Yaakov settles in the land of Canaan. His favorite son, Yosef, brings him critical reports about his brothers. Yaakov makes Yosef a fine tunic of multi-colored woolen strips. Yosef exacerbates his brothers’ hatred by recounting prophetic dreams of sheaves of wheat bowing to his sheaf, and of the sun, moon and stars bowing to him, signifying that all his family will appoint him king. The brothers indict Yosef and resolve to execute him. When Yosef comes to Shechem, the brothers relent and decide, at Reuven’s instigation, to throw him into a pit instead. Reuven’s intent was to save Yosef. Yehuda persuades the brothers to take Yosef out of the pit and sell him to a caravan of passing Ishmaelites. Reuven returns to find the pit empty and rends his clothes. The brothers soak Yosef’s tunic in goat’s blood and show it to Yaakov, who assumes that Yosef has been devoured by a wild beast. Yaakov is inconsolable. Meanwhile, in Egypt, Yosef has been sold to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s Chamberlain of the Butchers.

In the Torah portion’s sub-plot, Yehuda’s son Er dies as punishment for preventing his wife Tamar from becoming pregnant. Onan, Yehuda’s second son, then weds Tamar by levirate marriage. He too is punished in similar circumstances. When Yehuda’s wife dies, Tamar resolves to have children through Yehuda, as this union will found the Davidic line culminating in the Mashiach.

Meanwhile, Yosef rises to power in the house of his Egyptian master. His extreme beauty attracts the unwanted advances of his master’s wife. Enraged by his rejection, she accuses Yosef of attempting to seduce her, and he is imprisoned. In prison, Yosef successfully predicts the outcome of the dream of Pharaoh’s wine steward, who is reinstated, and the dream of Pharaoh’s baker, who is hanged. In spite of his promise, the wine steward forgets to help Yosef, and Yosef languishes in prison.

PARSHA INSIGHTS

Dark Alleyways

“And Yaakov dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings…” (37:1)

Our parsha opens with a quiet word: Vayeshev — “he settled.” After a lifetime of struggle, Yaakov seeks calm. Yishuv ha-da’at; tranquility. Instead, the great storm of Yosef in Egypt is about to break.

History advances through concealment. When the world darkens, we must know the inner light is gathering strength. Yosef’s descent into Egypt is in fact the hidden beginning of the redemption. The brothers cannot see it, but Hashem is already weaving the future.

In our days, too, the world feels similarly unsettled. Large cultural shifts are taking place. Growing segments of society are adopting narratives that are, at times, deeply unsympathetic to the Jewish People. Public hostility and demonstrations flourish, with attitudes that echo ancient resentments in modern form.

History has shown that when a society absorbs strong ideological currents hostile to Jews — even when coming from only part of a larger community — the atmosphere for Jews becomes more challenging.

The Torah teaches us not to fear that darkness, but to see within it the outline of a larger plan.

Egypt, the most threatening place for Yosef, becomes the very place of his ascendance. Egypt does not define him; he defines himself amidst the host culture. “Vayehi Hashem et Yosef — G-d is with Yosef” — and Yosef therefore becomes a source of blessing, both for himself and for his host culture.

This is our path as well: We look at the shifts in the world, the rising tensions, the uncertainty — and we remember that the Jewish People have often walked through the darkest alleyways of history; but we always emerge stronger and more defined. The pressure clarifies who we are. It deepens our unity. It awakens the spiritual strength that complacency has weakened within us.

Vayeshev— Yaakov seeks to settle, but Hashem calls him to rise. And in our time, when the world around us shifts like sand, Hashem calls us too: to deepen our faith, to strengthen our connection to Torah, and to live with the purpose and dignity that is our heritage.

Yosef’s story reminds us that concealed in every descent lies the seed of ascent. Behind every challenge lies hidden Divine guidance. And behind every threatening shadow lies a future of light that Hashem is already preparing. May we merit to see that light revealed — swiftly, peacefully, and openly — for all of Klal Yisrael and for the whole world.