Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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Yoseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dream

Pharaoh says to Yoseph, I had a dream and no one is able to interpret it and I’ve heard about your reputation for understanding dreams.

Yoseph answers that interpreting dreams is beyond his abilities. Rather it is G-d who will reply through him.

So Pharaoh relates his dreams to Yoseph, telling him about the robust cows that were grazing in the marsh followed by the emaciated ones. He says that he has never seen such emaciated cows in all of Egypt. He then relates how the emaciated cows ate the robust ones however they remained just as thin as before.

He then relates the dream about the stalks and how first he saw seven ears of grain sprouting healthily on a stalk, followed by seven withered, scorched and empty looking ears of grain on another stalk. And how the thin ears of grain swallowed the healthy ones.

He relates how none of the necromancers were able to interpret these dreams properly.

Yoseph tells Pharaoh that his two dreams are actually one and that G-d is relating his doings through the dreams. Both the robust cows and ears of grain relate to seven years of plenty which Yoseph says G-d “told” Pharaoh about. And the skinny cows and withered grain refer to seven years of famine which G-d “showed” Pharaoh.

Side note, the contrast between the “telling” about the years of plenty vs the “showing” of the years of famine are to indicate that the years of plenty are very near, yet the years of famine are further away and thus can only be”seen” from a distance.

So Yoseph prophesies that there will be seven years of plenty in the land followed by seven years of famine which will be so intense that the years of plenty will be forgotten during that time. This is indicated in the dreams by the skinny cows and withered ears of grain “swallowing” the robust ones and the fact that in the dream one couldn’t tell that the emaciated cows had swallowed the robust cows as they remained just as emaciated as before.

And the reason for the repetition, i.e. the two dreams, is to indicate that this is something that is about to occur immediately.

Yoseph advises Pharaoh to appoint a wise man in charge of managing the years of plenty. To set aside some of the food and store it for the years of famine.

Pharaoh and his servants like this idea but are at a loss as to where they could find such a wise man for this position.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Pharaoh's Dream

Exactly two years later, Pharaoh has a dream: He is standing by the bank of the Nile river (AKA the "canal". Side note, the Nile was the only river which was referred to as a canal since all the other rivers were fed by it as rain did not fall as regularly in Egypt as it did in other lands) and sees seven robust cows which are pleasing to the eye grazing in the marsh.

(Side note: the fact that the cows were "pleasing to the eye" hinted at the forthcoming interpretation of the dream being about years of abundance since in times of plenty, people look at one another favorably).

Then suddenly seven more cows emerge out from the canal, however these cows are gaunt and unattractive.

And then suddenly the gaunt cows eat the robust cows. And then Pharaoh wakes up.

(Side note: According to Rashi, this is a hint to the fact that the years of famine will totally eradicate the memory of the years of plenty. This is in contrast to the Ramban who interprets this to mean that during the years of famine people will eat the food they stored up during the years of plenty.)

Pharaoh falls asleep and has a second dream. He dreams that seven healthy ears of grain were sprouting on one stalk. This is followed by seven more ears of grain sprouted however these ones were thin, sunburnt and wind scorched. And then suddenly the seven thin ears of grain swallow the seven healthy ears.

And then Pharaoh wakes up and realizes that he is done dreaming and that he would need an interpreter to make sense of it all.

Pharaoh summons all of Egypt's wise men and necromancers however none of their interpretations sit right with him. One says that the dream means that Pharaoh will have seven daughters and will subsequently bury seven daughters. However this doesn't make sense to Pharaoh since it doesn't explain why he specifically dreamt of cows and not any other animal. (Side note, Yosef's interpretation does address this, as cows were the main domesticated animal in Egypt and the grains were directly related food.

The royal cupbearer speaks up and recalls the time that he transgressed and was put into prison with the baker. He relates how they both dreamt dreams which were given satisfactory interpretations by a young Hebrew slave (side note, "young Hebrew slave" is said in a somewhat derogatory manner, i.e. that he is a foolish youth, a foreigner doesn't even speak their language and a lowly slave who is not even worthy of wearing silken/princely garments. ) and how both interpretations came true. He (the cupbearer) was restored to his previous post, while the baker was hung.

So Pharaoh summons Yoseph and he is taken out from the prison pit. Out of respect for Pharaoh, Yoseph shaves and changes his clothing and approaches him.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Yosef and Potiphar's Wife

Potiphar's wife sets eyes on Yosef and tries to sleep with him.

Yosef refuses on the assertion that Potiphar left all of his belongings in Yosef's custody and she was the one thing which was denied to him and he did not want to sin against G-d in that way.

It was a sin against G-d, because even non Jews were forbidden against sexual immorality since the flood.

Also, according to the Breishis Rabba, a Jewish man that sleeps with a non Jewish woman loses his portion in the afterlife.

Day after day, Potiphar's wife continues to try to seduce Yosef but he refuses her advances and even refuses to lie down next to her without doing anything intimate.

Then came an idolatrous holiday and day of frivolity when people would go to the pagan Temple to celebrate.

Potiphar's wife feigns sickness and stays home.

Yosef was home (possibly working) and Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him again, grabbing onto his garment and demanding that he sleep with her.

There's an opinion that she almost succeeded this time, but right before Yosef succumbed, he saw a vision of his father, telling him how all the of brothers are destined to be inscribed upon the stones of the Kohen Gadol's vest, and did Yosef really want to be erased from this for being known as the brother who "frequents harlots"?

But Yosef does not succumb and runs off, leaving his garment in her hand.

Potiphar's wife runs out of the house and exclaimed that Yosef had tried to rape her and that when she screamed out, he fled, leaving behind his garment.

Later, when she and Potiphar are intimate, she tells him the same story, claiming that this is what Yosef was trying to do to her.

Potiphar becomes enraged and locks up Yosef in a prison for the king's inmates.

G-d is with Yosef and makes him charismatic, causing the prison warden to like him and to make Yosef custodian over the other prisoners, because G-d was with Yosef and caused him to succeed in whatever he did.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Yosef in Prison

One day, the King finds a fly in his cup of spiced wine and a pebble in his fine bread.

He throws the royal cupbearer and baker in jail as punishment.

They end up in the same prison as Yosef, and the chamberlain of the butchers appoints Yosef to be with them and they are imprisoned for a full year.

Both the cupbearer and the baker have vivid dreams on the same night.

Not having anyone to interpret their dreams disturbs them.

Yosef proclaims, "Do not all interpretations come from G-d?" and asked them to tell him what they dreamt.

So the royal cupbearer relates his dream: In his dream he saw a grapevine with three tendrils. It seemed as if it was blossoming and developing grapes. He pressed the grapes into Pharaoh's cup which was in his hand and he placed the cup into Pharaoh's palm.

Yosef interprets the dream to mean that the three tendrils signify three days. He predicts that in three days, the cupbearer will be restored to his former post (and will indeed place the cup into Pharaoh's hand as he used to). Yosef then tells the cupbearer to remember Yosef at that time and to put in a good word for him to Pharaoh so he can be released.

The royal baker than relates his dream: In his dream there were three wicker baskets on his head and the top basket contained a variety of Pharaoh's baked goods and birds were eating out of it.

Yosef interprets this dream to meant that in three days Pharaoh will hang the baker on a tree and birds will eat his flesh.

As a side note, the cupbearer and baker knew that these interpretations were accurate as their respective dreams each contained the interpretation to the other's dream.

The third day comes to pass and it is Pharaoh's birthday. Birthdays were great causes for celebration in the ancient world and were called by the greek term Genesia. He plans a feast for all of his servants and includes the royal cupbearer and baker in the count.

Just as Yosef had foreseen, the cupbearer is restored to his previous position, and the baker is is hung.

The cupbearer forgets to mention Yosef.

(Side note: The consequence of Yosef putting his trust in this cupbearer rather than G-d, caused him to remain imprisoned for another two years).

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Potiphar

We now return to the story of Yosef. As mentioned, one of the reasons Yehuda's story is mixed in between the story of Yosef is because it was because of how Yehuda dealt with Yosef that he fell from his leadership position amongst the brothers.

Another reason involves the story which is to follow concerning Potiphar's wife who tries to seduce Yosef. Like Tamar, Potiphar's wife had good intentions in that she saw astrologically that she was destined to have children through Yosef. She wasn't clear however if the children would be born through her or thorough a daughter. In fact, later on, Yosef married her daughter.

So back to the story:

Yosef arrives in Egypt and Potiphar, a prominent Egyptian (he was one of Pharaoh's courtiers and the chamberlain of the butchers) purchases him from the Ishmalites.

G-d is with Yosef and he becomes very successful and remains in Potiphar's home.

Potiphar likes Yosef and notices his success as well as the fact that Yosef speaks frequently about G-d.

Potiphar appoints Yosef in charge of everything in his household and Potiphar's house and field become blessed as a result.

Potiphar entrusts Yosef with everything but his wife.

Yosef eats and drinks and becomes beautiful and vain, curling his hair habitually.

G-d is not pleased with this and says "your father is in mourning and you curl your hair?! I will send a "bear" to you (AKA Potiphar's wife)".

Side note, the symbolism of a bear is used as they are animals with no shame.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice!For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Yehudah and Tamar

This portion tells the story of Yehuda and Tamar. Even though it appears right after the story of Yosef being sold by his brothers, it most likely didn't happen right after that (Chumash is often not chronological).

Nevertheless, the Chumash juxtaposes this story with the story of Yosef to highlight the fact that Yehuda was demoted from his leadership position amongst the brothers as a result of the selling of Yosef. Yehuda was the one who instigated the idea of selling Yosef and all the other brothers followed suit. They claimed that had Yehudah alternatively suggested that they bring Yosef back to their father Yaakov, they would have obeyed.

So the story begins with Yehuda leaving his brothers and forming a business partnership with an Adulamite man.

Yehuda sees the daughter of a prominent merchant name Shua and marries her.

They have three sons: Er, Onan and Shelah, who was born in Chezib (etymologically related to the word "fall", hinting at the fact that after him, Yehuda's wife ceased having children). The Breishis Rabbah writes that word Shelah means "stopped".

Yehuda marries his eldest, Er off to Tamar. Er fears that Tamar will lose her beauty if she becomes pregnant so he takes measures so that she won't conceive when they are together. As a result, Er dies as punishment from G-d.

Yehuda tells Onan to marry Tamar and beget offspring in his brother's stead. Onan doesn't like the idea of his children being considered his brothers and not his, so similarly, he takes measures so that she won't conceive when they are together. Onan too is punished by G-d and dies.

It seemed to be that every man who married Tamar would die.

Yehuda does not want his third son to marry her, but instead of stating that clearly, he tells Tamar that she should remain a widow until Selah grew up.

Yehuda's wife dies and Yehuda and his Adulamite colleague (named Hiroh) leave to Timna to check up on on Yehuda's sheep shearers.

Tamar becomes aware of this as well as the fact that although Shelah had now grown up, he still wasn't being proposed to her for marriage.

She really wanted to be a part of the family of Avraham and specifically to bear a child from Yehuda. So she removes her widow's garb and put on a veil and sits at a crossroads right in front of the tent of Avraham (which was a very visible spot since Avraham's tent was famous for his hospitality).

Yehuda passes by and didn't recognize her. When living at home, Tamar had been very modest and covered her face. Here at the crossroads, her face was exposed. He thought she was a harlot.

Yehuda says that he wants to be with her. She asks what he would give her in return. Yehuda replies that he would give her a goat from his flock. (As a side note, since Yehuda deceived with a goat (i.e. in dripping Yosef's robe in goat's blood), as shall be seen, he was similarly deceived with a goat). Tamar demands a security deposit. Yehuda asks her what she would like as a security deposit. Tamar replies that she would like his signet, wrap and staff. Yehuda agrees and they sleep together.

As a result of their union, Tamar gets pregnant. She removes her veil and garbs her widow clothing once again.

Yehuda sends his Adulamite friend to deliver the promised goat. However when Hiroh gets to the area he can't find her. He asks around about the "harlot who sits at the crossroads" but was told that there is no such person.

Hiroh returns to Yehuda and tells him what happened. Yehuda says that they should drop it since they've done all they can to find her and if they continued searching, it would be embarrassing for them. He says that she could just keep the items that he gave her as a security deposit.

Well into the first trimester of Tamar's pregnancy (somewhere in her 3rd month), Yehuda is told that Tamar had acted as a harlot and got pregnant as a result. Yehuda says they should take her out and burn her.

(Side note: Since one of the primary reasons for the flood was sexual immorality, there became a decree that any woman who was waiting for her brother in law to perform a levirate marriage with her and has illicit relations, must be put to death. Since Tamar was the daughter of a Cohen, her sentence was to be burned.)

As Tamar is being led out to be burned, she brings out the signet, the wrap and the staff, in full view of others and says to Yehuda, "It is by the person to whom these belong that I am pregnant."

Rather than embarrass Yehuda by outing him outright in public, she gave him the opportunity to step forth and confess. It is from here that we learn that it is better to throw oneself into a fiery furnace than to embarrass someone in public.

In asking Yehuda to "recognize" the items that she brought out, she was asking Yehuda to "recognize" G-d and spare her and the twins growing instead of her. This recognition of G-d would have to be extra strong insofar that she did bring out the items in full view which meant that in order to admit to what happened, Yehuda would have to do so in public.

Yehuda steps up to the plate and admits that she is right and either Yehudah or some say a Heavenly voice declares that Yehuda is the father of her unborn children and states that Tamar acted justly insofar as Yehuda refrained from granting his son Shelah to her. The text seems to read that he never was intimate with her again, however some commentaries interpret just the opposite and say that it means that he never stopped being intimate with her.

According to the interpretation that it was a Heavenly Voice which declared that Tamar conceived through Yehuda, this was a sign that the entire episode was Divine Providence and that in the merit of Tamar being modest while living in her father in law's house, she merited to have kings come from her, and kings had been decreed to come out of the tribe of Yehuda, so their union was inevitable.

Tamar gives birth to two righteous twins, prematurely, at 7.5 months.

During the birth, one of the babies sticks it's hand out. The midwife ties a red string around its hand and says "this one was born first".

After having the string tied around his hand, he goes back in, and the second twin bursts forth. The midwife exclaims "How you burst forth with such strength!" And his name thus became Peretz (lit. "to burst forth")

Then comes the other twin (the one with the red string tied around him) and he is called Zerach (lit. "Brightness").

Side note: the word "hand" is written in this section 4x alluding to the greed of one of Zerach's descendants named Achan. Achan violated 4 bans. One of which was against taking spoils from Jericho from which he took 4 things: A Babylonian cloak, 2 pieces of silver weighing of 200 shekelim, and a gold ingot.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Joseph is sold by his brothers. Jacob mourns his "death". Joseph arrives in Egypt.

When Joseph gets to his brothers, they strip off his woolen robe as well as his undergarments.

They throw him into a pit that contains snakes and scorpions (but no water).

The brothers sit down to eat and see a caravan of Ishmalites and camels approaching from Gilead. Such arabs usually bore petroleum and resin exclusively, both of which emit a very foul odor, however in the merit of Joseph's righteousness, this pack of camels bore spices (a blend that included balsam, birthwort and possibly according to Onkolus, wax) so Joseph wouldn't have to suffer from a bad smell.

Judah says to the other brothers, "what are we to gain by killing Joseph? Let's sell him to these merchants so we can get some money. Also, he is after all our own brother, our own flesh and blood. Let's not kill him." The brothers acquiesce.

So Joseph's brothers take him out of the pit and sell him to a group of Midianite traders who then sell him to the Ishmalites for 20 pieces of silver. Joseph is bought and sold many times before eventually being brought to Egypt.

Revuven was not present when the brothers sold Joseph. He was either taking care of his father (as the brothers took turns doing this and it might have been his turn to do so), or else he might have been busy fasting and repenting for having meddled in his father's sleeping arrangements (see previous week's portion).

When Reuven gets back and sees that Joseph is no longer in the pit, he tears his garments in mourning.

He exclaims to his brothers, "The boy is gone and where can I run to escape our father's grief?"

The brothers slaughter a goat and dip Joseph's robe in it's blood (goat blood is similar to that of humans).

They bring the robe to their father and say "Look at what we found. Is this your son's robe or not?"

Jacob exclaims, "Yes that's Joseph's robe! A wild beast has devoured him and most likely tore him to bits!" In actuality, Jacob knew prophetically that Joseph was still alive, however the brothers had placed a curse upon anyone who would tell Jacob the truth and made G-d a partner with them in this. So Jacob felt that if G-d did not wish him to know the truth, he should not let it be known that he knows. Also, in mentioning the "wild beast", Jacob was prophetically alluding to Potiphar's wife who would later try to tempt Joseph.

Jacob tears his garments and placed sackloth on his loins and mourns for 22 years:

Joseph was 17 years when he left and was sold. He became ruler of Egypt when he was 30 (so that's 13 years), then there were 7 years of plenty and 2 years of famine. And then finally Jacob arrived in Egypt and they were reunited. 13+7+2=22 years.

This suffering mirrored the 22 years where Jacob did not properly honor his parents, i.e. when he spent 20 years at the home of Lavan, and then 2 years on the road (1.5 years in Succoth and 6 months in Beth-El).

All of Jacob's sons and daughters* try to comfort him but to no avail. Heaven sets it up so that when a person dies, they are eventually forgotten in their loved ones' hearts. However since Joseph didn't die, Jacob's pain was just as strong the entire time he was gone from him. Isaac prophetically knew that Joseph was still alive, but felt pain over Jacob's suffering.

*either his actual daughters, i.e. the female twins who were born with each son, or else his daughters in law, (possibly Canaanite) women who married his sons.

The Medianites sell Joseph to Potiphar in Egypt, the courier of Pharoh, Chamberlain of the Butchers (side note, Onkolus translates "butchers" to mean "executioners" however Rashi dismisses the context of this translation as improbable (although he agrees with it being translated as such elsewhere, ie. Daniel 2:14) since he understands the term "chamberlain" (AKA שר) to be a reference to someone involved with household duties.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Yosef Travels. His Brothers Plot.

Joseph’s brothers go to pasture in the fields of Shchem. However they become more interested in “pasturing” themselves, indulging in food and drink, which is what ultimately leads to their downfall.

Jacob (now called Israel), tells Joseph to go to his brothers in Shchem and report back about how they are doing. Joseph readily acquiesces, in spite of the hatred his brothers have towards him.

He leaves Chevron, which although being a mountain, is described as being deep like a “valley” as it was where Avraham was buried there, making it "deep" with counsel. . Joseph leaving Chevron was thus the start of their exile.

A “man”, who was actually the angel Gabriel sees Joseph and approaches him and asks him what he seeks. Joseph said that he is looking for his brothers and asked the angel to tell him where they are.

The angel tells him that he overheard them saying that they intended to go to “Dothan”, which etymologically is related to the word “dat”, meaning “law”. This is alluding to the fact that the brothers had set out to find legal justifications for killing Joseph. The wording of the text also alludes to the brothers moving away from their “brotherhood”.

The brothers conspire to kill Joseph by throwing him into a pit and then claiming that he was devoured by a beast. G-d proclaims from on high “let’s see who’s “dream” comes true - yours (of killing Joseph) or Mine (as expressed in Joseph’s dreams)".

Reuven, being the firstborn and thus feeling that he would be held responsible for whatever happened, protested this plan and said that they should throw Joseph into a pit but not shed his blood. His intention with this was to subsequently go and rescue Joseph from there and bring him back to their father.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

To sponsor an episode please visit: https://itistaught.com/support-this-project/To get the daily chumash summaries in your email click here https://substack.com/profile/182692001-sarede-rachel-switzer?utm_source=profile-page.Subscribe on SpotifySubscribe on Apple PodcastsPlease consider leaving a review on the platform of your choice! For comments and inquiries, email [email protected]

Yaakov and Yosef

Now begins a much more detailed accounting of Jacob's family and the events surrounding it than was given for Esav's (see previous few posts). We see a similar pattern in Chumash with the generations between Adam to Noach and Noach to Avraham, where those in-between generations are briefly enumerated however it is only with Noach, Avraham and now Jacob's family that the text goes into more detail as these people/families are of higher importance.

Jacob and his family settle in Canaan, the land of his forefathers.

As a side note, Joseph was upset with his father for wanting to "settle", i.e. relax. He said, "The righteous rest in the afterlife, is that not enough for you?".

The text now goes on to say that it will list the progeny of Jacob but then only talks about Joseph when he was 17 years old. A few possible reasons for this are:

-All of the "drama" with what will go down with the family begins at this time, when Joseph is 17.

-Joseph, being Rachel's first son, was the whole reason Jacob had any progeny (since he started working for Lavan to marry Rachel)

-Joseph and Jacob looked alike

-Joseph and Jacob had a lot of similar life trajectories, for example both of them had siblings that hated them and wanted to kill them.

Joseph was youthful and vain. He spent a lot of time grooming his hair and eyebrows. He was friendly with Bilhah and Zilpah's sons who were shunned by Leah's sons for being children of the maidservants. He would often tattletale to his father on Leah's sons whenever he saw them do things he thought were wrong.

There were three main things which Joseph would tattletale on them for, each of which he was subsequently punished for in a related manner:

1)Joseph accused his brothers of the sin of "eating a limb off of a living animal". This is forbidden by Torah law to both Jews and non-Jews. What Joseph didn't realize was that the brothers 1) (according to the Shla'ah) either created these animals using the mystical guidelines given in the kabbalistic book Sefer Yetzirah, in which case these rules wouldn't apply, or alternatively, 2) the brothers considered themselves to be Jewish, while Joseph did not since the Torah had not yet been received.

To explain this second point, this law of "eating a limb off of a living animal" differs for Jews and non Jews in so far as Jews are allowed to eat an animal which still shows nerve movement so long as it was slaughtered in accordance with the laws of Kosher, whereas non Jews are not. So when Joseph saw them eating such an animal, considering their family not to be Jewish (yet) he reasoned that it was not allowed, whereas his brothers held that they were Jewish and thus allowed to eat such animals.

Joseph's corresponding punishment for this was having a goat slaughtered at the time that he was sold into slavery.

2)Joseph accused Leah's sons of calling Bilhah and Zilpah's sons slaves. There is an opinion that they didn't actually call the sons themselves slaves, but rather, they would say that their mothers used to be slaves. Also, they wouldn't let Bilhah and Zilpah's sons learn Sefer Yitzirah with them since such teachings are only meant to be learned by someone with a pristine lineage.

Joseph's corresponding punishment for this was being sold into slavery.

3)Joseph accused them of sexual immorality. Some of Leah's sons were married to both a mother and her daughter, something which is forbidden by Torah law, however since these women weren't Jewish, they thought that this law didn't apply. Alternatively, the Shl'ah says that the brothers had made a "women" using the mystical techniques of the Sefer Yetizrah and Joseph saw them walking with her and understood her to be a real woman though she was not.

Joseph's corresponding punishment for this was having Potiphar's wife try to seduce him.

Joseph was Jacob's favorite son for a few reasons:

-He was the first son he had when he entered "old age"

-Joseph was the wisest (according to Onkulus) and Jacob would teach him whatever Jacob learned from the academies of Shem and Ever

-Joseph and Jacob looked alike.

As a symbol of his favoritism, Jacob gifted Joseph a fine wool coat which some commentaries describe as being multicolored, some as being cushioned (in the gemara Megillah it translates the description of Karpas as: Kar - cushioned; Pas - fine wool). The word for "fine" wool in the text is פּסים (PSIM) which alludes to the 4 contenders of Joseph later on: Potifar, Schorim (the merchants), the Ishmalites and the Midianites.

Joseph's brothers hated him and were obvious about it.

Joseph has a dream which he shares with his brothers which causes them to hate him more. In the dream, they are bringing in sheaves and Joseph's sheaf stands erect and all the other sheaves gather around it and bow to Joseph's sheaf.

So now Joseph's brothers hated him for the tattletaling as well as the dream which they feel is a way of Joseph hinting that he will dominate over them.

Joseph has another dream and this time relates it first to his brothers and then to his father in the presence of his brothers.

In this dream, the sun, moon and 11 stars are all bowing down to him.

Jacob gets upset and to appease the brothers, he says the dream is nonsense since Rachel, Joseph's mother had already died, it would be impossible for her to bow down to Joseph. What Jacob neglects to realize however, is that since Bilhah had been raising Jacob, she is considered like his mother now. Also, from this dream, we learn that every dream contains some nonsense in it. However this doesn't mean that the whole dream should be dismissed.

The brothers grew ever more jealous, however Jacob anticipated the day that these dreams would come to fruition.

Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L

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Seir's Lineage. Edomite Kings.

The Horites inhabited the land before Esav got there. They were experts in the land and knew what to plant where. Seir was the main chief of the land.

These are Seir’s sons: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.

And now for Seir’s grandsons:

Through Lotan: Chori and Heimam. And Timna was Lotan’s sister.

Through Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam

Through Zibeon: Aiah, Anah* (and Anah had 2 children: Dishon and Oholibamah).

*Note that Anah is listed as Zibeon’s son here, yet as his brother above (in the listing of Seir’s sons). This teaches us that Anah was the result of Zibeon having relations with his mother. (Side note: Anah, being a b*****d, would produce b*****d animals by mating male donkeys with female horses and a mule would result. The word for mule is “Yamim”, related to the root “Eimah” (lit. “dread”) for people dreaded these animals since a blow from one of them cannot be cured.)

Seir’s grandsons through Dishon: Chemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Cheran.

Through Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan and Akan

Through Dishan: Utz and Aran

All of Seir’s son’s are now listed as chiefs.

Now there is a list of all the kings in the land of Edom before there were Jewish kings. There were 8 Edomite kings in total, each of which had a corresponding Jewish king later on.

The 8 Edomite kings were:

* Bela the son of Beor in the city of Dinhabah

* Jobab son of Zerah, from Bozrah (who was from Moav. This is why Moav will be punished along with Edom, for producing a king for them)

* Cusham of the land of the Temanites

* Hadad son of Bedad in the city of Avith. He helped Moav in a war against Midian.

* Samlah of Masrekah

* Saul of Rehoboth-nahar

* Baal-Chanan son of Achbor

* Hadar in the city of Pau. He was married to Mehatabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zaheb (i.e. “Ma Zahav” (lit. “what is gold?”) alluding to the fact that he was so rich that gold was like nothing to him).

The 8 corresponding Jewish kings were:

* Saul (at which time Edom no longer had a king but was ruled only by a governer.)

* Ish-bosheth (son of Saul)

* David

* Shlomo (son of David)

* Rechavam (son of Shlomo)

* Aviah (son of Rechavam)

* Asa (son of Aviah)

* Yehoshaphat (son of Asa)

Yehoshophat had a son named Yoram, but in his days Edom revolted and crowned a new king.

After the last king of Edom died (Hadar), the following were the chiefs of Esav/Edom, who were called by the names of their lands: Timna, Alvah, Yetheth, Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, Magdiel (lit. “G-d is great”, alluding to Rome) and Iram