Shabbos Parashas Vayeishev - 5777

Shabbos Parashas Vayeishev - 5777

Rabbi Hal Miller

And it was after these things, his master's wife cast her eyes upon Yosef, and she

said, "Lie with me." [Bereishis 39:7]

You get the feeling that none of the events between Yosef and Potiphar's wife was planned.

The Torah begins with "And it was after these things", which implies that she only "cast

her eyes upon Yosef" after realizing something from the immediately preceding events.

So what was it that caused her to do this?

The preceding six verses, the beginning of chapter 39, say that Yosef was brought to Egypt

and bought by Potiphar, became successful, was promoted by Potiphar, and that Potiphar

became very successful because of Yosef's efforts. Then the last line of verse 6, "Now

Yosef was handsome of form and handsome of appearance."

Certainly, many commentators latch onto this last sentence. Ramban states, "It mentions

this here to tell that because of his beauty, his master's wife cast her eyes upon him."

Rashi takes a slightly different direction, "because he saw himself in a position of

authority, he began to eat and drink and curl his hair, etc.," in other words Yosef made

himself up to look good because his position went to his head. But Rashi's position

does not directly answer our question, although it alludes to something. If it was

Yosef who took this action, then he was at fault for anything that Potiphar's wife might

do. This would certainly put a different spin on the entire chapter. But Yosef's act of

running away seems to indicate that such implication could not be right.

Malbim says that "Potiphar's wife would never have even considered committing

adultery with a lowly slave. However, only after seeing Yosef advanced to a high position

in his master's house, that she cast her eyes. This approach puts the blame not on

Yosef, but on Potiphar's wife and on the circumstances that she relied upon to act

inappropriately. Had Yosef not been so successful, she would never have taken any

notice of him.

We could also say that had he not been sold to Potiphar, or even moreso not been

brought to Egypt, she would not have acted as she ended up doing. The Torah would

not have bothered with this story if these were the reasons. The only aspect not yet

covered is that of Yosef's success, in particular as Potiphar's foreman. How does that

play here?

Without doubt, Yosef's level of success did not come by accident, nor by Yosef's

experience in the Egyptian business world. It clearly comes from G-d. If G-d gave

Yosef this success, and that success led to the incident with Potiphar's wife, what was

G-d's purpose?

Radak says that Yosef had become too comfortable with his life in exile, and G-d

wanted to shake him up, to make him remember that this was not his home and

lifestyle.

Throughout the history of our people, we have found ourselves trying to assimilate,

trying to become comfortable in exile, in lands not our own. When we get too

comfortable, G-d shakes us up in one fashion or another. Those of us who listen are

able to return to who we are, and those who do not listen are lost. Yosef listened.

Will we?