Parshas Vayeishev: Successful Navigation of Life's Ups and Downs

This week’s Torah portion, Vayeishev: Bereishit (Genesis) 37:1 - 40:23, describes significant events of the 12 Tribes of Israel, from which all Jews today credit their existence. Jacob now has one daughter and twelve sons by four different women.

The mothers of Jacob's children are: 1) Leah: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Dinah 2) Rachel: Joseph, Benjamin, 3) Bilhah (Rachel's maid): Dan, Naphtali, and 4) Zilpah (Leah's maid): Gad, Asher.

The Brother's Plot Against Joseph

This Torah portion opens with the story of drastic sibling rivalry between Joseph and his brothers, who plot to murder him. Reuben recommends throwing him in a pit to die rather than assume the guilt of killing him outright. Greed and prudence win out when Judah convinces his brothers to sell Joseph to wandering Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver.

Our sages tell us that the ten brothers each buy a new pair of two silver dollar shoes with the proceeds of the sale. They take a vow of silence to never tell Jacob of their folly.

The Imperative to Reproduce

The reading then chronicles the twists and turns of Judah's family life. This account shows the huge importance of lineage in Judaism and of bearing children. Judah's eldest son, Er, marries Tamar, an extremely beautiful woman. Er thinks that pregnancy will destroy her beauty, so he refuses to impregnate her. Our Torah describes 'spilling his seed' as 'wicked' and Er soon dies.

Judah forces Onan, his second son, to marry Tamar in order to grow the family. Onan wants no children, so he, too, refuses to impregnate Tamar and he soon dies. Judah wants to save Shelah, his third son, from the same fate, leaving Tamar childless and desperate to conceive. She masquerades as a veiled prostitute to seduce her father-in-law and conceives twins. The second born, Peretz, will carry on the family line through King David and beyond.

Joseph's Positive Example

Returning to Joseph's ordeal, we learn that he ends up sold into servitude in Egypt. His popularity grows under Potiphar's tutelage until a false accusation of rape lands him in prison. Joseph finds favor with the prison guards and other prisoners. He interprets their dreams. Thirteen years elapse from the day his brothers sell him to the day he leaves the dungeon.

The family drama, replete with life threatening sibling rivalry, parental favoritism, unconventional solutions to childlessness, false accusations of rape, unjustified imprisonment, and extraordinarily accurate dream interpretation, is necessary in all its elements for the eventual character building that would define the Jewish ideal. It shines a light on Joseph as the quintessential righteous Jew in exile, highlighted by his persistent faithfulness to God’s promises even living amidst paganism and in his darkest hours.

Joseph’s choice to remain faithful to God despite reasons to doubt Him and social pressures to defy Him provides a powerful example for all of us. He has a knack not only for dream interpretation, but he also sees the broader and higher spiritual meaning and reason behind ordinary and extraordinary events. His misfortunes prove to be stepping stones to a greater good for him and for his descendants.

Amos Predicts Ruination of Israel

Our Haftarah portion this week, Amos 2:6-3:8, refers back to the brothers selling Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. The corruption this time is judicial, not familial. A judge accepts a bribe of 20 pieces of silver to rule against a farmer, making him destitute and forcing him to sell his land below appraised value to the one who offers the bribe.

Amos exposes the stakeholders who exploit the weak and vulnerable in society for profit. He accurately forewarns the end of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel from corruption in government, idolatry and child sacrifice and refusal to repent.

Recently, we exposed Jewish abortion activists who corrupt innocent children with godless ideology and who bully pregnancy care centers that serve desperate women and unborn children. These two examples represent only the tip of a well funded organized cancer of moral decay spreading through Jewish culture and into the general public to legitimize abortion homicide and other heinous human rights abuses. We see no signs of repentance within this group, only greater zeal for triumphs to come.

Implications for Today

Looking through the eyes of Amos, we see frightening similarities to the moral decay in the Kingdoms of Judah and Israel. We can expect similar consequences if we do not stop attacking the innocent and weak in our society. The Almighty holds us to account, but always offers us mercy.

We lament abortion and abortion activism in the Jewish community, We recognize the loss of precious life and harm to parents, families and communities across America because of shameless Jewish abortion enthusiasts and their adherents.

We also allow for the moral confusion, the anxiety and lack of faith in Providence that reflects a spiritual exile of those Jews who bow to peer, family, or social pressure to use abortion and work to advance it. Joseph showed us that it is possible to hold fast to faith based principles in a corrupt world, but few people can follow his example without God centered, moral support, something sorely lacking in today's secular society and within Jewish abortion advocacy groups.

Our tradition tells us that exile prepares us for reconciliation with HaShem and an eternal redemption for the Jews and all people. We must act courageously to turn the hearts and minds of our fellow Jews from secular death to a life of Torah, to a life of faith in HaShem, and to an appreciation of His miraculous human creation in the womb. Adjusting for inflation and the rising cost of silver, the gifts of the Spirit we can receive will far exceed the value of a pair of overpriced shoes.

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Cecily Routman

May there be abundant peace from Heaven, and good life upon us and upon all Israel. Amen.

Cecily Routman is the founder and president of the Jewish Pro-Life Foundation. She opposes abortion homicide in general and among Jews in particular and laments secular policy making in Israel that results in loss of Jewish life and delays the messianic redemption. Cecily envisions a Torah based holy Land of Israel and a world that respects the life of every human being from conception.

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