Vayeshev: Shearling Envy

Bereishit: 37: 3

Once in the town of Carlstadt there lived a family with three daughters, Miri, Maya, and Moriah. The three girls lived in peace and tranquility with their mother and father, most of the time.

Winter was coming in New Jersey, and as the three girls were each growing at a rapid pace, it became obvious that they would each need a new coat for the season. The mother and father decided that it would be an excellent idea to kill two birds with one stone and make the girls' new coats their Chanukah presents. It wasn't a glamorous gift, but it worked for them. Besides, they had lots of grandparents, aunts, and uncles who could get them scary electronic things, impractical jewlery items, and other frivolous girly accessories (It happened every year).

The first night of Chanukah came, and after lighting their chanukiot and singing Haneirot Halalu and Maoz Tsur, each girl was given a large box wrapped in special dreidel wrapping paper.

Miri opened her box to find a large parka in a shade of blue known as light seagrass. It was stuffed with 70% goose down and 30% feather. It had microfleece lined pockets and cuffs, and a zip off faux fur ruff on the hood. And it looked warm as can be (actually, it is rated to keep you warm up to 15 degrees below zero, fahrenheit).*

"Thanks, Mom and Dad. I love it," Miri said.

Maya opened her box to find a blossom pink squall Jacket. It had a synthetic Polartec zip-in/zip-out lining, an adjustable stowaway hood, waterproof zippers, and an MP3 player pocket with a headphone cord keeper loop. It also looked quite warm (and was guaranteed to minus ten degrees fahrenheit).

"Terrific," Maya said. "It's just what I needed. Thanks, folks."

Moriah opened her box and gasped. Inside was what appeared to be a dark forest green shearling car coat. It had a plush pile lining, two side pockets, and double stitched seams. It was what she had been asking for for years, but had never expected to receive. It was drop dead gorgeous (and would keep you warm up to ten degrees fahrenheit).

"Holy cow!" Moriah exclaimed. "It's so beautiful. I don't know what to say.Thank you so much."

Maya and Miri were speechless as well. For although they did like their coats, Moriah's present clearly eclipsed theirs. Moriah might have uttered "holy cow," but shearling was actually lambskin, and her coat was obviously much more expensive than the ones they had received.

The girls hugged their parents, and then the whole family sat down to eat their latkes.

But something wasn't right. There wasn't the usual banter around the table. And no one was smiling. The chanukah meal of latkes was usually a festive time at their house, but now the tension around the table was so thick you could cut it with an apple sauce covered knife.

And it's funny that I should mention apple sauce. Because the next thing you knew, apple sauce was flying everywhere at the family's dinner table. And sour cream too. It was a veritable chanukah food fight. It was unclear which sister had started it, but by the time the mother and father managed to restore order, all three girls were covered in a thin veneer of tasty slime. It was not a pretty scene.

"O.K., what gives?" the father asked, wiping some latke from his nose.

"How could you give her a shearling coat?" Miri asked. "It's not fair!"

"Yeah," Maya said. "I mean my coat is nice and everything, but Moriah's coat is so much nicer."

"Well, first of all, Moriah's coat isn't actually shearling."

"It's not?" Moriah said.

"No,it's faux shearling, some kind of synthetic stuff. All three of your coats cost almost exactly the same amount. Second of all, we bought you each the coat that we thought would suit your needs best. Miri, you like to ice skate, so we got you a nice thick parka to keep you warm on the ice skating rink."

"Thanks, Mom," Miri said sheepishly.

 "Maya, you like to snow board, so we got you a coat that would be best suited to the slopes."

"Thanks, Mom," Maya muttered.

"And Moriah, you don't like to leave the house, so we got you a coat that would look good hanging on the back of a chair, or, hopefully, in the closet."

"Gee, thanks Mom," Moriah said.

"And third of all, didn't you girls learn anything from this week's parsha? In Vayeshev, the brother's become jealous of Yosef and his fancy coat, the ketonet hapasim, and look what happens. They sell him into slavery. And do you know what that eventually leads to?"

"Dreams?" Maya guessed.

"Famine?" Moriah suggested.

"Jailtime?" Miri said.

"Well, yes. All of those, I suppose. But to me, their jealousy leads to all of Israel becoming slaves. Slaves to Egypt, and slaves to their petty feelings. Do you see my point?"

"Yes," they all mumbled as one.

"So what did you learn from this?" their father asked.

"Not to be jealous," Miri said.

"To be happy with what you've got," Maya added.

"Not to judge a coat until you've read the label," Moriah suggested.

"Two out of three ain't bad," the mother noted.

___________________________________________

*Special thanks to the Lands End Catalogue for their "cool" product descriptions.

Comments

[aunty rashi]

Beautiful story but not quite parallel to the parsha.In Carlstadt the parents tried to treat their three M's equally.However,Yakov avinu definitely showed Yosef preferential treatment.How could such a smart man fall into such an obvious parenting pit?
While you're answering questions, maybe explain what shearling means??

[Chana Barr]

Calling on all Maggid fans- please speak up and book in your comments! How else is the Maggid going to know we love reading his stuff!

[The Maggid]

Aunt Rashi, Shearling is sheepskin, with some of the wool intact. It's very warm for those cold nights on the moshav.
It's true that the story isn't an exact fit, but hopefully it still teaches the lesson of avoiding jealousy, even if these parents acted appropriately.
Thanks for your words of support. I suppose it begs the question: If a maggid tells a story in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did he actually tell the story?

[aunty rashi]

Don't you know trees have ears.