After all his travails, Yaakov is ready to settle in the land promised to him and his children. But his story is not merely that of one man’s family; it is the beginning of the realization of Hashem’s covenant with Avraham:
“Know for a certainty that your seed will be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and they shall enslave them and afflict them for four hundred years. Also will I judge the nation that will enslave them, and afterwards they will emerge with great wealth. . . . And the fourth generation will return here . . .” (Bereishit 15:13-14, 16).

We will therefore explain the beginning of this chapter in Yaakov’s life (Bereishit 37:1-4) with a view to its foreshadowing of future events, basing ourselves primarily on the interpretation of Abravanel.

And Yaakov settled in the land of his father’s sojourning (MEGUREI), in the land of Canaan (37:1).

There are two aspects to this verse:
1. MEGUREI connotes “sojourning,” but also “fear” and “strife.” Yaakov wished to find stability in the place where Avraham and Yitzchak had experienced instability. Nevertheless, the “generations of Yaakov” begin when the parallels between him and Yitzchak are the most pronounced: competition between their children for their fathers’ love causes strife; both suffer separation from their favored son for 22 years; the departed son leaves destitute and persecuted, but rises to wealth and power; before their deaths, both fathers will see a reconciliation among their children, and will be buried by their children.

2. After becoming financially secure in exile, Yaakov returns home to devote himself to spirituality. The place is suitable for this purpose both because it was where his fathers came close to Hashem and because it was Canaan, the place of spirituality. He leaves his financial affairs in the care of his children, and settles down in Chevron.

These are the generations of Yaakov: Yosef, at seventeen years old, was tending (HAYA RO’EH) his brothers in the flock, and he was a lad (V’HU NA’AR) with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Yosef brought their evil report to their father(37:2).
In Yosef, Yaakov sees the fulfillment of his ideals: he is his truest disciple. But it is through Yosef that the exile to Egypt occurs. Yosef is so clever in shepherding that even at age 17 he is the supervisor (HAYA RO’EH) of the others [this idea is also found in Sforno]. He does his work with youthful alacrity (V’HU NA’AR). At the same time he is humble, so that he ministers (V’HU NA’AR) to all his brothers, even those who were sons of Bilhah and Zilpah; He gives them equal treatment because, although their mothers started as servants, they became his father’s wives. Yosef wants to help his brothers improve their character, so he brings Yaakov any bad report that has been circulating about them. He neither gossips nor lies about them; he does not verify what he had heard, nor tell anyone else. Rather, he reports directly to their father, leaving it to Yaakov to correct their behavior. Furthermore, he reports about all the brothers, showing equal love for all of them, without regard for their status. Yosef demonstrates a passion for morality and justice that prefigures Moshe. Despite his well-intentioned motives however, Yosef will be punished, because the rumors may not have been true.

And Yisrael loved Yosef from among all his children, because he was his son-of-old-age (BEN ZEKUNIM), and he made him an embroidered tunic (37:3).

Yaakov’s love for Yosef is because he is, as Targum Onkelos translates BEN ZEKUNIM, a “wise son.” Yaakov further values Yosef’s adaptability: among the brothers he works with the swiftness of youth (NA’AR), but with his father he displays the care and moderation of maturity (BEN ZEKUNIM).

[We might add that this quality, while arousing suspicion and impatience in the young, like Yosef’s brothers, is esteemed by the aged, like Yaakov, as long as it is sincere. Furthermore, this resilience will later serve Yosef well in his political career. Might we see in Abravanel’s sympathetic insights into Yosef’s personality traits  and the animosity they provoke  a reflection of his own experiences in the court of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain?]

Yaakov expresses his high regard for Yosef by giving him an embroidered tunic. This is not a signof favoritism, but a pure appreciation of Yosef’s character.

And his brothers saw that their father loved him from among all his brothers, and they hated him, and they were not able to speak to him in peace (37:4).
The brothers misinterpret Yaakov’s affinity for Yosef. Abravanel sees two aspects to their misunderstanding:

1. The brothers think that Yaakov prefers Yosef because of the reports, and this makes them hate him. Undoubtedly, Yaakov chastised them for their misbehavior, but since he remained in seclusion they reasoned that he could not have learned about them unless Yosef revealed their secrets.

2. The brothers think that Yosef is preferred because he is the firstborn of the favored wife Rachel, and this makes them jealous. Yosef’s embroidered tunic signifies to them that he has been chosen for the birthright and future leadership of the family. They think that Yaakov will do to them what Avraham did to Yishmael and the children of Keturah, and what Yitzchak did to Esav.

The brothers’ hatred is so intense that they cannot even tolerate Yosef’s speaking peaceably.

The discord amongst the brothers will unfortunately be repeated in Jewish history, as the story of Chanukah, which begins today, demonstrates. Even before Antiochus’s evil decrees against the practice of Judaism, the Jews themselves were divided over the question: to what extent shall we allow Hellenistic civilization to affect our lives? As with Yosef’s brothers, the disunity led to violence and to persecution by a foreign nation.

For Yosef and his brothers, the stage is set for the descent to Egypt, and the ultimate fulfillment of the nation’s historic destiny.