The other brothers were worse. So jealous were they of Joseph that they wished to see him dead. When Joseph as viceroy staged the grand finale of the reunion and removed his mask, they were seized by a panic so great they tried—even then—to throw themselves on him and kill him.

Later, much later, after he had already forgiven them, they were still jealous. They accepted his gifts but kept their distance. They dared accuse their father of flattery because on his deathbed he dispensed more blessings to Joseph than to them. They grumbled: our father favors him and wants to please him because he is in power.

Understanding the father is just as difficult. Surely Jacob was the real culprit; he must have been a bad father, a poor teacher. What an idea to favor one child, give him more gifts, more attention, more love. Did he not realize how that was affecting the other children? That they felt frustrated and rejected? Did he not know that such behavior would eventually harm the boy he wanted to protect? Did he not see what was going on under his own roof? Did he ever try to reason with his older sons and thus bring peace into his home?

Also, and even more serious: it was Jacob himself who had sent Joseph to his brothers in Shechem. Just like that, on a visit. Had he no inkling of the dangers awaiting his young son? Why did he risk the boy’s life or, at the very least, his safety? Did he not understand that his sons could hardly be expected to appreciate a visit from a brother who came at his leisure to watch them work? Could Jacob have been that blind?

And when his sons returned from Shechem and announced the terrible news to him: Joseph is no more; he has been devoured by a wild beast, Jacob believed them. He questioned them only superficially. He never went to investigate the site of the drama; he sought no confirmation, no corroboration! He accepted Joseph’s bloodied shirt as irrefutable proof! Why didn’t he try to elicit more details from Yehuda: how the tragedy had happened and when? And why did he not turn to God—he who never used to take a step without consulting Him—to obtain information if not intervention? There are only two possibilities; either Jacob was unaware of the hate his sons felt for Joseph—and then it is difficult to understand his blindness—or else he did know—and then one does not understand his passivity. What strange behavior for a father. Separated from his favorite son, he sank into a depression, was unconsolable, and yet he did nothing to find him or at least his mutilated remains.

Nor does one understand Joseph. He too eludes, and even disappoints, us. He seems not too appealing a human being, particularly in the beginning. First, his behavior toward his brothers left much to be desired. Instead of sharing his privileges, he flaunted them deliberately to arouse envy. A shocking lack of generosity for a future prince. Rather than bring his brothers closer to their father, he set himself up as obstacle. Parading in his expensive new clothes, he wanted to make certain that all the world see that while Jacob had many children, he, and he alone, was the chosen one, the superior one. He boasted about it so much and so often that he may have convinced himself. Small wonder, then, that he aroused such animosity. Even worse: he had a nasty tongue. He would mingle with the servants’ sons only to bring back their gossip to his father. What sort of gossip? There are two versions. One: he told his father what people in the street and in the marketplaces were saying about his brothers; two: he told his father what the brothers themselves were whispering about Jacob. (And Jacob listened. Was that why he was punished? One Midrash suggests just that.)