Audio Summaries of the daily Chumash portions In loving memory of Ousher Zelig ben Myer HaLevi Z”L
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Joseph is sold by his brothers. Jacob mourns his "death". Joseph arrives in Egypt.
When Joseph gets to his brothers, they strip off his woolen robe as well as his undergarments.
They throw him into a pit that contains snakes and scorpions (but no water).
The brothers sit down to eat and see a caravan of Ishmalites and camels approaching from Gilead. Such arabs usually bore petroleum and resin exclusively, both of which emit a very foul odor, however in the merit of Joseph's righteousness, this pack of camels bore spices (a blend that included balsam, birthwort and possibly according to Onkolus, wax) so Joseph wouldn't have to suffer from a bad smell.
Judah says to the other brothers, "what are we to gain by killing Joseph? Let's sell him to these merchants so we can get some money. Also, he is after all our own brother, our own flesh and blood. Let's not kill him." The brothers acquiesce.
So Joseph's brothers take him out of the pit and sell him to a group of Midianite traders who then sell him to the Ishmalites for 20 pieces of silver. Joseph is bought and sold many times before eventually being brought to Egypt.
Revuven was not present when the brothers sold Joseph. He was either taking care of his father (as the brothers took turns doing this and it might have been his turn to do so), or else he might have been busy fasting and repenting for having meddled in his father's sleeping arrangements (see previous week's portion).
When Reuven gets back and sees that Joseph is no longer in the pit, he tears his garments in mourning.
He exclaims to his brothers, "The boy is gone and where can I run to escape our father's grief?"
The brothers slaughter a goat and dip Joseph's robe in it's blood (goat blood is similar to that of humans).
They bring the robe to their father and say "Look at what we found. Is this your son's robe or not?"
Jacob exclaims, "Yes that's Joseph's robe! A wild beast has devoured him and most likely tore him to bits!" In actuality, Jacob knew prophetically that Joseph was still alive, however the brothers had placed a curse upon anyone who would tell Jacob the truth and made G-d a partner with them in this. So Jacob felt that if G-d did not wish him to know the truth, he should not let it be known that he knows. Also, in mentioning the "wild beast", Jacob was prophetically alluding to Potiphar's wife who would later try to tempt Joseph.
Jacob tears his garments and placed sackloth on his loins and mourns for 22 years:
Joseph was 17 years when he left and was sold. He became ruler of Egypt when he was 30 (so that's 13 years), then there were 7 years of plenty and 2 years of famine. And then finally Jacob arrived in Egypt and they were reunited. 13+7+2=22 years.
This suffering mirrored the 22 years where Jacob did not properly honor his parents, i.e. when he spent 20 years at the home of Lavan, and then 2 years on the road (1.5 years in Succoth and 6 months in Beth-El).
All of Jacob's sons and daughters* try to comfort him but to no avail. Heaven sets it up so that when a person dies, they are eventually forgotten in their loved ones' hearts. However since Joseph didn't die, Jacob's pain was just as strong the entire time he was gone from him. Isaac prophetically knew that Joseph was still alive, but felt pain over Jacob's suffering.
*either his actual daughters, i.e. the female twins who were born with each son, or else his daughters in law, (possibly Canaanite) women who married his sons.
The Medianites sell Joseph to Potiphar in Egypt, the courier of Pharoh, Chamberlain of the Butchers (side note, Onkolus translates "butchers" to mean "executioners" however Rashi dismisses the context of this translation as improbable (although he agrees with it being translated as such elsewhere, ie. Daniel 2:14) since he understands the term "chamberlain" (AKA שר) to be a reference to someone involved with household duties.
