ABSTRACT
Wondering about his older sons who grazed the flock far away, Jacob called to Joseph. “Here I am,” the lad replied—exactly as Abraham had when summoned to sacrifice Joseph’s grandfather Isaac; as Jacob himself had when directed by God to return to Canaan, where his feared brother Esau lived. Joseph’s generational echo signals danger and readiness because his task had its terrors. His brothers, not without reason, despised him. All commentators agree that Jacob had spoiled the long-awaited son of his favored wife Rachel by loving him above the others, singling him out, for example, to receive a coat of many colors. The text is unarguable: at seventeen, Joseph—the only biblical figure the rabbis would call a Tzaddik, a righteous man (Leibowitz, 1972, p. 430; Wiesel, 1976, pp. 141–142)—was full of himself. He tattled on his brothers. He insisted that they listen to his vainglorious dreams. Their sheaves, he reported, bowed to his in the field; the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him. Even Jacob rebuked him for that one. Nevertheless, when sent to seek his brothers he set out at once, persisting when he lost his way. Injudiciously and tauntingly, he wore the coat of many colors. Young Joseph was galling, assertive—a difficult brother.
