Drash Cards for VaYeishev (5776)
By Marc Mangel
- I am going to read from the Torah. If you are an aural learner just listen, but if a visual one you might want to follow along in the Torah (but the translation I read is different from Stone).
- Ch 37, v18-20: They saw him from afar and before he reached them, they conspired against him to put him to death. And said to his brother “Look here comes that dreamer. So now let us go and kill him”
- With Rashi added : They saw him from afar and before he reached them, they conspired against him to put him to death. And Simeon said to his brother Levi “Look here comes that dreamer. So now let us go and kill him”
- v 21: Reuben heard and he rescued him from their hands…
- With Rashi added: Reuben heard his brothers’ plan and realized that if they killed Joseph he, as first born, would be held responsible. He therefore rescued him from their hands
- v 24 They took him and threw him into the pit.
- With Rashi added: They took him and Simeon threw him into the pit
- v 26 Judah said to his brothers “What is to be gained if we kill our brother and conceal his death”
- With Rashi added: Judah said to his brothers — in particular addressing Simeon and Levi who had been eager to kill Joseph —“What is to be gained if we kill our brother and conceal his death”
- I want to make two points. First, the Torah cannot be read without the help of interpretators – to just read and especially in English and from them alone think one can understand God’s word betrays ignorance and arrogance Nobody here but way too many others.
- Second, free choice requires that evil and good are both in the world. In this case Simeon and Levi represent evil and Reuben and Judah good. In the Torah itself, evil is not named, but good is.
- Reuben and Judah teach us that sometimes we cannot stop evil completely and our motives may not be selfless, but by standing up to evil we can mitigate its consequences.