Jacob and his twelve sons settle in Hebron. His favorite is seventeen-year-old Joseph, whose brothers are envious of his father’s preferential treatment, such as a precious many-colored coat that Jacob produces for Joseph. Joseph tells his brothers about two of his dreams in which he predicts that he will rule over them, increasing their jealously and contempt for him.
Simeon and Levi plan to murder him, but Reuben recommends that they instead throw him into a pit, planning to return later and save him. Judah sells Joseph to a troop of passing Ishmaelites while he is in the pit. The brothers soak Joseph’s special coat in goat blood and present it to their father, convincing him that his most beloved son was devoured by a wild beast.
Judah gets married and has three kids. Er, the eldest son, dies childless, and his wife, Tamar, is given in levirate marriage to the second son, Onan. Onan sins by spilling his sperm, and he, too, dies young. Judah is hesitant to marry his third son to her. Tamar disguises herself as a prostitute and seduces Judah himself, determined to have a child from Judah’s household. When Judah learns that his daughter-in-law is pregnant, he orders her to be hanged for harlotry; but, when Tamar presents some personal things he left with her as a pledge for payment, he publicly reveals that he is the father. Tamar had twin boys, Peretz (a descendant of King David) and Zerach.
Joseph is transported to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the Pharaoh’s slaughterhouse minister. God favors all he accomplishes, and he is soon appointed to oversee all of his master’s property. Potiphar’s wife desires the gorgeous and charismatic lad; when he refuses her approaches, she informs her husband that the Hebrew slave attempted to force himself on her and has him imprisoned. Joseph earns his jailers’ trust and admiration, and they promote him to a position of influence in the prison administration.
Joseph encounters Pharaoh’s chief butler and chief baker in prison, both of whom are imprisoned for upsetting their royal master. Both have unsettling nightmares, which Joseph interprets; in three days, the butler will be released and the baker will be executed, he says. Joseph requests that the butler advocate on his behalf with Pharaoh. Joseph’s prophecies come true, but the butler forgets about him and does nothing for him.
In a Torah Scroll (סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה, Sefer Torah), the parasha is composed of 5,972 Hebrew letters, 1,558 Hebrew words, 112 verses, and 190 lines. We read it on the ninth Sabbath after Simchat Torah, which is usually in late November or early December.
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