coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said: ‘This have we found. Know now whether it is your son's coat or not,'" Rabbi Johanan taught that God ordained that since Judah said this to his father, he too would hear (from Tamar in ) the challenge: Know now, whose are these? Similarly, reading the words of , "Discern, please," Rabbi Hama ben Hanina noted that with the same word, Judah made an announcement to his father, and Judah's daughter-in-law made an announcement to him. With the word "discern," Judah said to Jacob in , "Discern now whether it be your son's coat or not." And with the word "discern," Tamar said to Judah in , "Discern, please, whose are these." Reading , a Midrash asked how many times Joseph was sold. Rabbi Judan and Rav Huna disagreed. Rabbi Judan maintained that Joseph was sold four times: His brothers sold him to the Ishmaelites, the Ishmaelites to the merchants, the merchants to the Midianites, and the Midianites into Egypt. Rav Huna said Joseph was sold five times, concluding with the Midianites selling him to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians to Potiphar. Genesis chapter 38 The Mishnah taught that notwithstanding its mature content, in the synagogue, Jews read and translated Tamar's story in . The Gemara questioned why the Mishnah bothered to say so and proposed that one might think that Jews should forbear out of respect for Judah. But the Gemara deduced that the Mishnah instructed that Jews read and translate the chapter to show that the chapter actually redounds to Judah's credit, as it records in that he confessed his wrongdoing. Rabbi Berekiah taught in the name of Rabbi Samuel bar Nahman that the term "and he went down" (, vayered), which appears in , implies excommunication. The Midrash told that when Joseph's brothers tried to comfort Jacob and he refused to be comforted, they told Jacob that Judah was responsible. They said that had Judah only told them not to sell Joseph, they would have obeyed. But Judah told them that they should sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites (as reported in ). As a result, the brothers excommunicated Judah (when they saw the grief that they had caused Jacob), for says, "And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down (, vayered) from his brethren." The Midrash argued that could have