“These are the generations of Yaakov: when Yosef was 17 years old, being a shepherd, he was with his brothers with the flocks, and he was a young man, (and was) with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Yosef brought evil tales about them to their father.”

Rashi explains: “Their evil reports: Whatever he saw wrong in his brothers — the sons of Leah — he reported to his father: they ate flesh cut off from a living animal — ‘aiver min hachai,’ they treated the sons of the handmaids with contempt, calling them slaves and he suspected them of immoral behavior.

Hashem punished Yosef for these three things in a way that was similar to what he said, middah kenegged middah (measure for measure).

For the fact that Yosef said the brothers ate flesh cut off from a living animal the punishment was that when the brothers sold him, they slaughtered a goat and they did not eat its flesh while the animal was still living. For the fact that Yosef related to their father that they called the sons of the handmaids slaves; (Tehillim 105:17) “Yosef was sold for a slave.” For the fact that Yosef accused them of immoral behavior (Bereishis 39:7), “his master’s wife cast her eyes upon him etc.”

The Zera Shimshon asks: what does Rashi mean when he wrote, “when they sold him, they slaughtered a goat and they did not eat its flesh while the animal was still living.” This implies that the brothers shechted (killed) the goat as soon as they sold Yosef, and they didn’t wait until they were on their way back to Yaakov. Why did they shecht the goat — before they needed it — to dip Yosef’s clothes in blood to convince Yaakov that a wild animal ate Yosef, in order to clear themselves from guilt? What was the big rush?

The Zera Shimshon answers this question in light of two midrashim:

Firstly, Rashi in parshas Vayishlach (30:25) quotes a Chazal that Yosef was the main opponent of Eisav and he is the brother that will fight and beat Eisav. The next midrash is that Eisav is compared to a goat.

According to this, since Yosef is the main enemy of Eisav and Yosef will eventually conquer Eisav, Yosef would boast to the brothers that they need him. Therefore, when the brothers sold Yosef, they shechted a goat in front of him to hint to him that he should not be so haughty and think that only he has the power to overpower Eisav. By shechting the goat, the brothers hinted that through the performance of mitzvos — like shechita — they are also able to overcome and destroy Eisav, who is compared to a goat.

The Zera Shimshon asks another question on Rashi: “What does Rashi mean that the slaughtering of a goat was a punishment for Yosef?” It makes sense that Yosef was sold as a slave and had to go through the test of Potiferra’s wife as punishments, since he physically suffered when these things happened. However, what suffering did Yosef endure when his brothers slaughtered and ate a goat? How did it affect him to such a degree that it was considered a punishment for him?

The Zera Shimshon begins his answer by quoting mefarshim, who explain one of the reasons behind the prohibition of eating a limb that was torn off a living animal (aiver min hachai) is because this is an act of tremendous cruelty and causes the person who does it to become cruel.

The Zera Shimshon then explains Yosef’s motivation to tell his father, Yaakov, that his brothers ate aiver min hachai, because Yosef knew that Yaakov was aware that the brothers hated him. Yosef didn’t know how Yaakov understood the reason for this hatred. Was it because Yosef sinned — as it is written in the Gemara Pesachim — that not only is it permitted to hate a rasha, but it is also a mitzvah to hate a sinner, or did he feel that the brothers simply didn’t like Yosef?

The reason it was important for Yosef to understand the way Yaakov looked at this hatred was: if it was the first reason, then his father would also hate him; but if it was the second reason, he wouldn’t hate Yosef. To convince Yaakov that the hatred had nothing to do with his conduct, Yosef told Yaakov that his brothers ate aiver min hachai to allude and convey to Yaakov the reason why the brothers hated him was as a result of them doing the cruel act of eating aiver min hachai — which caused them to become cruel — and the only reason that they hated him was because of their bad and cruel personality and, therefore, there was no reason for Yaakov to also hate him.

In order for the brothers to defend themselves and to show that they were not cruel, they sold Yosef instead of killing him. This showed Yosef that they were not as he suspected them to be.

The brothers, then, sent Yosef’s garment soaked in blood to Yaakov, in order for Yaakov to conclude that a wild animal ate him. The brothers wanted Yaakov to reach this conclusion — not just only to clear them of any guilt — but also to prove to Yaakov the reason they had shown hatred towards Yosef was not because they had eaten aiver min hachai, but because Yosef spoke lashon hora against them, and there is a mitzvah to hate one that sins. Their proof is based on the Gemara in Shabbos 151b, that quotes Rami bar Abba that an animal does not overpower a person until he appears to it as an animal — meaning that he is very lacking in his spiritual character.

According to this, the suffering that Yosef endured by their shechting of the goat was the shame he felt knowing that his father thought he was a sinner by speaking lashon hora against his brothers.

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