2020/5781
In Parashat VaYeishev, Yoseif faces an extraordinarily hard challenge. The challenge is that his master’s wife attempts to seduce him “Yom Yom,” “daily” (BeReishit 39:10). In fact, Malbim writes that there is a difference between “Ma’ein,” “Refusing” (BeReishit 39:8), which is the word this Pasuk uses to describe Yoseif’s actions, and not desiring something. Malbim is convinced that Yoseif really did want to not rise to the challenge and that it was too much for Yoseif to handle. He refused, but he still wanted it. More than likely, the Malbim comes to this conclusion based on the famous Gemara in Sotah 36b: “At that moment his father’s image came and appeared in the window....” In short, Yoseif stopped because of his father. However, the question is simple: out of all times, when Yoseif sees his father, who he might have suspected was involved in throwing him into the pit, and should break down and cry, he is strengthened? There must be something more going on.
Interestingly, the Midrash Tanchuma picks up on the words “Hein Adoni,” “Behold, my master,” in the Pasuk, “VaYema’ein VaYomer El Eishet Adonav Hein Adoni Lo Yada Iti Mah BaBayit VeChol Asher Yeish Lo Natan BeYadi,” “He refused and said to his master’s wife, ‘behold, my master does not even knoweverything in this house, and everything he has in the house he placed in my hands’” (BeReishit 39:8).The Midrash says that Yoseif recognized a certain order of hierarchy with Hashem at the top. The Malbim also says that Yoseif conquered his evil inclination, which seemingly reflects a struggle between him and Hashem. Furthermore, the Gemara says that an image of Yaakov appeared and said, “Your brothers are destined to be written on the stones of the Eiphod... Do you desire your name to be erased from among them?,” and this is fundamentally an interaction between Yoseif and Hashem. So this dynamic between Hashem and Yoseif is caused by Yaakov? Why? If anything the opposite should have occurred!
Perhaps the answer to what is happening can be explained by understanding a Pasuk. To understand it, there are two other Pesukim that must be looked at first. In the Torah’s first Parashah, Chavah experiences something extremely foreign to her and does not completely understand what happened. She says “Kaniti Ish Et Hashem,” “I acquired a man et Hashem” (BeReishit 4:1). Most of the time, the word Et is needed for grammatical purposes, but sometimes it is used oddly. This is the first example of this phenomenon in the Torah. The word Et is used to show a relationship with Hashem. Why?
The reason behind this is to show a special relationship between Hashem and Chavah, but in this case, from Chavah’s point of view. Chavah views herself as a dominant and more important force in this relationship. Chavah got by with a little help from Hashem. This might not seem significant, but the impact of this viewpoint leads to Kayin killing Hevel. [1] Another example of this relationship is in Parashat Lech Lecha when Hashem makes a deal with Avraham: “BaYom HaHu Karat Hashem Et Avraham Berit Leimor LeZaracha Natati Et Ha’Aretz HaZot,” “On this day Hashem made a covenant with Avraham stating, ‘To your descendants I have given this land’” (BeReishit 15:18). Hashem is the dominant force in this deal and can even take the Land of Israel away from us at times. [2] There is no denying that Hashem sent us away from Israel multiple times in history and “took away” the land for a period of time.
To pull everything together, one must look at the Pesukim leading up to this episode with Potiphar’s wife. Yoseif has become an extremely successful servant for a particular reason that the Pesukim tell us: “VaYehi Hashem Et Yoseif...” (BeReishit 39:2) - Hashem was with Yoseif, but Hashem was the dominant force. Yoseif was not merely any person; he viewed reality as it was. When his brothers discovered who he was, they were scared, but Yoseif told them not to be scared because this was all Hashem’s plan. Yoseif recognized Hashem’s role. Perhaps Yoseif saw his father and was struck with the realization that he should not give up. He realized that despite all that seemed bad, such as being away from his father and the challenge presented by Potiphar’s wife, everything in life came from Hashem. This caused him to remember the hierarchy of the world. He realized that he had to rise to the challenge because Hashem is there, despite how it seemed. Yoseif teaches us a valuable lesson to take to everyday life: in the words of the Zohar, “Leit Atar Panui Minei,” “There is no place without Hashem.”
[1] See Rabbi Fohrman’s book The Beast That Crouches at the Door for a full explanation.
[2] Note that in the first example Chavah came first, because she views herself as the dominant force. However, in the next two cases, Hashem comes first, because He is the dominant force.