• Yaakov favored Yosef and gave him the coat of many colors.

• Yosef’s dreams
  Yosef dreams of the twelve sheaves of wheat. His brothers’ sheaves bow to him. Yosef dreams of the sun, moon, and stars bowing to him.

• Yaakov sends Yosef to visit his brothers in the field.
  The brothers plot to kill Yosef, throwing him into a pit until they can decide. While Reuven is away the brothers sell Yosef to Yishmaelim. The brothers dip Yosef’s coat in blood and ask Yaakov if he recognizes it, making him think Yosef was killed by a wild animal.

• Yehudah and Tamar
  Yehudah ‘s son Er dies and Yehudah has his son Onan marry Er’s widow, Tamar. However Onan sins and also dies. Yehudah promises her the youngest son, Shelah, but then does not give her to him for fear of his dying as well. Tamar then veils herself as a prostitute and becomes pregnant by Yehudah. When he seeks to punish her for harlotry, she sends him the signet and staff that he left for security of payment. He declares that she is “more righteous than I.” Peretz and Zerach are the twins born of their union.

• Yosef in Potiphar’s house
  Yosef is bought by Potiphar, who is a captain of Pharaoh. He is favored and rises in responsibility. Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him; he refuses. He is accused by her and thrown into prison.

• Yosef in prison
  Yosef finds favor with the officer of the prison and becomes his aid.

• Pharaoh’s butler and baker
  The butler and baker are accused and thrown in prison, where they are under Yosef’s charge. A year later the butler dreams of a vine with three shoots; he took the grapes and squeezed them into a cup in Pharaoh’s hand. Yosef interprets the dream to mean that he would be re-instated in three days. Yosef asks him to remember him when this occurs. The baker dreams of three baskets of pastries on his head, and birds come and eat from them. Yosef’s interpretation is that in three days Pharaoh will have him executed. Both predictions occur as Yosef said. But the butler forgot Yosef.

Contact:
Miriam Ben-Yaacov