How Many Colors Were in Joseph’s Coat? And Why Does It Matter?

In the book of Genesis, the patriarch Jacob gives his son Joseph a special garment—in Hebrew, a k’tonet pasim—thus inciting the jealousy of his other sons. While English-speakers are accustomed to thinking of this gift as a “coat of many colors”—or, for those exposed to the work of the English composer Andrew Lloyd Weber, a “technicolor dream coat”—the exact meaning of the term is unclear. Sarah Rudolph examines how this coat was understood by traditional Jewish commentators as a coat of fine wool, one with long sleeves, a striped robe, or yes, a multicolored one. But other rabbis, such as Rabbi Judah Loewe ben Betsalel of Prague (known as Maharal, ca. 1512-1609), also look to its symbolic meaning: