It’s a theme that runs deep in Jewish tradition, especially when it comes to our most righteous figures.
According to Legends of the Jews, even Jacob, after years of hardship, thought he could finally rest. But no. As the story goes, Satan himself argued before God: "Is it not enough that the future world is set apart for the pious? What right have they to enjoy this world, besides?" The result? The devastating loss of Joseph.
Ginzberg tells us that Jacob felt his life outside the Holy Land was joyless. Only the time spent teaching others about God, like his ancestors Abraham and Isaac, felt truly worthwhile. And this period of happiness, after returning to his father's house, lasted a mere eight years before Joseph was taken away. Can you imagine the heartbreak?
But here’s the thing: Jacob's willingness to endure hardship in Laban's house? It was all for Joseph. In fact, the blessing of a "quiver full" of children was because of Joseph's merits. Even the splitting of the Red Sea and the Jordan River for the Israelites is seen as a reward for Joseph's piety! Talk about a weighty legacy.
What made Joseph so special? Well, he resembled Jacob most closely, both in appearance and in character. Jacob passed down to Joseph the wisdom he'd received from his teachers, Shem and Eber, ancient figures linking them to the earliest generations after the flood.
And the parallels between father and son are striking. Ginzberg masterfully lays them out: Joseph's mother, like Jacob's, struggled to conceive. Both were born circumcised. Both were shepherds. Both served for the sake of a woman (think of Jacob and Rachel, and Joseph and Potiphar's wife... more on that later). The list goes on and on. According to the Legends of the Jews, both appropriated the birthright of an older brother (though Joseph’s was more symbolic), were hated by their brothers, and were the favorite son. Both lived in foreign lands, served masters who were blessed because of them, and were accompanied by angels.
Even their fates mirrored each other: dreams, famine relief in Egypt, promises to be buried in the Holy Land, death and embalming in Egypt, and eventual reburial in the land of their ancestors. Jacob provided for Joseph for seventeen years, and Joseph returned the favor, providing for Jacob for the same amount of time.
But Joseph wasn't just a carbon copy of his father. We learn that until the age of seventeen, Joseph was a dedicated student at the Bet ha-Midrash – the house of study. He became so learned that he could teach his brothers Halakot (Jewish laws) he heard from Jacob, essentially becoming their teacher. He offered them guidance, becoming a favorite of the sons of the handmaids, who embraced him warmly.
However, Joseph was also a bit… vain. The Legends of the Jews describes him painting his eyes, carefully styling his hair, and walking with a mincing step. But these youthful foibles were nothing compared to his habit of bringing bad reports about his brothers to Jacob. He accused them of mistreating animals, lusting after Canaanite women, and disrespecting the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, calling them slaves.
And here’s where the story takes a darker turn. These accusations, whether true or not, had consequences. Joseph was sold into slavery because he accused his brothers of calling others slaves, and Potiphar's wife lusted after him because he accused his brothers of lusting. It’s a stark example of "measure for measure," the idea that our actions often come back to us in unexpected ways.
The Legends of the Jews even points out the irony: even as the brothers plotted against Joseph, they meticulously followed the ritual slaughter laws when killing a goat, using its blood to stain Joseph’s coat. It highlights the complex, often contradictory nature of human behavior.
So, what do we take away from this intricate tapestry of a story? It’s a reminder that even the most righteous among us face trials, that legacies are complex and multi-layered, and that our actions, both good and bad, have far-reaching consequences. And maybe, just maybe, it’s a call to look a little closer at our own lives, to see the echoes of our ancestors and the potential for both greatness and failure within ourselves.
Jacob was not exempt from the lot that falls to the share of all the pious. Whenever they expect to enjoy life in tranquillity, Satan hinders them. He appears before God, and says: "Is it not enough that the future world is set apart for the pious? What right have they to enjoy this world, besides?" After the many hardships and conflicts that had beset the path of Jacob, he thought he would be at rest at last, and then came the loss of Joseph and inflicted the keenest suffering. Verily, few and evil had been the days of the years of Jacob's pilgrimage, for the time spent outside of the Holy Land had seemed joyless to him. Only the portion of his life passed in the land of his fathers, during which he was occupied with making proselytes, in accordance with the example set him by Abraham and Isaac, did he consider worth while having lived, and this happy time was of short duration. When Joseph was snatched away, but eight years had elapsed since his return to his father's house. And yet it was only for the sake of Joseph that Jacob had been willing to undergo all the troubles and the adversity connected with his sojourn in the house of Laban. Indeed, Jacob's blessing in having his quiver full of children was due to the merits of Joseph, and likewise the dividing of the Red Sea and of the Jordan for the Israelites was the reward for his son's piety. For among the sons of Jacob Joseph was the one that resembled his father most closely in appearance, and, also, he was the one to whom Jacob transmitted the instruction and knowledge he had received from his teachers Shem and Eber. The whole course of the son's life is but a repetition of the father's. As the mother of Jacob remained childless for a long time after her marriage, so also the mother of Joseph. As Rebekah had undergone severe suffering in giving birth to Jacob, so Rachel in giving birth to Joseph. As Jacob's mother bore two sons, so also Joseph's mother. Like Jacob, Joseph was born circumcised. As the father was a shepherd, so the son. As the father served for the sake of a woman, so the son served under a woman. Like the father, the son appropriated his older brother's birthright. The father was hated by his brother, and the son was hated by his brethren. The father was the favorite son as compared with his brother, so was the son as compared with his brethren. Both the father and the son lived in the land of the stranger. The father became a servant to a master, also the son. The master whom the father served was blessed by God, so was the master whom the son served. The father and the son were both accompanied by angels, and both married their wives outside of the Holy Land. The father and the son were both blessed with wealth. Great things were announced to the father in a dream, so also to the son. As the father went to Egypt and put an end to famine, so the son. As the father exacted the promise from his sons to bury him in the Holy Land, so also the son. The father died in Egypt, there died also the son. The body of the father was embalmed, also the body of the son. As the father's remains were carried to the Holy Land for interment, so also the remains of the son. Jacob the father provided for the sustenance of his son Joseph during a period of seventeen years, so Joseph the son provided for his father Jacob during a period of seventeen years. Until he was seventeen years old, Joseph frequented the Bet ha-Midrash, and he became so learned that he could impart to his brethren the Halakot he had heard from his father, and in this way he may be regarded as their teacher. He did not stop at formal instruction, he also tried to give them good counsel, and he became the favorite of the sons of the handmaids, who would kiss and embrace him. In spite of his scholarship there was something boyish about Joseph. He painted his eyes, dressed his hair carefully, and walked with a mincing step. These foibles of youth were not so deplorable as his habit of bringing evil reports of his brethren to his father. He accused them of treating the beasts under their care with cruelty—he said that they ate flesh torn from a living animal—and he charged them with casting their eyes upon the daughters of the Canaanites, and giving contemptuous treatment to the sons of the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah, whom they called slaves. For these groundless accusations Joseph had to pay dearly. He was himself sold as a slave, because he had charged his brethren with having called the sons of the handmaids slaves, and Potiphar's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, because he threw the suspicion upon his brethren that they had cast their eyes upon the Canaanitish women. And how little it was true that they were guilty of cruelty to animals, appears from the fact that at the very time when they were contemplating their crime against Joseph, they yet observed all the rules and prescriptions of the ritual in slaughtering the kid of the goats with the blood of which they besmeared his coat of many colors.
