Joseph the Dreamer or Redeemer?
The portion of Vayetze abounds with tension, anxiety, but tragically also anger. Adhering to what appears to be a cruel pattern, Rachel is childless. Her sister Leah, had four children by that point and in her anguish, Rachel beseeches Jacob, 30:1
…הָֽבָה־לִּ֣י בָנִ֔ים וְאִם־אַ֖יִן מֵתָ֥ה אָנֹֽכִי׃..
Please, give me children, for without children, I may as well die.
Jacob’s response is harsh, declaring, “Can I take the place of God, who has denied you the fruit of the womb?”
The Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah, elaborates a longer and even more brutal exchange. The whole episode is bewildering. Unlike the text however, the Midrash brings God into the conversation;
אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כָּךְ עוֹנִים אֶת הַמְּעִיקוֹת, חַיֶּיךָ שֶׁבָּנֶיךָ עֲתִידִים לַעֲמֹד לִפְנֵי בְּנָה
The Holy One blessed be He said to him [Jacob]: ‘Is that the way one answers the distressed? As you live, your sons are destined to stand before her son.’[Joseph].
Was this yet another test? For Jacob perhaps even more than Rachel? The consequences are dreadful. The blueprint for the entire drama of the fall and rise of Joseph, the brothers and Jacob, that will harrowingly dominate the portions of the coming weeks are initiated through these excruciating and inexplicable moments of anger.
Later, Joseph’s dreams appear to reinforce this foretelling where his brothers not only stand before him but bow down to him. When Joseph shares his dreams;
וַיְקַנְאוּ־ב֖וֹ אֶחָ֑יו וְאָבִ֖יו שָׁמַ֥ר אֶת־הַדָּבָֽר׃
…his brothers were wrought up at him, yet his father kept the matter in mind. Perhaps it sounded dauntingly familiar.
Jacob is seeing a pattern, and immediately following this account in the portion of Vayeshev he attempts to intervene. An event that on the surface should appear as unremarkable, suddenly takes on very ominous connotations, and it inexplicably becomes the harbinger of calamity. All the brothers, bar Joseph and Benjamin are on a business trip, well, tending the family flocks. Jacob aka Israel, asks Joseph to check in on them; 37: 13,14:
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל אֶל־יוֹסֵ֗ף הֲל֤וֹא אַחֶ֙יךָ֙ רֹעִ֣ים בִּשְׁכֶ֔ם לְכָ֖ה וְאֶשְׁלָחֲךָ֣ אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וַיֹּ֥אמֶר ל֖וֹ הִנֵּֽנִי׃
Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing at Shechem. Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “I am ready.” Jacob instructs further, “Go and see how your brothers are and how the flocks are faring, and bring me back word.”
Is Jacob trying to circumvent what has been predestined? Is he trying to preempt and potentially annul the ultimatum and have the brothers “stand before Joseph” or even appropriate Joseph standing before them, in a more cordial manner? Can this “Butterfly Effect” change the course of events? Seemingly not, on the contrary, matters get very much out of hand as the brothers plot to kill him, but with arbitration he is “sold” instead.
Joseph is destined to salvage the events that spiral out of control, and are exacerbated through anger. The accounts of our role models being imperfect is a painful constant, it reflects the human condition, and dictates our crucial role to improve, to mend and to heal.
