Shabbat Parashas Vayeishev - 5784

Shabbat Parashas Vayeishev - 5784

Rabbi Hal Miller

Now Yisrael loved Yosef more than all his sons since he was a child of his old age

and he made him a fine woolen tunic. [Bereishit 37:3]

What is "a fine woolen tunic" and what was Yaakov's intent in giving this to Yosef? The

words are k'tonet pasim. K'tonet is a coat, shirt, night-shirt, tunic or similar and we see

it among the various garments that the Kohanim wear. So the word we are chasing is

pasim. The dictionary definition is 'stripes'. The word shows up in only a couple of

verses, both here in Bereishit (37:3, 23 and 32) and in Shmuel II (13:18 and 19). In

Aramaic, it can mean stripes, strips of something, or the palm of a hand, as in Daniel 5:5.

To verse 23, Rashi calls the first word k'tonet an undergarment, and the second use,

with the word pasim added, a fine woolen coat. Onkelos calls it a robe with sleeves.

In Shmuel, the daughter of King David, Tamar, was violated by her brother Amnon,

who then cast her out of his house. The prophet describes what she was wearing when

she tore the garment as if in mourning. The text says that it was a garment worn by

daughters of the king, thus was like a badge of honor, which Tamar felt was defiled.

This parallels our story in Bereishit, where the garment was worn by a child of the king,

Yaakov, and was defiled by the blood smeared upon it when Yosef was cast down.

K'tonet pasim thus indicates royalty or honor, which is why the brothers were upset.

But if the word pasim means stripes, how do we get to "fine woolen tunic" or the common

expression "many-colored coat"? Radak gives us the multicolors by using the definition

of "stripes", that the cloth was made of separate sections, each a different color. Ramban

and Rav Soloveitchik follow this train of thought, that it indicates Yosef's multiple personal

characteristics. Based on Esther [1:6], Rashi says that pas refers to a colored fabric.

For the opinion about fine wool, the Gemora in Megillah [12a] defines pas this way, and

Rashi cites this as another alternative explanation. Malbim explains that the brothers in

the field wore clothing of shepherds, but Yosef was always in the presence of the greatest

man of the generation and was required to dress with respect, this being the wool of royalty.

The Gemora [Shabbat 10b] defines our word as wool sheared from a lamb that had been

kept fully clean.

Chasam Sofer, citing Shabbat [145b] gives a novel approach. The Torah scholars of Bavel

wore special clothing because they were not fully proficient in Torah. One truly proficient

through proper study and wisdom is recognized for who he is, but someone not fully there

yet falls back to artifical means. Although Yaakov taught Yosef in depth, he was concerned

that the brothers would resent that teaching of Yosef, so Yaakov gave him the coat as a

subterfuge, but the brothers saw through it.

For a word used only rarely, it has many connotations.