Vayeshev 5786: Grief and Bad Decisions

Posted by Pardes Faculty on December 7, 2025
Topics: Tanakh, Pardes from Jerusalem, Bereishit (Genesis), Torah, VaYeshev

How does unresolved grief shape the choices we make—and the people we become?

In this episode, Zvi Hirschfield and Aviva Lauer explore Parshat Vayeshev through the lens of grief and the ways unresolved pain shapes Yaakov’s choices. They examine how the Torah’s seemingly hopeful opening—vayeishev, “he settled”—quickly gives way to family tension, favoritism, and disaster. Reading Yaakov as a father still mourning Rachel, struggling after Dina’s trauma, and missing the women who once guided him, they show how grief clouds judgment and fractures a fragile family system.

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