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Why does the Gemara (Shabbos (שבת)) trace the Egyptian exile to Yaakov's favoritism of Yosef, rather than the immediate jealousy it caused? The shiur redefines "ben zekunim" not as the youngest child, but as the son devoted to caring for his aging father. Yaakov's error was failing to convey that Yosef's service was a family effort, eroding the foundation of mutual sibling responsibility and necessitating slavery in Egypt to teach devotion.
Rabbi Zweig opens with the perennial challenge of parental favoritism: the Gemara (גמרא) in Shabbos (שבת) teaches that because Yaakov gave Yosef a garment worth two silver coins more than his brothers, "his sons went down to Egypt." This raises a fundamental question: why does the Gemara cite the long-term consequence (Egyptian exile) rather than the immediate fallout—the brothers' jealousy and hatred? The Torah (תורה) itself documents the brothers' immediate reaction; mentioning Egypt seems both remote and unnecessary, especially since the exile was already decreed to Avrohom. The shiur examines the pesukim closely. Bereishis 37:3 states that "Yisrael loved Yosef more than all his sons (banav)," but the very next verse says the brothers saw their father loved him "more than all his brothers (echav)." This subtle shift from sons to brothers signals something deeper. Rashi (רש"י) explains Yaakov's favoritism with the phrase "ki ben zekunim hu lo"—commonly translated as "a child of his old age." But this explanation is unsatisfactory: Binyamin was born eight years later and should be the true ben zekunim. Moreover, in Parshas Vayigash the Torah itself calls Binyamin the "yeled zekunim." Why then is Yosef called the ben zekunim here?
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Bereishis 37:3-4
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