I

JOSEPH

THE FAVORITE SON

Jacob was not exempt from the lot that falls to the share
of all the pious. Whenever they expect to enjoy life in
tranquillity, Satan hinders them. He appears before God,
and says: "Is it not enough that the future world is set
apart for the pious? What right have they to enjoy this
world, besides?" After the many hardships and conflicts
that had beset the path of Jacob, he thought he would be at
rest at last, and then came the loss of Joseph and inflicted the
keenest suffering. Verily, few and evil had been the days
of the years of Jacob's pilgrimage, for the time spent outside
of the Holy Land had seemed joyless to him. Only the
portion of his life passed in the land of his fathers, during
which he was occupied with making proselytes, in accordance
with the example set him by Abraham and Isaac, did
he consider worth while having lived,[1] and this happy time
was of short duration. When Joseph was snatched away,
but eight years had elapsed since his return to his father's
house.[2]

And yet it was only for the sake of Joseph that Jacob had
been willing to undergo all the troubles and the adversity
connected with his sojourn in the house of Laban. Indeed,
Jacob's blessing in having his quiver full of children was due
to the merits of Joseph, and likewise the dividing of the