THIS PARASHAH DESCRIBES the successful deliverance of the extended family of Jacob from hunger in Canaan to prosperity in Egypt and the emergence of the tribal arrangement of the nation of Israel out of Jacob’s twelve sons. The circumstances that enable the physical and social survival of the family are described in some detail. The physical survival of the family is made possible by the reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers—which leads to a reunion between Joseph and his father. Yet the family’s renewed solidarity and cohesiveness does not include any of its female members. Thus for example, Dinah, whose rape and rescue by her brothers is described in some detail in Genesis 34, was omitted from the list of Jacob’s offspring already in parashat Vayishlach (35:23–29).
Our parashah, which gives us insight into the emotional state of Jacob, Joseph, and his brothers, offers us no information about the emotional state of Dinah, the only daughter and sister to be explicitly mentioned here (46:15)—and no story of rehabilitation, reconciliation, nor restitution for her. Eliminated from the tribal list—whether by virtue of her gender, her rape, or association with a foreigner—Jacob’s daughter is thereby punished in a way that his sons are not. Note that Joseph has two sons by Asenath, the daughter of the Egyptian priest Potiphera, and is not censored in any way by the narrator.
The detailed genealogical list in our parashah (46:8–27) makes only brief references to Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah—Jacob’s four wives. To be sure, Rachel’s special status is echoed somewhat in 44:20 and 27, and Asher’s daughter Serah is mentioned by name in 46:17, but neither mothers nor daughters appear as significant names in the family or tribal genealogies. (On women in lineages, see also at 6:1, 6:10; 10:1; 17:19; 22:20–24.) Similarly, barely any information is offered at all about Asenath, Joseph’s wife and the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim. Joseph fathers two tribes in the nation of Israel. In other words, women appear in our parashah as relatives of significant fathers, husbands, and sons, or as nameless relatives as in “your wives” (45:19) or “their wives” (46:5).
—Esther Fuchs