From Vyashiv to the end of the book of Baratius, we read the story of Joseph and his brothers.

From the very beginning, we're plunged into a drama of sibling rivalry that seems destined

to end in tragedy. All the elements are there. There's favoritism. Jacob loved Joseph more than

his other sons. The terror says that this was because he'd been born to him in his old age.

But we also know that it was because Joseph was the son, the first child,

of his beloved Rachel, who had been infertile for so many years.

Jacob gave this favoritism a visible symbol, the richly ornamented robe or coat of many

colors that he had made for him. The sight of this acted as a constant provocation to the brothers.

In addition, there were bad reports that Joseph brought to his father about his half-brothers,

the children of the handmaids. By the fourth

verse of the Parashah, we read the following. When the brothers saw that their father loved him,

more than any of them, they hated him. Volo Y'ahlu d'abro le shalom. What's the meaning of that last

phrase? Here is some of the standard translations.

They couldn't speak a kind word to him.

They couldn't speak peacefully to him.

They couldn't speak to him on friendly terms.

Rabbi Yonot and Eberschutz, however,

recognized that the Hebrew construction is strange. Literally it means they could not speak

him to peace. What might that mean? Rabbi Abishutz refers us to the command in Vajikra 1917.

You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely reprimand your neighbour and not bear sin because of him.

And here is how Maimonides interprets this command, as it relates to interpersonal relations.

When a person sins against another, the injured party shouldn't hate the offender and keep silent. It's his duty to

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