Vayeishev

The passuk states, “Yisrael loved Yosef more than all the brothers “because he was his ben zekunim, and he made for him a kesones pasim. The brothers saw that their father loved him more than all the brothers and they hated him.” The Gemara writes because of the weight of two sela’im of milas that Yaakov gave to Yosef more than the brothers, the brothers became jealous and it caused our fathers to descend to Mitzrayim. What is the meaning of “two sela’im of milas.” Rashi explains that two sela’im of milas isn’t literal, it just means that Yaakov gave Yosef a special garment that was worth more. Rashi offers another explanation that Yaakov gave Yosef a piece of special wool or silk only around part of his hand, but not a whole special garment. Avi u’Mori explains this with a mashal: Some chassidim wear a long jacket similar to the Rebbe, but the Rebbe has a bit of extra silk or fur around the sleeves and collar which express that he is more honorable and important over the chassidim. So too, Yaakov gave Yosef a small amount of extra cloth which caused the brothers to be jealous and they ended up going down to Mitzrayim.

The passuk states that Yosef was “ben zekunim” to Yaakov. Rashi writes this hints that Yaakov and Yosef looked the same, or Yosef was an outstandingly wise, or he was born in Yaakov’s old age. Still, despite all the reasons above, the Gemara points out that Yaakov should not have treated Yosef special by giving him an extra piece of cloth. The reason is because one should not make one child different than the rest of the other children for it may cause hatred or jealousy. One must be very careful not to favor one child over another in a way that cause arouse bad feelings towards a sibling.

May we be zoche to remove all jealousy and hatred and bring the geulah quickly and in our days!