{"id":39267,"date":"2018-09-03T19:39:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-03T16:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=39267"},"modified":"2022-03-28T22:10:41","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T19:10:41","slug":"josephs-vanishing-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/josephs-vanishing-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph\u2019s Vanishing Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[570,394,568],"acf":{"old_id":"39267","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":39062,"related_cahpter":"38","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"No character is a secondary character - in Tanakh or in our lives","content":"

Someday, he\u2019ll be viceroy of Egypt, Hebrew eminence, Abraham\u2019s heir, center of a whirling galaxy of stars. But for now, Joseph is a slave, exhausted from a brutal journey.<\/span><\/p>\n

We turn the page.<\/span><\/p>\n

Out of nowhere: Judah. Descending upon the scene, he marries a Canaanite, scams his daughter-in-law, impregnates her, confesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where is Joseph, our star? Why distract from Joseph’s epic <\/span>bildungsroman <\/span><\/i>with Judah\u2019s affairs? Judah is yesterday\u2019s news. This should be Joseph\u2019s tale.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rabbis spilled much ink on this scene change. What do you make of it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Literarily, something profound has occurred. Until now, the Torah presented a single narrative (more or less), avoiding digressions from the main story. Genesis recounted the sagas of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; now Joseph has earned the protagonist\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>mantle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Previously, the Torah\u2019s \u201csecondary\u201d characters were foils \u2013 appearing primarily when relevant to our protagonist. Once Jacob departs Laban, Laban disappears from the text. While Abraham sacrifices Isaac, we hear nothing of Sarah\u2019s goings-on at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, for the first time, the Torah devotes <\/span>an entire chapter<\/span><\/em> to a secondary character.\u00a0<\/span>Joseph vanishes.<\/span><\/p>\n

For God, the Author of history, there\u2019s no such thing as a \u201cmain character\u201d and \u201csupporting actors.\u201d <\/span>Everyone<\/span><\/em> has a story, profound and mundane, trundling forward alongside our own.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph may have a starring role in Egypt, but unbeknownst to him, Judah is facing his own battles, his own moral transformation; he discovers that his daughter-in-law is not a disposable secondary character \u2013 she has her own saga of loss, betrayal, triumph.<\/span><\/p>\n

By showing us Judah and Tamar\u2019s backstories, we realize that every character in the Torah <\/span>and in our own lives<\/span><\/em> has an emotional backstory as intricate as our own. Only by imagining others\u2019 lives, their challenges, can we find redemption, heal our brothers, make a Pharaoh weep.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":67827,"id":67827,"title":"is48-drama","filename":"is48-drama.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/humility-and-responsibility\/is48-drama\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"is48-drama","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":67826,"date":"2019-12-29 08:04:24","modified":"2022-03-28 19:10:31","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1256,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama-300x196.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":196,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama-768x502.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":502,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama-1024x670.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":670,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1005,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1256,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama-1200x785.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":785,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/is48-drama-642x420.jpg","home_baner-width":642,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Joseph\u2019s Vanishing Act","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"No character is a secondary character - 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