Chasidut su Genesi 39:78
Kedushat Levi
Genesis 39,8. “he refused, saying to his master’s wife, etc.” the tone sign shalshelet over the word וימאן signifies that Joseph raised his voice in protest and amazement at the suggestion of his master’s wife that he commit adultery with her. He expressed his disgust at such an immoral demand on her part.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 39,17. “your servant has done to me unspeakable things.” According to Rashi the conversation described in the Torah here occurred while Potiphar and his wife were having marital relations. At first glance, this appears somewhat difficult to understand as in Genesis 41,45 when the Torah reports that Pharaoh gave Joseph as a wife the daughter of Potiphar, Rashi points out that Potiphar was impotent, as a penalty for having desired to use Joseph for homosexual practices, and that Ossnas was not his biological daughter. We must therefore assume that the attempted seduction of Joseph occurred earlier. If so, why did he become impotent only at a later stage?
Actually, the Almighty Who performs wonderful deeds completely unassisted, arranges events in such a way that the wicked will commit fatal errors, as we know from Job 12,23 משגיא לגויים ויאבדם, “He leads (wicked) nations astray and causes their destruction.” If G’d had made Potiphar impotent earlier, he could not have believed his wife when she described that Joseph had engaged in similar activities to the ones practiced by her husband during marital intercourse. In addition to this, the Torah testified that Potiphar was aware of and admired Joseph’s absolute loyalty and sincerity, as we know from 39,3 and 4. The Torah sometimes shows us how G’d, on occasion, lets a wicked person enjoy a degree of success even when they are in the process harming the righteous, so that the righteous has a chance to become stronger in his faith in G’d. When this happens the wicked interprets it as proof that G’d approves of what he has been doing, whereas in fact G’d is only preparing the downfall of the wicked. Ultimately, in retrospect, G’d will be seen as having misled the wicked, as per Job 12,23.
Actually, the Almighty Who performs wonderful deeds completely unassisted, arranges events in such a way that the wicked will commit fatal errors, as we know from Job 12,23 משגיא לגויים ויאבדם, “He leads (wicked) nations astray and causes their destruction.” If G’d had made Potiphar impotent earlier, he could not have believed his wife when she described that Joseph had engaged in similar activities to the ones practiced by her husband during marital intercourse. In addition to this, the Torah testified that Potiphar was aware of and admired Joseph’s absolute loyalty and sincerity, as we know from 39,3 and 4. The Torah sometimes shows us how G’d, on occasion, lets a wicked person enjoy a degree of success even when they are in the process harming the righteous, so that the righteous has a chance to become stronger in his faith in G’d. When this happens the wicked interprets it as proof that G’d approves of what he has been doing, whereas in fact G’d is only preparing the downfall of the wicked. Ultimately, in retrospect, G’d will be seen as having misled the wicked, as per Job 12,23.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 39,17. “your servant has done to me unspeakable things.” According to Rashi the conversation described in the Torah here occurred while Potiphar and his wife were having marital relations. At first glance, this appears somewhat difficult to understand as in Genesis 41,45 when the Torah reports that Pharaoh gave Joseph as a wife the daughter of Potiphar, Rashi points out that Potiphar was impotent, as a penalty for having desired to use Joseph for homosexual practices, and that Ossnas was not his biological daughter. We must therefore assume that the attempted seduction of Joseph occurred earlier. If so, why did he become impotent only at a later stage?
Actually, the Almighty Who performs wonderful deeds completely unassisted, arranges events in such a way that the wicked will commit fatal errors, as we know from Job 12,23 משגיא לגויים ויאבדם, “He leads (wicked) nations astray and causes their destruction.” If G’d had made Potiphar impotent earlier, he could not have believed his wife when she described that Joseph had engaged in similar activities to the ones practiced by her husband during marital intercourse. In addition to this, the Torah testified that Potiphar was aware of and admired Joseph’s absolute loyalty and sincerity, as we know from 39,3 and 4. The Torah sometimes shows us how G’d, on occasion, lets a wicked person enjoy a degree of success even when they are in the process harming the righteous, so that the righteous has a chance to become stronger in his faith in G’d. When this happens the wicked interprets it as proof that G’d approves of what he has been doing, whereas in fact G’d is only preparing the downfall of the wicked. Ultimately, in retrospect, G’d will be seen as having misled the wicked, as per Job 12,23.
Actually, the Almighty Who performs wonderful deeds completely unassisted, arranges events in such a way that the wicked will commit fatal errors, as we know from Job 12,23 משגיא לגויים ויאבדם, “He leads (wicked) nations astray and causes their destruction.” If G’d had made Potiphar impotent earlier, he could not have believed his wife when she described that Joseph had engaged in similar activities to the ones practiced by her husband during marital intercourse. In addition to this, the Torah testified that Potiphar was aware of and admired Joseph’s absolute loyalty and sincerity, as we know from 39,3 and 4. The Torah sometimes shows us how G’d, on occasion, lets a wicked person enjoy a degree of success even when they are in the process harming the righteous, so that the righteous has a chance to become stronger in his faith in G’d. When this happens the wicked interprets it as proof that G’d approves of what he has been doing, whereas in fact G’d is only preparing the downfall of the wicked. Ultimately, in retrospect, G’d will be seen as having misled the wicked, as per Job 12,23.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 39,20. “Joseph’s master took him and placed him in the jail reserved for high ranking prisoners (prior to their judgment).” ויהי שם בבית הסהר. “He remained there for a considerable period.” On the face of it, this last sentence appears superfluous. At first glance, it appears as if when G’d unaccountably sends afflictions on people the “victim” if truly G’d-fearing, is not supposed to react by “physical countermeasures,” but is supposed to continue to have faith in G’d; as a result he will experience that in due course this “harmful” decree will prove to have been beneficial. This is an example of what we have been taught in Taanit 21 that what appear to be painful reverses should be met with the acknowledgment of גם זו לטובה, “this too has been meant for our ultimate benefit.”
The line describing Joseph as spending a considerable time in prison, although he was innocent of the charges against him, is to hint to us that through his remaining there he eventually interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker, only to come to Pharaoh’s attention and start a magnificent career. Inaction, not publicizing his plight, leaving his fate in the hands of G’d, was the instrument that was most effective.
The line describing Joseph as spending a considerable time in prison, although he was innocent of the charges against him, is to hint to us that through his remaining there he eventually interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker, only to come to Pharaoh’s attention and start a magnificent career. Inaction, not publicizing his plight, leaving his fate in the hands of G’d, was the instrument that was most effective.
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Flames of Faith
Marital intimacy is a realm of enormous holiness, which is why the temptations in this regard are so difficult. The greater the potential for good, the more difficult it is to attain that good. Joseph was the embodiment of holiness in this realm, as evidenced in the fact that he ran away from the allurements of Potiphar’s wife.392In Gen. 39:6-20 the Torah relates the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. Joseph had been sold as a slave to an Egyptian nobleman. The nobleman’s wife sought to seduce Joseph for a long time. Once, they were alone in her home, and she grabbed his shirt and asked him to sleep with her. He ran outside the house to escape her entreaties and left his garment with her.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 29,11. “Yaakov gave Rachel a kiss, etc;” [note that the Torah does not refer to Rachel’s physical appearance until verse 17 after Yaakov had already worked for him for over a month. Ed.]
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ויאהב יעקב את רחל, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him עם לבן גרתי, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The numerical value of the letters in the word גרתי, equals 613, the number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that שקר החן והבך היופי, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s character.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph וינס ויצא החוצה, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of תפארת as the means to avoid sinning.
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of תפארת that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ויאהב יעקב את רחל, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him עם לבן גרתי, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The numerical value of the letters in the word גרתי, equals 613, the number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that שקר החן והבך היופי, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s character.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph וינס ויצא החוצה, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of תפארת as the means to avoid sinning.
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of תפארת that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.
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Kedushat Levi
Genesis 29,11. “Yaakov gave Rachel a kiss, etc;” [note that the Torah does not refer to Rachel’s physical appearance until verse 17 after Yaakov had already worked for him for over a month. Ed.]
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ויאהב יעקב את רחל, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him עם לבן גרתי, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The numerical value of the letters in the word גרתי, equals 613, the number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that שקר החן והבך היופי, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s character.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph וינס ויצא החוצה, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of תפארת as the means to avoid sinning.
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of תפארת that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.
Genesis 29,17. “and Rachel was shapely and beautiful.” At first glance it is surprising that the Torah appears to link Yaakov’s falling in love with Rachel in verse 18, ויאהב יעקב את רחל, “Yaakov loved Rachel,” to the description of her physical assets in verse 17. Is it possible that Yaakov, the most highly admired of our patriarchs, was attracted by Rachel’s physical features, and that this is why the Torah reports matters in this sequence? Our sages called our attention to Yaakov’s message to his brother Esau in Genesis 32,4 where he told him עם לבן גרתי, ”I have remained a stranger while with Lavan, etc.” The numerical value of the letters in the word גרתי, equals 613, the number of commandments in the Torah. Yaakov reminded his brother that during the entire period that he spent in Charan he had observed the Torah, and therefore had little to fear. A man who could make such a statement certainly did not marry Rachel because he was smitten by lust to possess her shapely body. Anyone who observes the 613 commandments is well aware of the statement by Solomon in Proverbs 31,30 that שקר החן והבך היופי, that external attributes such as physical beauty or even a graceful walk, etc., are deceptive and offer no clue to the owner’s character.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
We must look further for the reason why the Torah made a point of mentioning Rachel’s physical attributes. I have heard from my revered teacher the Maggid of Mezeritch Dov Baer, of sainted memory, that we must understand this as follows. We know that the principal attribute used by Yaakov in serving the Lord is the attribute known as תפארת, harmony, located in the center of diagrams of the 10 emanations, ספירות. Any physical matter on earth, containing a “spark” from this emanation, is spiritually elevated by the presence of this spark, regardless of how secular it is by nature. Through this spark of the attribute of תפארת, its host is brought closer to its roots in the celestial regions, and engages in some degree of service to the Lord.
When the Torah (Genesis 39,13) reports that Joseph וינס ויצא החוצה, “fled and went “outside,” to escape the efforts of Potiphar’s wife to seduce him, he did so because he realized that that woman had used her mode of dress to lure him into a sinful relationship (Yuma 35). She had employed whatever holy spark she possessed in a reverse manner, instead of a means to come closer to her Creator. When Joseph escaped from her presence he took with him this “holy spark” thereby serving his Creator and paving the way for this “spark” that had escaped from the Shechinah to find its way back to its roots.
It is known that Joseph, though, of course also serving the Lord, did not do so by using principally the attribute of harmony as his father was in the habit of doing. However, at this critical juncture, in his fateful seclusion with the wife of his master Potiphar, he resorted to the attribute of תפארת as the means to avoid sinning.
It is also known that every tzaddik who serves the Lord, regardless of which of the attributes in the diagram of the emanations he uses as his primary model, will be granted a vision of the tzaddik who had made that attribute his primary role model in serving the Lord. When the Talmud Sotah 36 relates that at the critical moment before the seduction, Joseph had a vision of his father, it is a vision of the emanation of תפארת that the Talmud refers to as having been seen by Joseph.
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