Parashat VaYeishev

The brothers had many reasons to hate Yoseif. He was their father’s most beloved child (37:3), he snitched on them every chance he got (37:2), and he dreamt grand, egocentric dreams (37:7). Each reason should itself justify their hatred, yet the Torah does not relate that the brothers hated Yoseif until after Yoseif relates his first dream to them.

VaYosifu Od S’no Oso Al Chalomosav ViAl Devarav

Beraishis, 37:8

ViAl Devarav, [regarding which of Yoseif’s “words?”] Regarding the evil reports he would bring to their father.

Rashi, Beraishis 37:8

The pasuk’s implication, by Rashi’s interpretation, is that before Yoseif reported his dream to the brothers, they only hated him for being their father’s favorite son, but after the dream, they hated him “also” for relaying his evil reports. Why? Wasn’t there enough reason to despise Yoseif for bringing these reports, regardless of his grandiose dreams? If they could hate him over the feelings of their father, feelings that Yoseif could not control, then shouldn’t they immediately hate him for the reports that Yoseif, by his own choosing, relayed?

Perhaps Yoseif related more than just a simple dream to his brothers. Did Yoseif somehow goad them? What did Yoseif and his brothers really dicuss in their first conversation? In outlining the the supposed conversation, the Torah (37:5) informs us that “Yoseif dreamt a dream, told it to his brothers, and they added to their hatred of him.” The pasuk does not claim to fully relate the conversation, yet it presumably provides a complete thought, implying that all one needs to know to understand why the brothers “added to their hatred of Yoseif” is that “Yoseif told them his dream.” What does this pasuk add to our account, and how does Yoseif’s dream incite the brother’s more than his reports?

Interestingly, the pasuk does not say that Yoseif recounted his cream to his brothers, VaYisapeir El Echav, but rather that he informed his brother’s of the dream, VaYageid El Echav. Normally when one tells over a dream, he is Mesapeir the dream, he recounted the details step by step. When the Sar HaMashkim had a dream, he was Misapeir it Yoseif. When Paroh had a dream, he too was Mesapeir it to Yoseif. Even Yoseif was Mesapeir his second dream to his brothers and father. Why here was Yoseif Magid the dream, and what does it mean to be Magid a dream?

Maybe the lashon of Hagadah, as used in the Hagadah, implies that we do more than recount past events; we announce them as current events. For instance, when Bnei Yisrael ran away from Mitzrayim, Paroh was ‘informed’ of their escape. Lavan too was “informed” when Yaakov fled. In both cases, the Torah uses the lashon of “Hugad.” In short, all current events are Hugad, informed. All past events, on the other hand, are recounted.

When Yoseif conveyed his dream to his brothers, did he recount its details as a passed event of the previous night? Or did he present the elements of his vision as a manifetation of current events? The lashon VaYageid implies the latter, that Yoseif somehow saw his dream in its process of fulfillment, even as he told it over to his brothers. Maybe Yoseif considered the reports he brought to his father as a means of controlling his brothers, a way of “ruling” over them and keeping them – in his eyes – along a righteous path.

In this sense, the brothers’ response, HaMaloch Timloch Aleinu Im Mashol Timshol Banu, fits well. Yoseif, in relating his dream, was not prophesying that he would someday rule over his brothers; rather, Yoseif saw his current status as his father’s field scout as this very rulership. In response, the brothers object to his ability to ever fully control them. The GR”A notes that the shoresh of HaMaloch implies leadership by the will of one’s followers, whereas the shoresh of Mashol implies leadership by force. The brothers acknowledge that Yoseif’s snitching may forcefully control them, but they would never willingly submit to his self-appointed authoirty.

While the brothers may have initially considered Yoseif to have intended the best for his brothers by bringing reports to their father, once Yoseif unveiled his dreams of grandeur, the premise of his reports being for the sake of straightening his brothers out was completely undermined.