Komentarz do Rodzaju 39:14

ראו הביא לנו SEE, HE HATH BROUGHT IN UNTO US — This is an elliptical phrase: “he hath brought in to us” without stating plainly who brought him in She was referring to her husband.

SEE, HE HATH BROUGHT IN A HEBREW UNTO US. The meaning thereof is that the Hebrews were hated by the Egyptians. They did not eat with them, this being a matter of abhorrence to them.²³³See further, 43:32. They did not purchase them as servants except as vinedressers and plowmen, but they would not permit them to come into their homes. This is why she said: “Behold, the master has done us evil by bringing a Hebrew into our home, and he has further appointed him as overseer and ruler, and now he has fittingly seen to mock us.” [The point of her statement] is similar to that which is said in the verse, He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become a master at the last.²³⁴Proverbs 29:21. This is the meaning of her saying, Whom thou hast brought unto us,²³⁵Verse 17 here. as his being brought into their house was in itself embarassing to them.
In the verse before us, the expression, He has brought us, refers to her husband. She does not mention him by name out of respect,²³⁶In view of the fact that she blames him for what happened. or perhaps because such is the ethical way for women to speak, or perhaps because it is known who brought Joseph into the house. Similarly, in many places in the book of Job it speaks of Almighty G-d anonymously because the conversants know that they are speaking of Him. Similarly, in the verse, And he said to Abner, Why hast thou gone in unto my father’s concubine?²³⁷II Samuel 3:7. the name of the speaker is not mentioned, and no reference is made to him at all in the above verse because it is known that he was Ish-bosheth.²³⁸Of “the house of Saul,” mentioned there in Verse 6. And it is already self-understood that the speaker in Verse 7 is Ish-bosheth, as he was the leader of the house of Saul. (R’dak.)

ואקרא בקול גדול, because you were so far away from me. If I had not raised my voice so greatly he would have raped me.

ותקרא לאנשי ביתה, in order to justify her conduct. However, when she saw that Joseph had stopped running after leaving the room where she had waylaid him, and the fact that the people in her house had no reason to question Joseph who was acting perfectly normally, she told those people that Joseph had fled from her room and walked outside, something which actually corresponded to the truth as far as the facts were concerned. (verse 15) However, when relating what had supposedly occurred to her husband who had not been an eye witness to any part of the incident, she described Joseph’s behaviour as a flight not only from her room but also outside of it. (verse 18) In order to make her version of events believable she had to lie so that Joseph would be perceived as having tried to escape from the other members of the household.

ותקרא לאנשי ביתה, she called the members of her household, etc. She was well aware that her husband put great faith in Joseph's righteousness and might not believe her accusation against him. Therefore she called the members of her household asking them, i.e. לאמור to tell her husband what had happened (according to her version). The members of her household who were jealous of Joseph who had risen above them would be happy to testify against him, saying: "look what happened as a result of your bringing this Hebrew man into the house." When she said לצחק בנו, "to make sport of us," she used the word us deliberately to indicate that they had all suffered from Joseph's elevated status, especially since Joseph was an alien.

ותקרא לאנשי ביתה, how is that possible seeing that none of them were in the house at the time?ואקרא בקול גדול.ותאמר..לאמר, to tell her husband.

ראו הביא לנו איש עברי, “see here! He brought us a Hebrew man.” Mrs. Potiphar referred to the “Hebrew” as universally known antagonists of the Egyptians, a reason why the Egyptians would not acquire “Hebrews” as slaves, except to work in the vineyards and other menial occupations in the fields. They were never allowed into the homes of upper class Egyptians. Mrs Potiphar voiced her disgust with her husband who not only had taken a slave of such parentage into their house, but had even elevated him to be the most powerful person in the whole household. It was not surprising therefore that an עברי slave who had been promoted to such a position would begin to take advantage of it and treat all of us as his inferiors, abusing us, as he has just tried to do with me. She deliberately left out a direct reference to her husband, as she wanted to insure that the members of the household would support her.

From the other side of the river. One who is a descendant of Eiver. [Question:] On the verse, “He told Avram the Hebrew” (14:13), Rashi explained: “He came from the other side of the river.” Why did he not he also explain, “A descendant of Eiver”? The answer is: “The other side of the river” is a sufficient explanation for Avraham, who came from there himself. But for Avraham’s descendants it is not sufficient, as they did not come from there, so Rashi needed both explanations. And it is not sufficient to say only that they are descendants of Eiver, because why should they be called after Eiver, and not after Shem? (Gur Aryeh)

עברי A HEBREW — is one who came from the other side (עבר) of the river Euphrates, being at the same time of the sons of Eber (אדניו).

לצחק בנו, to take sexual liberties with us.

הביא לנו, they said to him (accusingly) how he could have brought such a man.

It is also possible that when Mrs Potiphar said ראו, look! that she invited the members of the household to testify only to what they had seen; the Torah describes this as לאמור ראו, "say what you have seen." She included her husband in her accusation in the event he would find excuses for Joseph's alleged behaviour.

בנו, a word denoting glory, i.e. how could he be “over us, in a superior position?”