Yosef was Yaakov’s favorite son. To show how different their relationship was, Yaakov gave Yosef a beautiful piece of clothing.

In Yosef’s first dream, Yosef and his brothers were gathering sheaves. Suddenly, Yosef’s sheaf got up and the brothers’ sheaves bowed down to his.

In Yosef’s second dream, the sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed down to him.

Commentaries:Why would Yosef tell his brothers these dreams?Yosef was immature. He thought that if he convinced his brothers that his greatness came from Hashem, they would like him. Yosef hoped that the brothers would one day depend on him and know that it was unwise to hate him.

And you were all

stars and bowing down to

me.

While the brothers originally wanted to kill Yosef and blame a wild animal, they ended up throwing him into a pit.

What was Yehuda’s reasoning for changing their decision about what to do with Yosef?Yehuda’s reasoning was that there was no benefit that they weren't gaining from simply sending him far away.

Inside: YosefPlease send far away

A couple of merchants bought Yosef and brought him to Egypt.

How do we know that the brothers acted with a clear conscience?

We know that they acted this way because the brothers were able to sit down and eat while thinking that they may have killed their brother and would never see him again.

Why did Yehuda separate from his brothers?

Yehuda left his brothers because he lost respect for them.

Yehuda’s first two sons got married and then died because Hashem did not approve. His third son was going to get married, but Yehuda stalled the wedding.

Tamar, the woman who was going to marry Yehuda’s third son, dressed up in a costume so she could try to trick Yehuda into marrying her.

Rashi: Why did she do it? She wanted to have

children in Yehudah’s family.

Tamar was almost

burnt and killed because of her sins.

Potiphar’s wife wanted Yosef, and Yosef refused. She was so mad she told people that he committed adultery, so Potiphar put him in jail.

In jail there was a cupbearer and a baker. The cupbearer’s dream was that there were grapes blossomed on a vine; then the cupbearer squeezed the grapes and gave them to Pharaoh. Yosef said that this meant that he would be reappointed as the king’s cupbearer in three days and Yosef told him to tell Pharaoh to let him out.

The baker’s dream was that there were baskets on his head with food for pharaoh and birds were eating the food.Yosef said that this meant that he would be hung in three days.

The cupbearer was in jail because a fly was in the wine when serving it to Pharaoh, and he thought that the cupbearer was trying to poison him.

The baker was in jail because there was a pebble in the bread that Pharaoh was eating, and he thought that the baker was trying to kill him.

Mizrachi and Radak:Why were the punishments different?They where different because the fly could have just flown in, whereas the pebble in the bread must have been there all along from the beginning. Unlike the fly, the pebble could have killed Pharaoh. This shows that the baker was careless, while the cupbearer is careful but just had bad luck.