parshat Vayigash

A Shiur by Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed for the weekly portion "Vayigash".

A Shiur by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks for the weekly portion "Vayigash".

We continue to discuss Yosef’s dream(s). We saw that Yosef’s attempt to appease his brothers by means of sharing his dream backfired. “His brothers said to him: ‘Will you be king over us, or will you rule over us?’ They continued to hate him because of his dreams and his words” (Bereishit 37:8).

Before Yosef revealed his identity to his brothers, he commanded those around him: “Send out every man from before me” (Bereishit 45:1). This exact expression is found in another place in Tanach – when Amnon was preparing to inappropriately (to speak very mildly) interact with his half-sister Tamar (Shmuel II, 13:9). What is the connection between Yosef and Yaakov’s other sons, and Amnon ben Achinoam and Tamar bat Maacha, the children of David? It can be demonstrated that Shmuel II, 13 serves as a mirror image of the story of Yosef and his brothers, as we will discuss in Tzofnat Shmuel. Let us start with a limited focus.