[This the first Torah Insights I have written since the passing of my dear father, Mr. Julius (Binyamin) Fischer. One of the myriad ways I will feel his absence is not receiving his feedback to these divrei Torah, of which he was a devoted reader. This year’s Torah Insights is dedicated to his memory.]

Now is the time for the Covenant between the Pieces (Bereishit 15:9-20) to be fulfilled. From this point until the end of the book of Bereishit, the Torah chronicles how the seventy souls of Yaakov’s family
descend to Egypt. And this sequence of events begins with Yosef:
These are the generations of Yaakov:
Yosef, seventeen- years- old, was a shepherd (RO’EH) with (ET) his brothers with the flock, (BA’TZON) and he was a lad (NA’AR) with the children of Bilhah and the children of Zilpah, his father’s wives (NESHEI AVIV). And Yosef brought bad reports about them to their father (Bereishit 37:2).

In this brief description we find the seeds of tension and discord between the brothers, which erupts when they sell Yosef as a slave to Egypt. For now,
however, what are Yosef’s duties to the family? What are their duties towards him? How do the various brothers feel about Yosef now, even before he tells them his dreams?

In view of the fact that Yaakov has always been a shepherd (25:27, according to Ibn Ezra and Rashbam; and 30:29-43), it is not surprising that his sons continue in this vocation. It thus seems superfluous to state:

Yosef, seventeen- years- old, was a shepherd (RO’EH) with (ET) his brothers with the flock (BA’TZON), especially because the text does not mention sheep herding again until verse 12. In addition, the usual expression is either RO’EH TZON (herder of flock: Bereishit 4:2, 46:34, 47:3) or RO’EH ET TZON (herding flock: Bereishit 30:36, Shemot 3:1, Zechariah 11:4). But Yosef is with the flock (BA’TZON).

Possibly, RO’EH… BA’TZON is a trainee, as is suggested in Shmuel I 16:11 regarding David. Furthermore, and he was a lad (NA’AR) with the children of Bilhah and the children of Zilpah means Yosef was a student (na’ar, cf. Mishlei 22:6); his half-brothers were assigned to the task of teaching Yosef sheep herding (Daat Mikra). It is interesting that Ha’ketav
V’ha’kabbalah (R. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg, 1785-1865) sees the opposite relationship; he says that Yosef taught his brothers, because he knew more than they did! Who is teaching whom?

Saadiah Gaon (882-942), on the other hand, translates this verse:
When Yosef was seventeen- years- old he was a shepherd together with his brothers among the flock, and he grew up with the children of Bilhah and the children of Zilpah.

R. Avraham ben-haRambam (1186-1237) follows this, explaining that Yosef was with them more than he was with his other brothers because they were closer in age to him. Even Yissachar and Zevulun felt a stronger attachment to the other children of Leah, although they were very close in age to Yosef.

This reminds us of Rashi’s analysis of the family dynamic:
“[Yosef] remained with the children of Bilhah, since his brothers would look down on them, while he would befriend them. …Any defect he saw in his brothers the sons of Leah he would report to his father.”
Peh Kadosh (R. Yitchak “Reb Itzele” ben Chayyim Volozhiner, 1780-1849) says further that Yaakov commanded the children of Bilhah and Zilpah both to train Yosef and to watch over him. Perhaps, as Daat Mikra suggests, this attachment was necessary after his mother’s death.

But this raises a question mentioned by Ramban. If – because of their age, work duties and affection – Yosef was so close to Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher, then why did they not defend him when the sons of Leah wanted to do him harm? Indeed, with Reuven and Yosef himself they would have outnumbered the other 5 brothers! Therefore, Ramban holds that Yosef was hated by all the brothers. Ramban supports the midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 84:7; Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 38) based on
And Yosef brought bad reports about them to their father, that, because he was always around them he could – and did – report on all of them at all times.

Rashi however holds that Yosef was friendly towards the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah; so why did they not rescue him? R. Yehoshua ibn Shuaib (14th Century), while siding with Ramban, provides an answer for Rashi’s view: Because their mothers were originally maidservants, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah felt themselves subordinate to the sons of Leah (the “chief wife”) and thus they could not oppose them; only Reuven spoke his mind independently.

It is ironic that the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah should feel inferior, especially since the verse calls their mothers his father’s wives (NESHEI AVIV),
which conveys a status equal to that of Rachel and Leah. In fact, Tosafot haShalem (4, p. 9) says that Leah too had just died, and since Yaakov had sworn to Lavan that he would not take any more wives, Bilhah and Zilpah became his senior wives.

Peh Kadosh explains the feelings of the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah towards Yosef differently. Yaakov commanded them to watch over him and, like any older siblings entrusted with the responsibility of caring for a younger brother, they resented it. They did not do their duty as required, and this is what Yosef reported. When the time came, they did not stand up to protect him.

We see here one family, wracked by antagonism. Its hierarchy is based on birth and interdependence, and opposing factions are beginning to form. A brother will be sold into slavery by some of his brothers, while others will not come to his aid. Eventually, all their progeny will be enslaved.

Future Jewish families, and the entire Jewish People would do well to learn the bitter lesson of Yosef and his brothers.