From: Netvort@aol.com
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 4:04 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Subject: Netvort : parshas Vayeishev, 5767



                                                                  

                                                    Sound Familiar?

                      By Rabbi Joshua (familiarly known as the Hoffer) Hoffman


  After Yosef is taken to Egypt, he is purchased by Potiphar and, eventually, put in charge of his household. Potiphar’s wife becomes enamored of Yosef, and tries to seduce him. Yosef continuously resists her advances, which become more and more aggressive. Finally, one day, when no one else is left in the house besides Yosef and Potiphar’s wife, she grabs onto his clothing in her attempt to induce him to succumb to her charms, and he flees the house as a last resort. Yosef’s success in resisting the advances of his master’s wife is praised profusely in the Talmud (Yoma 35b), and it is the reason why is he referred to by the prophet Amos as a tzaddik. Rav Amnon Bazak, in his Nekudas Pesicha, points out certain textual peculiarities of this section which magnify the accomplishment of Yosef in Potiphar’s house.

  Rav Bazak points out that a number of expressions used in describing the efforts of Potiphar’s wife and the success of Yosef in resisting them are similar to expressions used in the Torah’s description of Akeidas Yitzchok. For example, the section of the Akeidah begins and ends with the phrase, “And it was, after these things,” (Bereishis 22:1 and 20), as does the section of Yosef and Potiphar’s wife (Bereishis 39:7, 40:1). We find this precise variety of time reference only concerning these two sections of the Torah. Rav Bazak mentions some other similarities of expression between the two sections, but the most significant point of similarity that he mentions is that in both cases, the personality being tested emerges as one who fears God. In regard to the Akeidah, when the angel of God tells Avrohom not to harm Yitzchok, he adds, “ Now I know that you are God – fearing” (Bereishis 22:12). In regard to Yosef, when Potiphar’s wife tries to seduce him on the day when they are left alone in her house, Yosef tells her, that if he did what she asked of him, he would be sinning against God (Bereishis 39:9). Later, Yosef tells his brothers, “ I fear God” (Bereishis 42:18).   Rav Bazak argues that it was the test presented to him by the advances of Potiphar’s wife that developed him into a God-fearer, and justified this later statement that he made to his brothers. While this part of Rav Bazak’s argument may not appear, at first blush, to be very convincing, I believe that a closer look at the verse regarding Avrohom can lead us to accept the comparison, and develop it beyond the point suggested by Rav Bazak.

  Actually, the description of Avrohom as a God-fearer in the wake of the test of the Akeidah appears inadequate. After all, the prophet Yeshaya refers to Avrohom as one who loves God, and we know that love of God is greater than fear of God. Moreover, it is generally understood that Avrohom’s love of God overpowered his natural love for his son and enabled him to wholeheartedly travel to Mt. Moriah in order to carry out the divine imperative. Why, then, is he described as a God-fearer, rater than a God-lover ? Maharsha explains this appellation based on the distinction which Rav Yosef Albo, in his Sefer HaIkkarim, makes between two types of fear of God. The basic level of fear of God, says Rav Albo, is fear of divine punishment. This kind of fear is on a lower level than love of God. However, the second kind of fear, which is better described as awe, or reverence for God because of His greatness, stems from love of God. A person who truly loves God will not want to do anything against His will, but will, rather, always try to carry out His will. The fear of God that Avrohom emerged with from the Akeidash, then, was this higher level of fear, which stemmed from his love of God.

  I believe that this explanation of the Maharsha takes on added meaning in light of Rav Kook’s explanation of the test of the Akeidah, which we have had occasion to mention in the past. He writes that the purpose of the Akeidah was to show that worship of the one God can be accompanied with the same level of enthusiasm that idolaters exhibited in their practices. Idolaters were, actually, worshipping forces within themselves which they projected onto the outside world, and, thus, their perverted service was done with a great deal of excitement. When Avrohom introduced people to the notion of one God, although many accepted it, they still viewed God as remote and difficult to approach. The greatness of Avrohom’s accomplishment in carrying out God’s command, says Rav Kook, was the great love for God that he exhibited in doing so. He thus took the enthusiasm that others had previously used to worship idols, and demonstrated that it can be used in serving God. With this explanation in mind, we can now understand and further develop the comparison that Rav Bazak makes between Avrohom’s accomplishment through Akeidas Yitzchok and Yosef’s accomplishment through successfully resisting the advances of Potiphar’s wife.


The midrash, as cited by Rashi, actually tells us that Yosef almost succumbed to Potiphar’s wife, until the image of his father appeared to him. The Rambam, in his Laws of Repentance, in describing the way a person should love God, compares that love to the love a man has for a woman, constantly thinking about her. Perhaps, then, we can suggest that Yosef, in overcoming the temptations of Potiphars’s wife, channeled the feelings he at first had for her, and directed them to God, thus achieving the level of love that the Rambam describes in his Laws of repentance. The fear of God that Yosef had, was, then, an outgrowth of the love of God he achieved through the test presented to him in Potpihar’s house, just as the fear of God that Avrohom attained was a result of the love of God he exhibited in bringing his son to Mt. Moriah.  



  Please address all correspondence to the author (Rabbi Hoffman) with the following address - JoshHoff @ AOL.com.

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