Vayeshev, Vayeishev, or Vayesheb (—Hebrew for "and he lived," the first word of the parashah) is the ninth weekly Torah portion (, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah constitutes Genesis 37:1–40:23. The parashah tells the stories of how Jacob's other sons sold Joseph into captivity in Egypt, how Judah wronged his daughter-in-law Tamar who then tricked him into fulfilling his oath, and how Joseph served Potiphar and was imprisoned when falsely accused of assaulting Potiphar's wife.
The parashah is made up of 5,972 Hebrew letters, 1,558 Hebrew words, 112 verses, and 190 lines in a Torah Scroll (, Sefer Torah). Jews read it the ninth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, in late November or December.
Readings In traditional Sabbath Torah reading, the parashah is divided into seven readings, or , aliyot. In the Masoretic Text of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible), Parashat Vayeshev has three "open portion" (, petuchah) divisions (roughly equivalent to paragraphs, often abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (peh)). Parashat Vayeshev has one further subdivision, called a "closed portion" (, setumah) division (abbreviated with the Hebrew letter (samekh)) within the second open portion. The first open portion spans the first three readings. The second open portion spans the fourth through sixth readings. And the third open portion coincides with the seventh reading. The single closed portion division sets off the fourth reading from the fifth reading.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, The Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis (Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, 2006), pages 217–42.
First reading—Genesis 37:1–11 In the first reading, Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, and this is his family's story.. When Joseph was 17, he fed the flock with his brothers, and he brought Jacob an evil report about his brothers.. Because Joseph was the son of Jacob's old age, Jacob loved him more than his other children, and Jacob made him a coat of many colors, which caused Joseph's brothers to hate him.. And Joseph made his brothers hate him more when he told them that he dreamed that they were binding sheaves in the field, and their sheaves bowed down to his sheaf.. He told his brothers another dream, in which the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him, and when he told his father, Jacob rebuked him, asking whether he, Joseph's mother, and his brothers would bow down to Joseph.. Joseph's brothers envied him, but Jacob kept what he said in mind.. The first reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, pages 220–21.
Second reading—Genesis 37:12–22 In the second reading, when the brothers went to feed the flock in Shechem, Jacob sent Joseph to see whether all was well with them.. A man found Joseph and asked him what he sought, and when he told the man that he sought his brothers, the man told him that they had departed for Dothan.. When Joseph's brothers saw him coming, they conspired to kill him, cast him into a pit, say that a beast had devoured him, and see what would become of his dreams then.. But Reuben persuaded them not to kill him but to cast him into a pit, hoping to restore him to Jacob later.. The second reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 223.
Third reading—Genesis 37:23–36 In the third reading, Joseph's brothers stripped him of his coat of many colors and cast him into an empty pit.. They sat down to eat, and when they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites from Gilead bringing spices and balm to Egypt, Judah persuaded the brothers to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites.. Passing Midianite merchants drew Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they brought him to Egypt.. When Reuben returned to the pit and Joseph was gone, he rent his clothes and asked his brothers where he could go now.. They took Joseph's coat of many colors, dipped it in goat's blood, and sent it to Jacob to identify.. Jacob concluded that a beast had devoured Joseph, and rent his garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son.. All his sons and daughters tried in vain to comfort him.. And the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard.. The third reading and the first open portion end here with the end of chapter 37.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 227.
Fourth reading—Genesis chapter 38 In the fourth reading, chapter 38, Judah left his brothers to live near an Adullamite named Hirah.. Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua and had three sons named Er, Onan, and Shelah, the last of whom was born in Chezib.. Judah arranged for Er to marry a woman named Tamar, but Er was wicked and God killed him.. Judah directed Onan to perform a brother's duty and have children with Tamar in Er's name.. But Onan knew that the children would not be counted as his, so he spilled his seed, and God killed him as well.. Then Judah told Tamar to remain a widow in his house until Shelah could grow up, thinking that if Tamar wed Shelah, he might also die.. Later, when Judah's wife died, he went with his friend Hirah to his sheep-shearers at Timnah.. When Tamar learned that Judah had gone to Timnah, she took off her widow's garments and put on a veil and sat on the road to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah had grown up and Judah had not given her to be his wife.. Judah took her for a harlot, offered her a young goat for her services, and gave her his signet and staff as a pledge for payment, and they cohabited and she conceived.. Judah sent Hirah to deliver the young goat and collect his pledge, but he asked about and did not find her.. When Hirah reported to Judah that the men of the place said that there had been no harlot there, Judah put the matter to rest so as not to be put to shame.. About three months later, Judah heard that Tamar had played the harlot and become pregnant, and he ordered her to be brought forth and burned.. When they seized her, she sent Judah the pledge to identify, saying that she was pregnant by the man whose things they were.. Judah acknowledged them and said that she was more righteous than he, inasmuch as he had failed to give her to Shelah.. When Tamar delivered, one twin—whom she would name Zerah—put out a hand and the midwife bound it with a scarlet thread, but then he drew it back and his brother—whom she would name Perez—came out.. The fourth reading and a closed portion end here with the end of chapter 38.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 233.
Fifth reading—Genesis 39:1–6 In the fifth reading, in chapter 39, Pharaoh's captain of the guard Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites.. When Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph and prospered all that he did, Potiphar appointed him overseer over his house and gave him charge of all that he had, and God blessed Pharaoh's house for Joseph's sake.. Now Joseph was handsome.. The fifth reading ends here.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 235.
Sixth reading—Genesis 39:7–23 In the sixth reading, Potiphar's wife repeatedly asked Joseph to lie with her, but he declined, asking how he could sin so against Potiphar and God.. One day, when the men of the house were away, she caught him by his garment and asked him to lie with her, but he fled, leaving his garment behind.. When Potiphar came home, she accused Joseph of trying to force himself on her, and Potiphar put Joseph in the prison where the king's prisoners were held.. But God was with Joseph, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden, who committed all the prisoners to Joseph's charge.. The sixth reading and the second open portion end here with the end of chapter 39.See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 238.
Seventh reading—Genesis chapter 40 In the seventh reading, chapter 40, when the Pharaoh's butler and baker offended him, the Pharaoh put them into the prison as well.. One night, the butler and the baker each dreamed a dream.. Finding them sad, Joseph asked the cause, and they told him that it was because no one could interpret their dreams.. Acknowledging that interpretations belong to God, Joseph asked them to tell him their dreams.. The butler told Joseph that he dreamt that he saw a vine with three branches blossom and bring forth grapes, which he took and pressed into Pharaoh's cup, which he gave to Pharaoh.. Joseph interpreted that within three days, Pharaoh would lift up the butler's head and restore him to his office, where he would give Pharaoh his cup just as he used to do.. And Joseph asked the butler to remember him and mention him to Pharaoh, so that he might be brought out of the prison, for he had been stolen away from his land and had done nothing to warrant his imprisonment.. When the baker saw that the interpretation of the butler's dream was good, he told Joseph his dream: He saw three baskets of white bread on his head, and the birds ate them out of the basket.. Joseph interpreted that within three days Pharaoh would lift up the baker's head and hang him on a tree, and the birds would eat his flesh.. In the maftir () reading that concludes the parashah,See, e.g., Menachem Davis, editor, Schottenstein Edition Interlinear Chumash: Bereishis/Genesis, page 242. on the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, Pharaoh made a feast, restored the chief butler to his butlership, and hanged the baker, just as Joseph had predicted.. But the butler forgot about Joseph.. The seventh reading, the third open portion, chapter 40, and the parashah end here.
Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule:See, e.g., Richard Eisenberg, "A Complete Triennial Cycle for Reading the Torah," in Proceedings of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Conservative Movement: 1986–1990 (New York: Rabbinical Assembly, 2001), pages 383–418. Year 1Year 2Year 32022, 2025, 2028 . . .2023, 2026, 2029 . . .2024, 2027, 2030 . . .Reading37:1–3638:1–3039:1–40:23137:1–338:1–539:1–6237:4–738:6–1139:7–10337:8–1138:12–1439:11–18437:12–1738:15–1939:19–23537:18–2238:20–2340:1–8637:23–2838:24–2640:9–15737:29–3638:27–3040:16–23Maftir37:34–3638:27–3040:20–23
In inner-biblical interpretation The parashah has parallels or is discussed in these Biblical sources:For more on inner-Biblical interpretation, see, e.g., Benjamin D. Sommer, "Inner-biblical Interpretation," in Adele Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler, editors, The Jewish Study Bible: 2nd Edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014), pages 1835–41.
Genesis chapter 37 Genesis 37:3 reports that Jacob made Joseph "a coat of many colors" (, ketonet pasim). Similarly, 2 Samuel 13:18 reports that David's daughter Tamar had "a garment of many colors" (, ketonet pasim). 2 Samuel 13:18 explains that "with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins appareled." As Genesis 37:23–24 reports Joseph's half-brothers assaulted him, 2 Samuel 13:14 recounts that Tamar's half-brother Amnon assaulted her. And as Genesis 37:31–33 reports that Joseph's coat was marred to make it appear that Joseph was torn in pieces, 2 Samuel 13:19 reports that Tamar's coat was torn.
Retelling events of Genesis 37:27–36, Psalm 105:17–18 says, "[God] sent ahead of them an agent—Joseph, sold into slavery. His feet were subjected to fetters; an iron collar was put on his neck." And Genesis 45:5 reports that Joseph later told his brothers, "Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves because you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you."
Genesis chapter 38