This week’s Parshah
tells the dramatic story of how Joseph, as an extremely handsome young
man, attracted the imagination of his master’s wife. She desperately
tries to engage him in a relationship, yet he steadfastly refuses her.
Then came the fateful day “when he entered the house to do his work,
and none of the household staff was inside. She grabbed him by his cloak
and pleaded, ‘Lie with me.’ He ran away from her, leaving his cloak in
her hand, and he fled outside.”1
Humiliated and furious, she used the cloak as evidence that it was he who attempted to violate her. Her husband, Potiphar,
had Joseph sent to prison, where he spent the next twelve years of his
life until, through an astonishing turn of events, he was appointed
viceroy of Egypt.
The question is: why was this episode recorded in detail in the Torah?
The objective of these Torah chapters is to relate the story of how the
first Jewish family ended up in Egypt. Thus, we read about Joseph’s
sale as a slave to Egypt, his prison sentence and his encounter there
with the king’s ministers. This ultimately leads to his release from
prison and designation as viceroy of the country in a critical time of
famine, which in turn causes his father and entire family to relocate to
Egypt.
Why did the Torah find it necessary to relate the story of Joseph’s
ugly struggle with his master’s wife? Why is it important to for us to
know the detailed episode that caused his imprisonment?
The Midrash
explains the meaning of the phrase that Joseph “entered the house do to
his work, and none of the household staff was inside.” What type of
work did Joseph come to do?
The Midrash says that the “work” Joseph came to do was to yield to
her advances. After all of her unceasing pleas, Joseph finally succumbed
to her. However, as the union between them was about to materialize,
the visage of his father, Jacob, suddenly appeared to him. This caused
Joseph to reject his urge and flee outside.2
Here again one may ask: what was it about Jacob’s visage that inspired Joseph to deny such powerful temptation?3
The Lonely Slave
Let us reflect more closely on the psychological and physical
condition of Joseph during that day when his master’s wife almost lured
him into a relationship with her.
Joseph was an 18-year-old slave in a foreign country. He did not even
own his own body, as his master exercised full control over his life.
Nor did he have a single friend or relative in the world. His mother, Rachel,
had died when he was nine years old, and his father thought he was
dead. His brothers hated him—they were the ones who had sold him into
slavery and robbed him of his youth in cruel fashion. One could only
imagine the profound sense of loneliness that must have pervaded the
heart of this young man.
This is the context in which we need to understand Joseph’s struggle.
A person in such isolation is not only naturally overtaken by extremely
powerful temptations, but very likely may feel that a single action of
his makes little difference in the ultimate scheme of things.
After all, what was at stake if Joseph succumbed to this woman’s
demands? Nobody was ever likely to find out what had occurred between
the two. Joseph would not need to return home in the evening to face a
dedicated spouse or a spiritual father, nor would he have to go back to a
family or a community of moral standing. He would remain alone after
the event, just as he was alone before it. So what’s the big deal to
engage in a snapshot relationship?
In addition, we must take into consideration the power possessed by
this Egyptian noblewoman who was inciting Joseph. She was in the
position of being able to turn Joseph’s life into a paradise, or into a
living hell.4 In fact, she did the latter, having him incarcerated for twelve years on the false charges that he attempted to violate her.
What, then, was the secret behind Joseph’s moral rectitude? What
empowered a lonely and frail slave to reject such an awesome temptation?
“The visage of his father Jacob”! That is what gave Joseph the
extraordinary fortitude to smack his impulse in the face and to
emphatically dismiss the noblewoman’s lure.5
But why? Jacob was living many miles away, unaware even of the fact
that his son was alive. What was the magic that lay in his physiognomy?
Adam’s Single Moment
The Talmud
presents an oral Jewish tradition that “the beauty of Jacob reflected
the beauty of Adam,” the first human being formed by the Almighty
Himself.6 Therefore, when Joseph saw the visage of Jacob, he was seeing the visage of Adam as well.
Adam, we know, was instructed by G‑d
not to eat from the fruit of the “tree of knowledge.” His disobeying of
this directive altered the course of human and world history forever.
Though he did something apparently insignificant, merely eating a single
fruit from a single tree, this minuscule act still reverberates through
the consciousness of humanity to this very day.7
Why? Because every single human being is part of the knot in which
heaven and earth are interlaced. G‑d’s dream was not to be alone, but to
have mankind as a partner in the continuous task of healing the world.
With every action we do, we either advance or obstruct the drama of
redemption; we either reduce or enhance the power of evil. Something
eternal and Divine is at stake in every decision, every word, every deed
performed by every single man, woman or child.8
When Joseph saw the visage of Adam, he reclaimed an inner unshakable
dignity like a candle of G‑d lit on the cosmic way. Seeing the visage of
Adam reminded Joseph how a single act, performed at a single moment by a
single man, changed history forever.
This is the reason for the Torah’s recording of this story. During
our lonely moments of misery, when we, too, may feel that nobody cares
for us and we are alone in a huge, indifferent universe, we ought never
fall prey to the easy outlet of immoral gratification. We must remember
that something very real and absolute is at stake at every moment of our
existence and in every act we do.
If you only open your eyes, you will see the visage of your father
whispering to you through the silent winds of history that you are not
an isolated creature in a titanic world whose behavior is
inconsequential. At this very moment, G‑d needs you and me to bring
redemption to His world.
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