son. The body of the father was embalmed, also the body
of the son. As the father's remains were carried to the
Holy Land for interment, so also the remains of the son.
Jacob the father provided for the sustenance of his son
Joseph during a period of seventeen years, so Joseph the
son provided for his father Jacob during a period of seventeen
years.[4]

Until he was seventeen years old, Joseph frequented the
Bet ha-Midrash,[5] and he became so learned that he could
impart to his brethren the Halakot he had heard from his
father, and in this way he may be regarded as their teacher.[6]
He did not stop at formal instruction, he also tried to give
them good counsel, and he became the favorite of the sons
of the handmaids, who would kiss and embrace him.[7]

In spite of his scholarship there was something boyish
about Joseph. He painted his eyes, dressed his hair carefully,
and walked with a mincing step. These foibles of
youth were not so deplorable as his habit of bringing evil
reports of his brethren to his father. He accused them of
treating the beasts under their care with cruelty--he said
that they ate flesh torn from a living animal--and he charged
them with casting their eyes upon the daughters of the
Canaanites, and giving contemptuous treatment to the sons
of the handmaids Bilhah and Zilpah, whom they called
slaves.

For these groundless accusations Joseph had to pay
dearly. He was himself sold as a slave, because he had