TORAH SPARKS

 

Parshat Vayeshev

December 17, 2022 | 23 Kislev 5783

Torah: Genesis 37:1-40:23 Triennial: 37:1-36

Haftarah: Amos 2:6-3:8

 

Potiphar s Children

Bex Stern-Rosenblatt
Parashah

God is in the business of blessing in Genesis. Usually, this is a blessing of progeny. Five times, we read of God blessing with the words be fruitful and multiply, words told to a distinguished list of people from the first humans at the creation of the world through Jacob when he arrived in Bethel. Even when we do not encounter these words, God s blessings often seem to grant fertility. God blesses Isaac, Isaac prays and Rebecca gets pregnant. At God s next blessing, Isaac s seed increases. In fact, almost every mention of God s blessing in the entire Torah refers either to progeny or the special status of the Shabbat. We read in Exodus of God blessing the people s bread and water, removing sickness, and ending miscarriage and barreness. God s blessing seems to be humanity s continued presence on the planet.

 

The one possible exception to this paradigm occurs in our parashah. In Genesis 29, the story of Joseph at Potiphar s house, we read that when Potiphar appointed Joseph over his household and over all that he had, then God blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph, and God s blessing was upon everything he had, both in the house and in the field.

 

What does it mean that God has blessed the household of Potiphar? Is this necessarily a reference to progeny, to increased fertility? God has done this to other nations before on account of Abraham for the people of Gerar and for Laban on account of Jacob. Yet, there is no explicit reference to progeny in our story. Instead, the story is that of the nameless wife of Joseph s master, Potiphar, trying to lie with Joseph.

 

The fact that Poitphar s wife is trying to have sex with her husband s servant might hint that Potiphar s household has not been blessed with fertility and children . While Joseph s handsome figure might have been at least part of her motivation, it is also possible that she was trying to lie with him in order to conceive children. Bereshit Rabbah picks up on this possibility. In a discussion on why the story of Judah and Tamar comes immediately before the story of Joseph at Potiphar s house, we read, R. Samuel b. Nahman said: In order to bring the stories of Tamar and Potiphar s wife into proximity, thus teaching that as the former was actuated by a pure motive, so was the latter. For R. Joshua b. Levi said: She [Potiphar s wife] saw by her astrological arts that she was to produce a child by him [Joseph], but she did not know whether it was to be from her or from her daughter. The midrash suggests that both Tamar and Potiphar s wife are trying to conceive, which it views in a positive light. The midrash goes so far as to suggest that Potiphar s wife had seen that she would have children from Joseph. However, she read the message wrong, not understanding that it would be her child (according to the midrash), Asenath, who would have children from Joseph.

 

Reading with the midrash, Potiphar s wife is a dreamer and interpreter of dreams, just like Joseph. She is a mother of Israel, just like Tamar. And she is given free reign to lie, coerce, and rape, and condemn to prison for the sake of trying to have children. And this is all for the sake

of having received the blessing of progeny from God. The midrash suggests Potiphar s wife s motives were pure. And perhaps the production of progeny is a pure motive. However, the motives do not excuse the means. God s commandment to be fruitful and multiply is matched by God s blessing of progeny. While we necessarily take this production into our own hands, ultimately the best we can do is rely on God s blessing.

Social Justice Our Gift to the World

Vered Hollander-Goldfarb
Haftarah

It was the best of times the days of Jeroboam I, king of Israel. After decades of national insecurity, Jeroboam ascended the throne. He reigned for 41 years during the 8th century BCE, bringing his kingdom to the heights of prosperity. Everyone was happy. Almost.

Through the door of this satisfied nation stepped Amos, a cattle herder from Judah. He had a message from God. For the first time a visionary was standing on a soapbox in the town s square, his message impressive enough to be preserved for posterity. The period of classical prophets had arrived.

(6) Thus says the Lord:
For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they sell the righteous for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals.

So thundered Amos at the surprised people of the affluent northern kingdom. History is rarely recorded by the downtrodden, by the transparent people whose labor and suffering make a great kingdom possible. How often is an organization or a state measured by the condition of its weakest link? Amos did just that, listing seven transgressions that he identifies in the kingdom. Most are social evils, a few are cultically related. All offend God.

(8) They recline by every altar on clothes taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.

Amos makes an argument that will be echoed by those who follow in his prophetic footsteps: Being a good person before God and a nasty person to your fellow person, makes you a nasty person in the eyes of God. Placating God while taking advantage of others does not work. A person s religious values are inextricably tied to his or her social morals.

How long did Amos last in the kingdom of Israel? Opinions vary, some guess a week, others doubt he lasted there for more than a weekend. It is clear to all that he quickly became a persona non grata, holding a mirror to the affluent society that buried its social corruption under ivory decorated palaces. The reaction of the weak portions of society, whose plight he highlighted, is not heard. Some in positions of power, such as the Kohen of the Beth El shrine, tried to accuse him of sedition.

Even if Amos did not manage to change his own generation, he changed the world. Societies continued to build wealth at the expense of those who did not have the means to fight for a fair place, but now tenement dwellers had a voice. In his short book of 9 chapters he established the prophets of the Tanakh as a moral compass for Western society, even if many who tout his message are unaware of Amos.

The Self-Driving Donkey
Adventures in Mishnah with My Kids
Berakhot 4:5

Ilana Kurshan

 

Matan and I are learning the third chapter of Masekhet Berakhot, which is about reciting the Amidah, known in rabbinic Hebrew as HaTefillah the prayer. The word Amidah means standing, and usually one would stand while reciting this prayer. But what if a person is in a place where it would be difficult to stand? What if a person is, say, riding on a donkey?

 

I have to confess my intimate familiarity with this question. Often in the mornings, I daven on my walk back from dropping my kids off from preschool. My workday is very short, and I like to sit down at the computer as soon as I get home. So I daven while walking, which works very well until I get to the Amidah. Then I have to stop, get off my proverbial donkey, and retreat into a quiet alley to daven silently.

 

I wish I didn t have such a hard time giving up time to daven. It seems to me like prayer which is modeled on sacrifice is supposed to be about giving up something precious to us, and there is little more precious to me than quiet time in the day. I decide not to tell Matan about my ambulatory Shacharit.

 

Matan is still fixated on the donkey-riding davener. Couldn t a person just stand up on his donkey when it s time to daven? he asks.

 

I think that would be a little dangerous, no?

 

Well, then you could also daven that you don t fall off.

 

Yeah, but the Talmud tells us that a person is not supposed to put himself in a dangerous place and then pray for a miracle. You have to be responsible for your body and avoid dangerous situations.

 

Well, it might be even more dangerous to get off your donkey. I mean, what if your donkey runs away?

 

I tell Matan that he has actually anticipated the next line of the Mishnah. What if a person can t get off his donkey because he has nowhere to park it, or no one to watch it for him? Then, say the rabbis, he is supposed to turn his face toward the direction of the Temple in Jerusalem. Matan, who had been ready to go to sleep, gets out of bed and acts it out.

 

This is crazy, he tells me, as he pretends to hold imaginary reins and gallop. He turns his head back and crashes into his closet door. You can t turn your head back while you re riding a donkey! It s like driving a car if you don t look where you re going, you ll crash.

 

Are you sure? Maybe the donkey would be able to find its way? I propose, thinking of Bilaam s ass. But Matan has another association altogether.

 

Not unless it s a Tesla donkey.

 

Huh?

 

You know, a self-driving donkey. Like a Tesla. That s the only way you wouldn t crash.

 

I read the final line of the Mishnah to Matan, in which the rabbis explain that if the donkey-rider can neither dismount the donkey or turn his head, then he should turn his heart to the Holy of Holies. That is, a person who can t turn physically can at least direct his attention to the sacred. Matan agrees this is safer, but he warns, It s much better to pay attention while driving. I can t dispute that.

 

It s somewhat reassuring to know that even in ancient times, people tried to multi-task by davening on the road. But I wouldn t want my own kids to try it. I look up from the Mishnah. Now Matan is riding on his imaginary donkey, facing forwards this time, but with his eyes lifted up to the heavens and his lips moving as if in prayer. He crashes into his closet again. Hmm. Maybe this has less to do with the best way to daven the Amidah than with the fact that it is really time for him to go to sleep .