Литература Второго Храма к Берешит 37:13

[5] ‘The reason,’ I should be inclined to say, ‘that Laban is not on thy side, is that God is with thee; for in a soul in which the outward object of sense is valued as a supreme good, in that soul excellent reason is not found: but in one in which God walks, the outward object of sense is not regarded as a good thing: and it is to this that the conception and name of Laban corresponds.’ And such men as order themselves by the principle of gradual progress in accordance with their father’s rule, have chosen the plain as a suitable place for their task of teaching the soul’s irrational impulses a better way. For the words addressed to Joseph are: “Do not thy brethren tend their flocks in Sychem? Come let me send thee to them.” And he said “Here am I.” And he said to him “Go see, whether thy brethren are in good health and the sheep, and bring me word.” And he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Sychem. And a man found him wandering in the plain: and the man asked him “What seekest thou?” And he said “I seek my brethren, tell me where they feed their flocks.” And the man said to him “They have departed hence, for I heard them saying ‘Let us go to Dothaim.’ ” (Gen. 37:13–17).

[9] In order, then, that he may be taught better ideas than these, he is sent to men who hold that nothing is a good thing but what has true beauty, and that this is a property belonging to the soul as soul; men who are convinced that advantages pertaining to things outside and to the body are good things in name only, not in reality. For it says “Behold thy brethren tend their flocks,” and govern every irrational element of their being “in Sychem” (Gen. 37:13). “Sychem” means “shoulder,” a symbol of patient toil; for lovers of virtue carry a very great burden, namely resistance to the body and bodily pleasure, and in addition to these resistance to external things and the delights which they afford us.