshev

Vayeshev: degradation

Vayshev contains several stories of degradation.  Joseph is cast into a pit and. sold into servitude by his brothers.  Tamar ,Judah daughter in law, offers herself in prostitution, Joseph is imprisoned on a false rape charge, the royal wine steward actively  fails to mention Joseph's talents to the Phaoroah. In every case, the malefactors are  acting on their own sense of inferiority, forcing the disgrace of the victim. 

The parsha soon reports that Jacob considered Joseph his legacy child and gave him the equivalent of royal robes.  Joseph is given a supervisory role over the estate that  is managed by his other brothers.  Joseph, encouraged by his preferred status,  dreams of ascendance.  He imagines that  all will bow to him.  The brothers  react to the dreams, understanding  them as prophetic of Joseph  as the eternal despot -and they must act for their liberty.  The brothers cannot be cast into this  inferior position forever.  They must eliminate Joseph.  They consider murder in the paradigm of Cain and Abel,  The rejected brother asserts himself by eliminating the competitor. They do not know the end of the story: that Joseph's ascent is temporary and necessary to their survival.  True prophecy can easily be misinterpreted 

The brothers cannot imitate their father's trick, they cannot dress up in the coat of many colors and steal the blessing.  They use the coat as evidence that  Joseph has been eliminated from the picture.  Democracy has been re-established. 

Tamar vies for the privilege of  being a  mother of the tribe of Judah.  In her desperation, she adopts a disguise that seduces Judah, himself, to father her child.  She takes the articles that identify him as the father as a pledge. Identifying the father, who would ordinarily want anonymity,  is critical to the plan Tamar never doubts her worthiness;  brave Judah admits that he degraded himself...again. 

Joseph, although sold as a chattel slave,brings remarkable success to his master, the Butcher of Egypt.  He is very attractive to the master's wife.  In The Evolution of Beauty , the author posits that human mating has a large component of female mate-selection.  Desirable women get to mate with whomever pleases them.  In this context, Joseph's rejection of Potifar's wife is a violation of biology.  She cannot tolerate a rejection on this level, so she recasts the story;  and her narrative results in Joseph descending to the status of an imprisoned slave. 

But every event is an opportunity.  Joseph's talents shine in jail.  He is assigned to attend the newly imprisoned royal  court functionaries.  From  this position, he demonstrates  his knowledge of the future  ( and possibly his ability to manipulate it).  To a royal functionary, the aid of an underling is a degradation.  There is no need to mention it. 

Persecution flows from a lack of self worth and a lack of  focus .