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IMAGE OF INSPIRATION: PARSHAT VAYESHEV
Shira Smiles shiur – 2017/5777
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Parshat Vayeshev, always read around Chanukah, includes the events leading to
our first exile in Egypt, the sale of Yosef, his enslavement in the house of
Potifar, and his imprisonment after being accused of trying to seduce Potifar’s
wife.
Potifar’s wife had seen through astrology that her line would be perpetuated
through Yosef, so, in addition to Yosef’s stunning beauty, she was overcome in
her desire for him as a means of fulfilling her destiny. For an entire year she
tried to seduce him, and for an entire year he resisted her advances. Finally,
on this opportune day, Yosef was about to succumb to her wiles when, according
to the Medrash, he saw his father Yaakov’s image at the window. At that point,
he regained his resolve and fled the house, leaving his cloak behind. Having
Yosef’s cloak in her hands gave Potifar’s wife the perfect “proof” to charge
Yosef and have him imprisoned.
What was it that Yosef actually saw that gave him the added resolve to continue
defying Potifar’s wife? Was this a miraculous intervention, or was there a
message here to help us all overcome temptations, especially powerful ones? If
we admit this as a miraculous intervention, writes Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter, then
how can we indict any sinner who did not have a miraculous intervention? If
Yosef was a tzadik, righteous in his own right, how can we explain that
seeing his father’s image in a window was what kept him on the righteous path?
It is important to note, as the Talmud Yeryshalmi points out, that all
lessons we learn from the image of the father apply equally to images of his
mother (and by extension teacher, or other mentor) and, although not
specifically noted, is alluded to in the terminology.
That Yosef saw his father’s image was not miraculous, writes Rabbi Ezrachi in Birkas
Mordechai. Yosef had already prepared himself to receive this support. He
looked into the “window of his soul” and saw therein the values and image of
his father. The struggle starts within ourselves. The yetzer horo does
his best to trip us up, and we have to do our part to defeat him, adds Ehud
Chanan in Torat Chesed. Yosef had withstood the temptation for a full
year. But Yosef was human, and his resolve was beginning to crack. Now, after
Yosef had remained strong for a full year, he needed help. At this point, the
Father sent His presence to help Yosef continue to succeed in vanquishing the yetzer
horo. This is an intervention each of us can access and ask for in our own
struggles, writes Rabbi Hofstedter. It is a request for Divine assistance any
of us can make in any area we find challenging, adds Rabbi Dunner in Mikdash
Halevi, whether we are struggling with proper speech, being charitable, or
praying with the proper focus. It is the spiritual bond one maintains with
one’s spiritual mentors that guides us through our most challenging moments,
our asking ourselves what our parent/Rebbe/mentor would do in a similar
situation that paves the way for a proper decision. This was the advice the
Ramban gave to his son in his famous letter: “Let my visage be in front of your
eyes. … Do not do anything that I despise.”
By bonding with our Rebbe or spiritual mentor, we create a bridge to Hakodosh
Boruch Hu Himself and strengthen our fear of heaven, teaches us Rabbi Gifter.
Yaakov was Yosef’s Rebbe as well as his father, and recalling that bond at a
critical moment helped him cross that bridge. This spiritual bond is one we
should all maintain when we leave the confines of yeshivah or seminary,
admonishes Rabbi Yaakov Goldvicht.
Rabbi Grossbard provides another approach. Yosef did not hear the lessons of
his father. He saw the image of his father. In other words, the connection was
not an intellectual connection, for that would not have been very helpful at
the moment. At that moment there was an emotional reaction to the lessons he
learned by observing his father, by the yiras Shamayim implicit in the
behavior Yaakov modeled for his son. In other words, it was not what Yaakov
said, but what he did that taught his son the greater lessons in life.
How strong was the bond between Yaakov and Yosef? The Torah tells us that
Yaakov was never comforted for what he believed was the loss of his son. Rabbi
Wachtfogel presents the argument that Yakov maintained this emotional
connection to his son in spite of their separation, and at this most desperate
moment, it was this unseen energy of the bond between father and son that
supported Yosef and helped him. That’s why, when Yosef later reveals himself to
his brothers, writes the Netivot Shalom, he doesn’t ask, “Is our father
alive,” but, “My father is still alive”. I have maintained with him, a
relationship that has kept me righteous during all the years of our separation.
The influence of a parent or a rebbe continues even after his passing. How
often do we hear people say they solved a problem, especially a moral dilemma,
by imagining what their father or mother would have done in a similar
situation? Potifar’s wife proved to him astrologically that her line would be
perpetuated through Yosef. What neither of them knew was that the destiny would
be actualized through Osnat, the daughter of Potifera whom Yosef later married,
rather than through Mrs. Potifar herself. Yosef was faced with a contradiction
in realities similar to what Avraham Avinu had faced. Hashem commanded Avraham
to bind his son as a sacrifice while also having told him that through Yitzchak
would his seed be perpetuated. Yosef was now also looking for a solution
outside himself and outside the stars. How could Yosef reconcile the
contradiction between the stars and later Torah law? By conjuring the essence
of his father, Truth, Yosef was able to withstand the temptation. The truth
remained that she was a married woman, forbidden to Yosef, while astrology was
certainly not yet real truth. By focusing on the quality his father was
associated with, Yosef was able to discern the correct course of action. It is
the modeled behavior of the parent that the child emulates, not the parent’s
verbal admonitions. Children will learn to do as you do, not as you say.
The Slonimer Rebbe, the Netivot Shalom, expands on our discussion. He
notes that the yetzer horo works on multiple levels. It may try to
influence you to be lax in a particular area of sinning, it may get you to sin
indiscriminately, or, if you are a tzadik with influence over other Jews and
you are faced with a moral challenge, it will try to influence you to
transgress so that other Jews would then fail in similar challenges. Yosef’s
predicament met the third criteria, and his actions influenced diaspora Jews
throughout the generations. Because Yosef was able to withstand the temptation
of Potifar’s wife, Bnei Yisroel would later be able to withstand the moral
depravity of Egypt during the centuries they were enslaved there. Yosef’s
strength provided a shield even a thousand years later when Jews remained
steadfast and did not succumb to the lures of physicality that formed the
foundation of Greek culture.
Rabbi Pinchas Friedman, the Shvilei Pinchas elaborates on the connection
between Yosef and the Greeks. We hear of Yosef as not only exceedingly handsome
but also as someone concerned with his appearance and “curling his hair”. How
could Yosef be so vain when his father was grieving for him? According the Gaon
of Shineveh, Yosef, in his righteousness, thought that the purpose of his being
in Egypt was to teach the Egyptians something about monotheism. But his
appearance as a Hebrew kept them distant from him. In order to have them
interact with him and accept him, he decided to dress and appear as one of
them. Obviously, that was not a solution, for it precipitated Potiphar’s wife’s
advances toward him and almost caused his downfall. Yosef learned that in order
to remain pure, one must maintain a separation and distance.
The Greeks did not want to physically destroy the Jews as Haman would want in
the Purim narrative. Instead, they wanted to destroy the Jews through
assimilation. Symbolically, we can compare the Jews to oil. The Greeks
understood that of all the liquids, only oil will not mix with other liquids.
Therefore they chose to contaminate and destroy all the oil in the Sanctuary
just as they wanted to intermingle the Jewish culture with their own. But
Hashem helped the Chashmonaim to retain the purity of Jewish sanctity
with pure oil. Yosef had learned that a Jew must retain his separateness from
other cultures. This lesson was thus reinforced in the Greek exile with its
focus on the oil which will always separate from other liquids and rise to the
top.
Further supporting this idea was the edict that the Greeks enacted that Jews
were to write on the horns of an ox that they had no place in the God of
Israel. Since Yoseph is compared to an ox in Moshe’s blessings, Yoseph is the
counterforce to Greek assimilation. In fact, our tradition states that the
Torah Yaakov taught Yosef the whole time they learned together in the Yeshivah
of Ever, Yaakov was teaching Yosef how one behaves to remain a Jew in the
diaspora. Yaakov sensed through Divine inspiration that Yosef would be the
first Jew to confront exile. As such, his example would serve as a model for
future descendants of Yaakov. Yosef saw his father’s image, his father’s
teachings, through a window, representing the separation that must always
remain between Jew and gentile, albeit they can still see each other and
interact and even influence the other side without crossing that line.
What was it that Yosef discerned in the window? Per the Belzer Rebbe, Yosef saw
the opening of prayer that his father had established, a gate to beseech
Hashem’s help when it is difficult to continue. Although each of our
forefathers established a prayer, it is Yaakov whom we credit with the
overriding concept of prayer, who found the gate to heaven and called it the
House of God, especially in difficult circumstances. The image of a
window is also a model of prayer, as we find by Daniel in his prayers to
Hashem. Therefore, just as Yosef looked to the window for
inspiration, i.e. to be able to access help from Hashem; we light our
Chanukah candles at the window to access this same energy. On Chanukah,
everyone can access the new, joyous song usually reserved for the Leviim in the
Beit Hamikdosh. Chanukah is the awakening of kedusha.
Chanukah is the time we can ask Hashem to give us special help in overcoming
our spiritual challenges, access the sacred light and rededicate ourselves to
the sanctity and purity the oil signifies, writes the Sichot Hitchazkut.
What was it that Yosef saw? Mrs. Potifar had the rarity of a mirror near her
bed, similar to a polished pane of glass. Yosef saw his own reflection there,
writes the Torat Chesed. He saw his striking resemblance to his father,
and was prompted to ask himself what his father would do. That gave him the
strength to run away from the situation.
At the moment of lighting the Chanukah candles, continues Rav Tzvi Meyer
Silverberg, the sparks of the souls of all one’s ancestors stand alongside him,
uplifting him and praying that he too will pray to uplift their souls. Each of
us is an important link in an eternal chain. May we remain strong links so that
we will soon merit to sing a new song as we make a chanukat habayit, a
dedication of our rebuilt Beit Hamikdosh and light the menorah within with pure
olive oil.