|: the reason why [2]

 

Rachel’s Coat of Many Colors

 

Everyone who’s been taught the OT/Tanach/Bible as a child (and if Christian, may have attended Sunday school), has probably at some point learned the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors.  This was very impressive to me as a child.  The person telling the story always seemed to hint at the “specialness” of Joseph, to his mother and father, and particularly to G-d.  My imagination wandered as I tried to understand why it was so important the Joseph had a coat of (rainbow) colors.  Joseph also seemed special (or at least misunderstood) because he was so strongly hated by his brothers.

 

For myself, I always thought this hatred had something to do with the fact that Joseph had this wonderful, beautiful coat made for him, but not one of his brothers had had one made for them.  Seemed a little unfair.

 

This is actually not about “why Joseph was special.”  This is actually about his coat, and his mother Rachel. 

 

As adults who may have read the OT/Tanach/Bible for ourselves, we’ve figured out by now (in esoteric parlance) that Rachel was Jacob’s soul mate (after all, he did work for her father for seven years just to marry her.  And he, strangely, didn’t seem to notice the passage of time).  We can also deduce that Rachel was Jacob’s much preferred bride (of the four he married to create the twelve tribes).  So, it stands to reason that their son would also be pretty special to him. 

 

But let’s talk about Rachel for a moment.  We know that her father was Laban, her sister was Leah, and that they had sheep, land, and most likely survived by husbandry (farming, agriculture and livestock).  I would assume from this that they were an ethnic, desert people, vibrant, and perhaps even colorful.   Legend has it, that the reason the Joseph’s coat of many colors was so special was because the fabric of the coat had come from something treasured by his mother, Rachel.  It had been created from the dress she wore when she married her soul mate, Jacob…her wedding dress.