Parashat Vayeshev 5779
Joseph’s life’s ups and downs
This week we are starting to read about Joseph’s life. Starting with this week’s parashah until the end of the Book of Bereshit, we will be reading Joseph’s stories.
It is interesting to note that of the fifty chapters that compose the Book of Genesis, exactly half – twenty-five- are about Jacob and his family. Of those twenty-five, thirteen are devoted to Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. The Book of Bereshit devotes more space to Joseph than to anyone else. It means that we have a good understanding of his journeys during his life. We witness his experiences, mistakes, and changes from the time he was a young man until his death.
Joseph had a life full of ups and downs. Starting with his dreams during his youth, which showed how he wished to be a great person and to be highly acclaimed by his parents and brothers. His pride and arrogance in his early age caused his brothers to throw him in a pit, a very low place. Joseph’s dreams were of a high position, but his brothers brought him down.
After this episode, Joseph was sold and became the right hand of Potiphar. He went up, but then, he went down again this time to jail, accused by Potiphar’s wife for abusing her.