You know how some people (like me, for example) always complain about their lot in life? "Oh, if only I was as smart as my brother, I would have been more successful"; "Of course so and so is thin. She has good genes"; "I, too, would be happy all the time if I won the lottery." All excuses.
I don't have boys, but I am given to understand that brothers spend most of their formative years beating each other up. Didn't Yosef's brothers read that memo? Yeah, yeah, he was Daddy's pet (read 'pest') but you gotta admit it was a bit extreme to sell him into slavery. Really? That's a little final, isn't it? And as angry as they were at Ya'akov for favoring the little brat, did they really wish to cause all that grief and misery?
So what would you have us do, ask the brothers, he was annoying us to the point of madness. Was there anything else we could do to stop his taunting?
Well, I don't know. Just as I don't know why the Torah inserts that cliff hanger right after Ya'akov is told about Yosef dying and before we find out what happened to Yosef. The Torah takes a little detour to tell us a side story that is so totally unrelated that you've gotta wonder if the editor lost his mind for a moment. It's a very short detour and it certainly increases the suspense, but still, what is it doing here?
It's a story about a young woman who was exceptionally unlucky in her marriages. Husbands kept dying on her and finally her father in law sends her back home with some vague promises, trying to save his remaining son from the killer lady. But Tamar is no fool. Like the woman who will marry her great great great great great grandson, she used a creative interpretation of the law of the land in order to solve her problem. She knew she must marry a member of her dead husbands' family in order to have a child and she knew there is very little chance Yehuda will let her marry Shela after her first 2 husbands died. She tricked Yehuda into giving her a child and even he had to admit that she was correct. He owed her the right to have children.
What is this little side story doing here? This is a story about someone who found herself in a bind. Someone forced her into a situation that might or might not end well with no telling when the outcome will happen. She couldn't wait that long so she found a creative, yet legal, solution.
What could Yosef's brothers learn from this? That there are many possible solutions to a bratty little brother besides faking his death and selling him into slavery. They could beat him up, they could give him a swirly, they could tie his shoelaces together, they could steal his candy. There are so many ways to pay him back for being aggravating, the mind boggles.
Not to mention the fact that Yosef's brothers were quite a bit older than him. Most of them were already married with families of their own. Let the kid brag. What harm can he do? And if Daddy likes him better, oh well. You have your place in Daddy's life, and Yosef has his. Play the hand you were dealt.
So here is a way to play the hand we were dealt: A Chanukah and a Thanksgiving occurring on the same day. Chanukah means latkes. Thanksgiving means pumpkin (well, OK, turkey. But pumpkin is a main theme there too and I have vegetarians to appease. Work with me here.) Let's find a creative solution. Like Pumpkin Latkes. You may think it's weird but you gotta admit it beats selling a family member into slavery. Although.....
Pumpkin Latkes
Vegetable oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 small sugar pumpkin, peeled, seeded and shredded (about 3 cups)
2 eggs
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Cook onion in 1 Tbs oil until soft and browned (12-15 minutes.)
Mix onion with The other ingredients.
Heat about a 1/4 cup oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and fry heaping tablespoons of the pumpkin mixture, 3 or 4 at a time.
Flatten each latke with the back of the spatula and cook until browned on both sides and soft in the middle, about 3 minutes per side.
Transfer to a wire rack set over a baking sheet.
Serve warm with apple-cranberry sauce.
serves 10
BTW, you can substitute potato starch for the flour for a touch of potato flavor (also for a gluten free version.)
I am always in awe of how brilliant the women of the bible were. Especially compared to some of the men. Isn't it interesting that "The more things change...."?
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