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Thoughts on the Parsha ~
Parshas Vayeishev
Newton’s Law
By: Daniel Listhaus
וַיַּכִּירָהּ וַיֹּאמֶר כְּתֹנֶת בְּנִי
חַיָּה רָעָה אֲכָלָתְהוּ טָרֹף טֹרַף יוֹסֵף
“And he [Yaakov]
recognized it and he said, “My son’s tunic! An evil beast devoured him! Yosef
has surely been torn to bits!”
-Vayeishev 37:33
As one reads the
story of Yosef and his relationship with the shevatim it is easy to
recognize the sibling rivalry which existed. Yosef, being the first-born of
Rachel, received special privileges and gifts from Yaakov, which his brothers
did not.[1]
As if that was not bad enough, the Torah relates that Yosef acted like a child.[2]
When he had his dreams about being superior to his brothers he not only did not
keep it to himself, but rather he flaunted and repeated it in front of his
brothers many times.[3]
Yosef would also be the first to “put down” his brothers and “tattle-tale” when
he saw them doing improper things.[4]
In the brothers’ eyes, he kept adding insult after insult to injury until they
could not take it anymore and wanted to kill him. Although the meforshim (commentaries)
come to explain the brothers’ reasoning as stemming from more than just pure
jealousy, there is no doubt that the brothers were incorrect. It is so hard to
understand how such great tzadikkim could make such a big mistake, and
also quite difficult to understand how Yaakov avinu was seemingly
clueless of the situation he had created. However, even leaving these
elephant-in-the-room questions aside, the dialogue amongst the brothers while
they were plotting as well as the series of events themselves are quite
perplexing.
The Torah[5]
relates that before Yosef arrived at the scene to get his brothers, the shevatim
were already plotting against him. The passuk (verse)[6]
says that when they saw Yosef coming, the shevatim unanimously[7]
agreed to a simple three-step solution to solve their problem. They decided
that they were going to kill Yosef, dispose of the body by throwing it into a
pit, and then return to Yaakov and claim that a wild animal devoured his
favorite son. Reuvein however realized that perhaps they had taken things a bit
too far and therefore strongly suggested that instead of directly killing
Yosef, it would be better if they would simply throw him into a pit and leave
him to die on his own.[8]
Rashi[9]
comments that the Torah itself testifies to Reuvein’s good intentions to later
return to the pit and rescue Yosef.
The moment comes
and Yosef arrives. The brothers immediately stripped him of his kesones
passim (the special fine woolen tunic that Yaakov had given to Yosef) and
then threw him into a pit full of snakes and scorpions.[10]
While Yosef was at the bottom of the pit, Reuvein temporarily went back home to
take care of Yaakov while the remaining brothers sat down to a guiltless
victory meal. In the middle of their meal they noticed an Arab caravan passing
by on its way to Egypt. Upon seeing it, Yehuda suggested the following idea.
Instead of even being responsible for passively killing Yosef, it would be much
better if they sell him to the Arabs as a slave.[11]
The brothers agreed and they did just that. The story continues with Reuvein
returning and realizing what the brothers had done,[12]
followed by the brothers having the idea of dipping the kesones passim in
blood and bringing it to Yaakov avinu as a nice prop to show when they
would tell him that a wild animal ate Yosef.[13]
The passuk[14]
relates that the brothers came home to Yaakov with the kesones passim and
asked him if he recognized the tunic. Yaakov of course recognized it
immediately and cried out, “An evil beast devoured him! Yosef has surely been torn
to bits!”
Although
this story is one which we have read and heard many times, if one carefully
reviews the story one will start to notice details which are hard to
understand. First, why did the brothers take Yosef’s clothing? Their original
plan was a simple three step process: kill Yosef, throw him into a pit, and
claim that an animal killed him. Taking Yosef’s clothing was not part of the
original plan. Why did the brothers rip off Yosef’s kesones passim if it
was not part of the original plan?
Additionally,
after the sequence of events occurred as they did and the brothers ended up
selling Yosef to the Arab caravan, why did they keep to their original story
that a wild animal devoured Yosef? Why would they take the risk of going over
to Yaakov and telling him that his son was eaten by a wild animal? They should
have claimed that he had been kidnapped or that he simply never showed up to
get them. After all, one does not need to be a mafia member to realize that it
is dumb to claim with certainty that someone is dead if they might come back
knocking on the door the next day. Granted, their claim made sense fitting with
their original plan when they were actually going to kill Yosef; but at this
point, why did they insist on keeping to their story? Furthermore, the meforshim[15]
justify that the reason the brothers originally felt comfortable telling
Yaakov this was because it would not exactly be a straight out lie. After all,
if they would throw Yosef into a pit – whether dead or alive – there is no doubt
that he would indeed be eaten by wild animals. However, after selling Yosef as
a slave, they should have thrown out the claim that Yosef had been devoured by
an animal, because at this point it would have been a straight out lie! Once
Yehuda changed that plan to keeping Yosef alive and selling him as a slave, the
backup excuse plan should have been aborted. It no longer made sense to make
such a claim and also involved directly lying – something the shevatim were
trying to avoid. So, why keep the story?
Third, even if
we could come up with a reason why the brothers took the clothing, and even if
we could come up with some reason as to why they still felt it necessary to
stick to their original plan and get Yaakov to believe their claim that Yosef
had been eaten alive by a wild animal, how could we understand why they felt it
necessary to go the extra mile to dip the cloak in blood and show it to their father?
Why not dump the cloak in the garbage dump or in one of the pits like any
criminal would get rid of evidence? Remember, taking the kesones passim was
not part of the initial plan so why did they feel the need to fit it in?
The
final details we must analyze are those at the end of this episode. When the
brothers finally came home and went to Yaakov, they seem to have forgotten the
one line they had rehearsed. Instead of saying, “A wild animal devoured your
son”, they asked Yaakov, “Do you recognize this tunic?” Yaakov himself was the
only one to come to the conclusion, “An evil beast devoured him!” It ends up
that the brothers did absolutely nothing of their original plan. They did not
kill Yosef, they did not leave him in a pit, and they did not claim a wild
animal ate him. Instead they left him alive while implying to Yaakov that he
was dead, and brought him Yosef’s clothes dripping with blood. This brings us
to the final question of the interesting choice of words that the Torah records
Yaakov shouting upon seeing Yosef’s kesones passim. The passuk[16]
states that Yaakov cried out, “My son’s tunic! An evil beast devoured him!
Yosef has surely been torn to bits!” Why did Yaakov need to give such detail?
Let him just say an evil beast devoured him or that Yosef had been torn to
bits. Why did Yaakov feel it necessary to say both?[17]
Let
us introduce some details, starting with the end of the story, to help with
piecing this all together. Upon seeing the ripped and bloody tunic in front of
him, Yaakov was quite confused as he went through all the possible options of
causes of Yosef’s unexpected death. At first he eliminated the possibility that
Yosef had been abducted and killed by armed robbers because had that been the
case, they would have also taken his expensive shirt.[18]
So, Yaakov concluded that it must have been a wild animal that devoured Yosef.
However, after an additional second of thought, Yaakov found this too hard to
believe. First-of-all, the Gemara[19] states
that it is not the snake which kills but rather the sin. After a quick
judgment, Yaakov could not imagine that Yosef had deserved a death penalty
comparable to a wild animal devouring him. Furthermore, based on logic, Yaakov
took back his initial response to think that it had been a wild animal because,
had it really been a wild animal, then just like the animal did not eat
Yosef’s shirt, it also would have left behind the rest of his clothes. Yet, all
the brothers had presented Yaakov with was Yosef’s shirt.[20]
So, Yaakov’s second response was to revert and say that it must have been done
by a ba’al bechira (a human – who has free choice) who had a reason to
rip off Yosef’s shirt but allow him to keep his pants. This confusion that
Yaakov was left with added to his inability to be comforted.[21]
This
brings an interesting point to surface. Despite the brothers’ whole plan not
really making much sense, they were very close to being figured out. After all,
if Yaakov was sure that a beast did not kill Yosef, and that it also could not
have been a random kidnapper and killer, there were not too many options left.
Either Yosef was still alive or someone who hated Yosef had killed him but left
him the dignity of keeping some of his clothes. Perhaps this is what the
brothers realized as they were standing in front of their father holding the
torn, bloody tunic. Their plan had back-fired. They realized at the last moment
that they could not declare the one-line script they had rehearsed because why
would an animal leave behind only the shirt? So instead they left it up to
Yaakov’s imagination and kept it simple by innocently asking him, “Do you
recognize this tunic?”
However,
we still must ask what took them so long to realize this? The initial plan of
killing Yosef had changed, so why did they hold onto their scheme for as long
as they could? Claiming a wild animal had killed Yosef was unnecessary and
risky once they had decided to sell him; taking his shirt was also unnecessary
and risky, and certainly brining it all to Yaakov was not such a good idea. So
how could we understand these details of the brothers’ scheme which they held
onto for seemingly no reason and even to their disadvantage?
One
of the many forces Hashem put into the world of physics as part of the Earth’s teva
(nature) is that an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Imagine yourself
on a bus driving down a highway or on a speeding train. If you were to throw a
ball straight up in the air, the expectation should be that it slams to the
back of the vehicle. After all, if the train is speeding forward, you are in
your seat, and the ball is in your hand but then you throw it up into the air,
the ball is free from touching any part of the vehicle. So while the ball is
thrown up into the air but the bus or train continues zooming forward, the ball
should end up smacking against the back. Yet it does not. The reason it does
not is because of the aforementioned phenomonen, better known as Newton’s Law.
The entire environment of the vehicle is moving at the same speed forward – not
just the train or bus itself, but its entire contents including the very air.
When the ball is thrown straight up in the air, the movement is not
contradictory to the force that is still propelling it forward. An object in
motion tends to stay in motion.
Besides
for being effected by Newton’s Law physically in our interactions with the
world, we could use it as a parable to see a parallel Newton’s Law within
ourselves. A person in motion tends to stay in motion. Oftentimes, once an idea
gets into a person’s mind and makes an impression, it will sit there until specific
action is taken to uproot it.
Perhaps
with this we could understand the many perplexing details that took place with
the brothers’ scheme in the parsha. Their original plan was simple: kill
Yosef, throw him into a pit, and claim a wild animal devoured him. Reuvein came
and convinced his brothers that perhaps killing would be too much. However, the
rest would remain the same. He suggested they just skip part one and throw
Yosef into the pit to leave him to die and then go to Yaakov and tell him that
a wild animal ate him. In terms of what really matters, that Reuvein was trying
to save Yosef, Reuvein scored well and the Torah testifies to his righteous
intentions. However, in terms of creativity, Reuvein did absolutely nothing to
change the rest of their initial plan – they would still throw him into a pit
and still claim he was devoured by an animal. Next, enters Yehuda and says that
even skipping to part two was still a little rough and that they could
accomplish getting rid of Yosef while remaining completely innocent of
murdering him directly and indirectly. However, the third part of the plan
remained intact. After all, that was what they had set out to do and that was
what they were going to accomplish. True, Reuvein suggested skipping part one while
keeping the rest intact and granted Yehuda stepped up and further suggested
altering step two. However, with no one else speaking up, the original plan of
claiming that Yosef was eaten by a wild animal remained embedded in their
heads.
When
Yosef showed up with his kesones passim, the brothers were furious. They
originally had no intention of taking his shirt off. They were going to claim a
wild animal ate him without the props. The Malbim[22]
states this explicitly. The brothers did not originally rip off his clothing
because it was part of their plan, but rather ripped it off out of jealousy and
hatred. They just could not stand seeing it anymore. To them it symbolized
Yaakov’s favoritism towards Yosef as well as Yosef’s egotistic attitude and
merely seeing it set them off. They left him his pants and some dignity but the
kesones passim was too much to bear. So now they had a curveball. There
was no specific place in their plot for half of Yosef’s clothing but, luckily,
it was easy to fit in. At that still needed to be carried out as part of their
scheme was telling Yaakov that a wild animal ate Yosef. Perfect! It fits right
in. All they had to do was to dip the kesones passim in blood and it could
fit right into their story. Did they have to? No. They could have easily thrown
it into the pit with Yosef and they did not have to even rip it off in the
first place; but they did rip it up while their scheme was embedded in their
minds, and it seemed to fit into their plot so easily. Their minds were so set
on the basic plan they had already decided. The fact that it should have been
reevaluated to consider if it still made sense, and the fact that there were
pieces unaccounted for that now had to be fit in were completely irrelevant to
them and were not able to stand in the way of their decision to claim that
Yosef had been devoured by an animal.
An
object in motion tends to stay in motion. A decision in motion tends to stay in
motion. A perception in motion tends to stay in motion. An assumption in motion
stays in motion. Oftentimes we embed
decisions or perceptions in our own minds which become near impossible to
remove. We would rather bend all other realities and logic in order to fit with
what we have embedded within ourselves than to take the moment to reevaluate if
our decisions, perceptions, and assumptions are really correct.
Not taking the
moment to be willing to go back and honestly reevaluate with a willingness to
tell ourselves that we are wrong could yield horrific results. It could
negatively impact our perceived relationship with Hashem, it could cause us to
wrongly classify and misjudge our peers, and it could be the cause of selling
ourselves short of the potential we have.
May
Hashem help us recognize our own embedded incorrect decisions, perceptions, and
assumptions so that we could take the moment to stop, reflect, and reconsider
their accuracy and relevance.
[1]
Beraishis 37:3
[2]
Beraishis 37:2
[3]
See Rashi Beraishis 37:10
[4]
Beraishis 37:2
[5]
Beraishis 37:18
[6]
Beraishis 37:20
[7]
Although the simple reading implies that all the brothers had agreed to this
plan, see Mosaf Rashi (37:19) who writes that Reuvein and Yehuda
probably did not instigate the idea because, as seen from the later passukim,
they both tried to water down the plan. Also, it would not make sense that the
sons of Bilhah and Zilpah were involved since the Torah and Rashi tells
us (37:2) that Yosef was friendly with them. It was also most likely not
Yissocher or Zevulun since they were the youngest of B’nei Leah and
would not speak up in front of their older and tougher siblings. The two most
likely candidates were Shimon and Levi who were notorious for their teaming up
against others when they deemed it necessary. (For example, they wiped out the
city of Shechem). However, the simple reading of the passuk and the
following passukim seems to be that all the brothers were involved.
[8]
Beraishis 37:21-22 See Rashbam (37:24) who writes that all that
was important was that the pit had no water because if it did then they would
be effectively directly drowning him. However, the fact that the pit had snakes
and scorpions would not be considered directly killing Yosef as it would not
happen immediately when they threw him in. To say that the brothers did not
know that there were snakes and scorpions is hard to believe because at that
point they were still trying to kill him – just not directly – and they woud
not have gone along with Reuvein’s suggestion if it did not include an obvious
way which would cause Yosef to die. The Ohr
Ha’Chaim (37:20) also seems to hold of this. However, see Sifsei
Chochomim (37:24) as well as Ramban (37:22) who seem to disagree and
maintain that the brother’s were not aware because if they were, 1. Reuven
probably would not have suggested it and 2. The brothers would have noticed
that Yosef’s surviving it when they pulled him back out was a neis (miracle)
for a righteous person, and that they were wrong for trying to kill him.
[9]
Rashi ibid.
[10]
Beraishis 37:23-24
[11]
Beraishis 37:26-27
[12]
Beraishis 37:29-30
[13]
Beraishis 37:31-32
[14]
Beraishis 37:32
[15]
See, for example, Ohr Ha’Chaim 37:20
[16]
Beraishis 37:33
[17]
Or at least the order should be reversed – first notice it is torn up and then
conclude that it was an animal that must have eaten him. See Be’er B’sadeh (37:33)
[18]
Chizkuni Beraishis 37:33
[19]
Berachos 33
[20]
Malbim Beraishis 37:33
[21]
Beraishis 37:35
[22]
Malbim Beraishis 37:23. See also Mizrachi
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