Tagged Questions
9
votes
1answer
94 views
Didn’t the Ishmaelites know they were buying their second cousin?
In studying bereishis I have come up with questions about Joseph and his brothers that have long bothered me. One question is in parsha vayeshev, where we read how Joseph was sold by his brothers to ...
3
votes
1answer
33 views
Why isn't נִצָּבָה redundant?
In Bereshis 37:7 we read:
וְהִנֵּה אֲנַחְנוּ מְאַלְּמִים אֲלֻמִּים בְּתוֹךְ הַשָּׂדֶה וְהִנֵּה קָמָה אֲלֻמָּתִי וְגַם נִצָּבָה - Behold, we were binding sheaves in the midst of the field, and ...
4
votes
0answers
55 views
Why does Rashi say דבתם refers to the children of Leah?
Rashi (Bereshis 37:2 sv את דבתם רעה) says:
כל רעה שהיה רואה באחיו בני לאה היה מגיד לאביו - Any evil he saw in his brothers, the sons of Leah, he would tell his father
However it would seem that ...
10
votes
2answers
76 views
Why does Yosef bring his sons to Yaakov
Yaakov famously blesses Ephraim and Menashe but who tells Yosef to bring them to their grandfather? It doesn't seem that this would be a natural thing to do as they are not Yaakov's sons. Does ...
4
votes
3answers
70 views
Why didn't Yaakov and Yosef spend much time together?
It seems that Yaakov and Yosef did not spend much time together in Egypt. After the emotional reunion is there any other mention of them together? Why not?
10
votes
2answers
397 views
If shepherds are taboo to Egyptians, what do we make of them having sheep themselves?
Yosef tells his family to say they're shepherds because that's taboo to Egypt:
you must say, 'We and our fathers have dealt in livestock all our lives'. You will then be able to settle in the ...
7
votes
1answer
58 views
Why did Binyamin think Yosef was still alive?
Rashi (Bereshit 43:30), quoting the Talmud (Sotah 36B), tells us that Binyamin named each of his 10 sons in honor of Yosef.
Many of the names indicate that Binyamin knew that Yosef was alive, in ...
7
votes
2answers
62 views
Joseph and Chanukkah
The Parshiot about Joseph always fall right before or during Chanukkah. It their a relationship between the Joseph stories and the Chanukkah stories? It there something to be learned from the fact ...
5
votes
2answers
138 views
Who sold Yosef, and who knew?
I had always understood that Yosef's brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites. We know that they planned to do so, but during this week's torah reading I noticed this for the first time:
כח ...
7
votes
2answers
81 views
Which commentators commend Yosef for noticing his fellow prisoners' sadness?
Toward the end of Parashat Vayeishev, Yosef is imprisoned along with two of Par'oh's chief servants. Starting in Gen. 40:6, the Torah tells us that he notices that they look sad, asks why, and ...
8
votes
3answers
107 views
Why did Yosef tell over the dreams?
In this weeks Parsha (Vayeishev), we learn about how Yosef had his two [prophetic] dreams. We find that in each case, Yosef told his brothers about his dreams:
And he said to them, "Listen now to ...
4
votes
2answers
128 views
Understanding Rashi's resolution of an ambiguity in Parashat Vayigash
The following is based on a question I wrote in the margin of my chumash about ten years ago.
In Yehuda's speech to the Egyptian viceroy (Yosef in disguise) at the beginning of Parashat Vayigash, he ...
5
votes
2answers
88 views
Why did Yosef's brothers speak freely in the presence of the interpreter?
In Parashat Miketz, Yosef's brothers encounter him disguised as the viceroy of Egypt, and he accuses them of espionage, jails them for three days, and makes a demand that they know their father would ...
