Parshat Vayeshev

THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH, AND HE WAS A SUCCESSFUL MAN. HE REMAINED IN THE HOUSE OF HIS EGYPTIAN MASTER; AND WHEN HIS MASTER SAW THAT THE LORD WAS WITH HIM AND THAT THE LORD LENT SUCCESS TO EVERYTHING HE UNDERTOOK... AND FROM THE TIME THAT THE EGYPTIAN PUT HIM IN CHARGE OF HIS HOUSEHOLD AND OF ALL THAT HE OWNED, THE LORD BLESSED HIS HOUSE FOR JACOB'S SAKE, SO THAT THE BLESSING OF THE LORD WAS UPON EVERYTHING THAT HE OWNED, IN THE HOUSE AND OUTSIDE... SO JOSEPH'S MASTER HAD HIM PUT IN PRISON, WHERE THE KING'S PRISONERS WERE CONFINED. ...THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH: HE EXTENDED KINDNESS TO HIM AND DISPOSED THE CHIEF JAILER FAVORABLY TO HIM.

(Bereishit 39)

 

 

The Lord was with Him vs. the Lord Lent him Success

Unconditional Faith vs. Profitable Faith

Could Potiphar, who was an evil man, have seen that God was with him? What does the Lord was with him mean? That the Name of God never left his mouth: He would enter to serve him and whisper, "Sovereign of the world, you are my security, you are my patron, let me find favor, kindness and mercy in your eyes and in the eyes of all who see me, and in the eyes of my master Potiphar." Then Potiphar would say to him, "What are you whispering? Are you casting a spell on me?" And he would answer, "No, rather I am praying that I should find favor in your eyes." Therefore, it is written, his master saw that the Lord was with him.

And what is the Lord lent success to everything he undertook?

He would pour spiced wine for his master and he would say to him, "What did you pour me?" He would say "spiced wine". He would say to him, "I want absinthe", and it would become absinthe. He would say "I want wine", and it became wine. He would say, "I want cooked wine", and it became cooked wine, and so with water, and so with every different thing, for it says the Lord lent success to everything he undertook. Having seen this, his master handed all of the keys over to him and did not keep track of him at all, for he said with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house. When Joseph found himself in this situation, he began to eat and drink and curl his hair and say, "Thank God for who caused me to forget my father's house". The Holy One Blessed be He said to him, "Your father mourns for you in sackcloth and ashes and you eat and drink and curl your hair?? Behold, your mistress will have sex with you and cause trouble!" Therefore it is written: his master's wife caste her eyes.

(Tanhuma YaYeishev 8)

 

 

She Is In The Right - It Comes From Me!

Daniel Rohrlich

In memory of Yoel Yosef Fine, may he rest in peace.

A criminal stands before a judge and pleads, "It's true I have broken the law, Your Honor, but please take my personal circumstances into account, my abused childhood and all of the events in my wretched life that have influenced me. If you take these into consideration, you will understand that I had no choice but to commit this crime."

The judge responds, "I do take your personal circumstances into account, but you must also take my personal circumstances into account, the education that I received and all the events that have crucially affected me. Then you will understand that I have no choice but to find you guilty."

The attempt to turn the philosophical question of determinism into a legal defense may bring a smile to our lips. However, it is impossible to ignore the importance of this question in our everyday lives, both in and out of the courtroom. Jurists debate the extent of a person's freedom to choose in various situations. Clinical psychologists come up against the question of determinism and free will in their work. One noted clinical psychologist presented her own solution to this complicated issue: So long as a patient wants to overcome his difficulties and grapples with the need to change, she views him as a free agent. But if he fails to change and ultimately breaks off contact with the therapist, she views him, retroactively, as someone who was never capable of changing.

The Sages dealt with the question of determinism and free will, and came up with a marvelous formulation: "All is foreseen, yet choice is granted." (Avot 3: 15) True, the Sages did not develop a systematic philosophical answer to the question, but the Jewish medieval philosophers, and Maimonides in particular, addressed the issue of free will systematically.

Let us investigate this issue in the context of the biblical story of Judah and Tamar. In this story, Judah postpones the wedding of his third son, Shelah, to Tamar, even though Shelah is next in line for levirate marriage to her after the death of his two brothers, Er and Onan. Judah thought, "He, too, might die, like his brothers."

The medieval commentator Rashi explained that Judah never intended for Tamar to marry Shelah, since she seemed to him to be a woman whose husbands all die on her. If so, the root of Judah's sin against Tamar was his finding fault with her, rather than with his own sons whose behavior was "displeasing to the Lord". This attribution of blame motivated his decision to doom Tamar to live out her life as a widow in her father's house - a decision that destined them to a future confrontation. Determinism took over until Tamar went out to ambush him "at the entrance to Enayim, which is on the road to Timna." There, Judah "turned aside to her by the road".

Judah's deception motivated Tamar's deception. Likewise, his incrimination of Tamar entailed a loss of moral compass that prepared him to accept the advances of a prostitute. The world turned as it usually does until Tamar's pregnancy. Judah's pronouncement, "Bring her out and let her be burned", was also a part of that determinism.

Only with the words "She is in the right more than I" does Judah achieve moral consciousness and take responsibility for the unfolding of events. Rashi made a penetrating comment on these words: The Hebrew words tsadka mimeni, translated above as "She is in the right more than I", can also be translated "She is in the right! It comes from me!" (That is, mimeni can have either a comparative or an active sense.) Judah plainly proclaimed, "She is in the right!" and not merely, "She is in the right more than I."

What is the difference between "She is in the right" and "She is in the right more than I"?

"She is in the right more than I" makes the sort of comparison typical of someone who is unwilling to take full responsibility for his own actions, and instead divides the blame among parties. In contrast, "She is in the right" is an absolute admission. Judah's next words, "inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah", prove that he confesses and recognizes his overall responsibility. In that admission, the circle that opened with Judah's incrimination of Tamar closes. Rising above determinism, Judah admits to his freely-willed sin, and closes the circle.

Did Judah's sin really arise from free will? Or did it result from his inability to find fault with his own sons, which arose from his inability to recognize his own faults? The circle that closes with his proclamation "She is in the right" is situated in a larger circle, just as the story of Judah and Tamar is found within a larger narrative. The larger circle opens with the sale of Joseph into slavery, by his brothers, at Judah's suggestion. It closes when Judah asks to take the place of Benjamin as the slave of Tzafnat Paneya (i.e. of Joseph, the viceroy of Egypt). Yet if we suppose that Judah's earlier sin against Joseph led him inexorably to sin against Tamar, we cannot hold Judah morally responsible for the latter sin. True, human will is not absolutely free of all influences; but we still have to take responsibility for our own actions and hold others responsible for theirs.

If so, what can this story teach us about the problem of determinism and free will?

In order to answer this question, we must examine the word mimeni ["more than I" or "It comes from me"] that follows tsadka ["She is in the right"].

Rashi explains the phrase in its literal sense; she is pregnant mimeni [from me]. That is to say, Judah admitted that he had impregnated Tamar. Rashi also cites a midrashic interpretation according to which, at the moment when Judah said "She is in the right", a heavenly voice announced, "It comes from Me!" That is, the whole chain of events was determined by God, rather than by Judah and Tamar.

This interpretation points to something beyond human justice. The heavenly voice testifies that God alone was responsible for the events in the story of Judah and Tamar. Thus the midrashic interpretation implies that "all is foreseen" and offers some kind of absolution. At the same time, it also implies that such absolution is not something we can take for granted. Paradoxically, it is only when we take full responsibility for our actions that we begin to recognize that, indeed, all is foreseen, and begin to accept ourselves.

Dr. Rohrlich is a physicist

 

 

Now Jacob Was Settled in the Land Where His Father Had Resided

Since the previous parasha already announced that his brother Esau had inherited Mount Seir by his father's merit, scripture had to announce Jacob's inheritance, and said, Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father had resided [eretz megurei aviv, alternatively- the land of his father's sojourning]. This intends to demonstrate his virtuousness, in that he behaved towards the land as a sojourner. As I explained in the previous parasha regarding the verse I give to you (Bereishit 35: 12) - even so, it [the Divine promise] did not affect him, and he sojourned as a stranger as did his father, in the land of Canaan. That is, he behaved in it as in a land not his, rather the land of Canaan. Or one might say: although the land of Canaan was given him as an inheritance, even so he sojourned in it until events were unfolded by Joseph's life-story, and it says, this is the line [toldot - alternatively: life story] of Jacob, Joseph...And he was sold to Egypt, and our fathers went down to Egypt, and He who promised to keep his promise brought them up to the Land, and they inherited their legacy.

(R. Haim ben Atar's Or HaHaim, Bereishit 37: 1)

 

What Do We Gain? Pragmatic Considerations vs. Ethical Considerations

Rabbi Meir said: The word botzeiya (grasping) was used only in reference to Judah, for it says: Then Judah said to his brothers, "What do we gain (ma betza) by killing our brother?" Anyone who blesses Judah reviles and scorns [God], and regarding this it is said, The grasping man reviles and scorns the Lord (Psalms 10: 3).

(B. Sanhedrin 6b)

 

"In reference to Judah": For he should have said, "let us return him to our father", since his brothers hearkened to his words.

(Rashi loc cit)

 

What do we gain: Anyone who blesses Judah reviles and scorns, for he saved Joseph with the words what do we gain, which imply that if there is something to be gained, we will kill him, and regarding this it says The grasping man reviles and scorns the Lord.

(Hizkuni - Bereishit 37: 26)

 

The grasping man reviles and scorns: An Act of Worship Becomes a Curse and a Desecration of the Divine Name.

When Joseph was sent by his father to visit his brothers, they thought about killing him, for it says They said to one another...let us kill him (Bereishit 37: 19) and they stood and threw him into the pit and said "let us eat and drink, and afterwards we'll pull him out and kill him." They ate and drank, and time came to say the grace after meals. Judah said to them: "We are about to kill, and we are blessing God? We are nothing but scorners!"

What does What do we gain by killing our brother mean? Judah told them: The grasping man reviles and scorns the Lord rather, come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites (Bereishit 37: 27).

(Pesikta Rabbati 10)

 

Readers Respond (To Pinchas Leiser's article in the sheet from Hayye Sarah 5764)

In the end of his article, HAGAR/KETURAH FROM "BE'EIR L'CHAI RO'I", Pinchas Leiser asks, "Will we succeed...to listen to the suffering and crying around us and repair that which requires repair?"

The article itself brings up the crying of Sisera's mother, and it would have also been possible to mention the crying of the Egyptians after their army drowned in the Reed Sea (it also would have been possible to mention the sufferings of German mothers caused by the American and British air force bombings in World War II) - But how does the article's author suggest to "repair that which requires repair" in those cases?

Asher Adar

 

Pinchas Leiser responds:

I thank Dr. Adar for his letter and comments.

As for my suggestions:

1) In Shabbat Shalom, my intention was, first and foremost, to raise the question, without any reference to any particular political solution, in order to promote the development of a "non-tribal" moral sensibility.

2) Indeed, it seems to me that the first step towards the redressing of injustice is the development of sensitivity towards the sufferer as a human being, and the assumption of responsibility for our part in the creation of that injustice, even if it was unavoidable.

3) The methods for achievement of this are varied: Establishment of dialogue revolving around textual sources from the religion and culture of each group involved is clearly an important step. Any dialogue between different groups that maintains a readiness for mutual listening is certainly relevant. Beyond that, I think that determined movement towards ending the conflict and control over another people is a necessary stage of repair.

 

 

 

Editorial Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine (Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation: Kadish Goldberg

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