Ilustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Midrash מִדְרָשׁ
The bloody coat did the trick, and the brothers managed to deceive their father, Yaakov, into believing that Yosef had been killed by a wild animal. Yaakov had no idea that his sons had actually thrown Yosef into a pit and then had him sold into slavery. The midrash wonders:
how did the brothers keep their terrible deeds a secret from their father for so many years?
אָמְרוּ: נַחֲרִים בֵּינֵינוּ שֶׁלֹּא יַגִּיד אֶחָד מִמֶּנּוּ לְיַעֲקֹב אָבִינוּ.
אָמַר לָהֶם יְהוּדָה: רְאוּבֵן אֵינוֹ כָאן וְאֵין הַחֵרֶם מִתְקַיֵּם אֶלָּא בַעֲשָׂרָה.
מֶה עָשׂוּ? שִׁתְּפוּ לְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּאוֹתוֹ הַחֵרֶם, שֶׁלֹּא יַגִּיד לַאֲבִיהֶם.
They said: “Let us make a vow among ourselves that not one of us should tell our father, Yaakov.” Yehudah said to them: “Reuven is not here, and this type of vow cannot be made unless ten witnesses are present.” What did they do? They included God in their vow not to tell their father what had happened.
This midrash notices that there are two ways Yaakov might have found out about what the brothers had done:
By making a vow of secrecy together, and including God in that vow, the brothers ensured that Yaakov could not have found out in either of these two ways.
- What other possibilities can you think of to explain why no one—including God—ever told Yaakov what happened?
- What do you think can happen in families that keep secrets for a long time?
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