Interruption or Continuity? Judah and Tamar

Vayeshev

Genesis 37:1- 40:23

Précis: The story of Joseph begins with the words, “And Jacob dwelt (vayeshev) in the land of his father’s travels.” We learn that Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph receives the famous coat of many colors, and dreams strange dreams and relates them to his brothers and father, stoking anger and envy. The sons conspire to do away with Joseph, but before he dies, they sell him into slavery. Jacob is devastated when the sons present evidence of Joseph’s “death.”

The narrative is "interrupted" by the story of Judah and Tamar. Judah marries off his first son to Tamar. The son soon dies, and, the next son is married to the widow (“levirate marriage.”) The second son dies, and Judah is reluctant to offer the third son. The widow dresses as a harlot, seduces Judah, becomes pregnant, and reveals herself to Judah as a woman wronged. He acknowledges her as a rightful daughter.

The scene shifts back to Joseph, who is now a servant in the household of Potiphar, an Egyptian official. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph but he refuses her advances. She accuses him nonetheless of attempted rape, and Joseph is tossed into prison. There, he meets jailed servants of Pharaoh, for whom he interprets dreams successfully. When the chief butler is restored to his post, he promises to “remember” Joseph, but the parasha ends with the words, “but he forgot him.”

Genesis 38:6-26 “Judah got a wife for Er his first-born; her name was Tamar. But…God took his life. Then Judah said to Onan, ‘Join with your brother's wife…’ and God took his life also. Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, ‘Stay as a widow in your father's house until my son Shelah grows up….’ A long time afterward… Judah went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers…. And Tamar…took off her widow’s garb.… When Judah saw her, he took her for a harlot….So he…said, ‘Here, let me sleep with you.…’ But she said, ‘You must leave a pledge until you have (paid).’ And he said, 'What pledge shall I give you?’ She replied, ‘Your seal and cord, and the staff which you carry.’ So he gave them to her....About three months later, Judah was told, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot…she is with child by harlotry.’ ‘Bring her out,’ said Judah, ‘and let her be burned....’ She sent this message to her father-in-law, ‘I am with child by the man to whom these belong.’ And she added, ‘Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?’ Judah recognized them, and said, ‘She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.’"

Rabbi Steven Lindemann explains (JTS Torah Commentary, 12/24/05) that while many have questioned why the story of Judah and Tamar “interrupts” the flow of the Joseph narrative, it in fact serves as an important bridge. The story of Tamar is intricately linked with that which precedes and that which follows.

The first connecting theme is that of separation. Judah separates himself from his brothers, just as Joseph has been separated from his family (in the Hebrew, the root yud-resh-dalet is used in both instances to heighten the connection). Just as Jacob “recognizes” Joseph’s blood-stained coat, Judah “recognizes” his rod and staff (with the same Hebrew word, hakker being used in both cases). Judah sees his father weeping for his “lost” son Joseph, and Judah will ultimately take responsibility for Benjamin in the story that is to come (wherein Joseph is the one who weeps).

So we have linguistic connections between the story of Joseph both before and after the Tamar “interlude.”

We also have the more concrete parallel theme of sexual tension. Judah and Joseph are both caught up in compromising positions. Tamar “plays the harlot” and Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph. Both Judah and Joseph act with integrity (Judah by acknowledging his sin and responsibility, Joseph by refusing the advances of his master’s wife). Judah is viewed by the rabbis as a man of great honor, suitable to take the leadership of the Jewish People through his descendants; Joseph assumes the position of leadership in Egypt.

Whether we read this episode as an interruption, interlude or continuation of the story depends upon our perspective. I suggest that it may be seen as a metaphor for how interruptions in life may have far-ranging impacts. When the telephone rings or when the Blackberry buzzes, life is interrupted, and such interruptions can result in significant work (or life) changes. It’s important to remember that life is an ongoing story, filled with interruptions which can impact the flow of life itself. We may plan, we may have goals, but life has a way of rising up unexpectedly and biting us – or blessing us.