Midreshet Amit

Torah

Back to Main Page

Parshat Vayeshev: The Danger of Jealousy

By: Kayla Flaum


To our siblings, we may have said we wanted to kill you but we really didn't mean it. The Parshiot of these weeks are full of sibling rivalry.
This week's Parsha opens up with Yosef as a 17 year old teenager. He’s a tattle tale. He also happens to be his father's favorite. The brothers realized that Yosef was their fathers favorite and they won't even speak to him because of it. They aren't interested in spending time with him at all. If Yosef is known as Yosef HaTzaddik the his actions of tattle tailing on his brothers seem very out of character. 
 
The situation isn't as shocking as we would think because there are multiple units within the family dynamic as opposed to one big unit, which predicts fighting among the brothers. Each wife runs her own household and the brothers from each mother  are an insular unit. Had Yosef been Leah's child no one would've bullied him, it was only because Yosef didn't have a close brother of his own that he felt the need to tattletale because he had no one to stand up for him. Even the children of Leah unite to make sure Yosef isn't killed, as they wanted to make sure nothing permanent happened. Later on in Egypt when the brothers appear in front of Yosef to receive food, Yosef is able to see that the brothers have United. He watched as Yehuda stands up for Binyamin; it is at that point that Yosef realizes there is love between brothers from different mothers. It was at this point that Yosef realizes that he can reveal his identity. At Amit, we have a community in which everyone looks out for each other including the Bait Hayeled and shows sisterly love. We are able to learn from the mistakes of the shvatim to not allow jealousy to divide us as a people.