Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
What's going on here? מַה זֶה?
At the beginning of the parashah (Bereishit 37:3), Yaakov gives Yosef the כְּתוֹנֶת פַּסִּים (ketonet passim, a fine coat or sweater) as a sign of his love.
What was special about this piece of clothing?
- Radak says it was multicolored.
- Ibn Ezra says it was embroidered.
- Hizkuni says it was given to appease Yosef (the word for appeasing is פִּיּוּס/piyyus—a play on words because it sounds like “passim”).
- Rashi says passim (פסים) was an acronym for all the people Yosef would be sold to: פּוֹטִיפַר וְלַסּוֹחֲרִים וְלַיִּשְׁמְעֵאלִים וְלַמִּדְיָנִים (Potiphar, traders [soharim], Yishmaelites, and Midianites, see Bereishit 37:28 and 39:1).
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