9: Vayeshev
Welcome to TLDR Torah: a synopsis of the weekly parsha based on Robert Alter’s translation, plus a question to spur your Shabbat dinner (or any!) conversation.
Parsha Vayeshev (Genesis 37:1-40:23)
TLDR:
Jacob settles in Canaan, but trouble brews amongst his sons.
Joseph, Jacob’s favorite, tattletales on his big brothers, and provokingly shares two dreams in which he appears as their master.
Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers. The brothers see him, and plot to kill him. Reuben saves Joseph by convincing his brothers to just throw him into a nearby well, which they do after stripping off his ornamental tunic.
They’re munching on their food when Ishmaelites camel-by. Judah has the bright idea to sell him. Confusingly, the Midianites find him and sell him to the Ishmaelites. Reuben, apparently not there for this, returns and gets upset.
The brothers take Joseph’s tunic, dip it in blood, and give it to their father, implying Joseph was killed by an animal.
The Torah interrupts with a story about Judah. He has 3 sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah. Er marries Tamar. When Er dies, Tamar marries Onan, but Onan dies because he tries not to impregnate Tamar. Judah promises Shelah to Tamar when he gets older, but he forgets.
Tamar, taking matters into her own hands, pretends to be a prostitute, sleeps with Judah (who doesn’t know her true identity), and smartly gathers evidence of what happened. Reminiscent of Jacob and Esav, she gives birth to twins.
Back to Joseph. He runs the shows for Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief steward. But day-after-day Potiphar’s wife tells the good-looking Joseph, “Lie with me.” He doesn’t, so she falsely claims he tries to and Potiphar puts him in prison.
But in prison he runs the show too! He’s put in charge of all the prisoners.
Pharaoh throws two more prisoners into jail, his cupbearer and baker. Both dream one night, the cupbearer about a vine with three branches and ripening grapes and the baker about three baskets on his head being eaten by birds. Joseph predicts the cupbearer will gain his freedom and the baker will die, which is exactly what happens.
Despite Joseph’s pleas, the cupbearer forgets him.
Question:
Why is the story about Judah and Tamar placed in-between the Joseph narrative?