Vayeshev
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha of Yosef’s encounter with the wife of Potiphar. When she approaches Yosef and asks him to be with her, he refuses her advances. There are a number of references in the Torah and in the Medrashim in this episode which serve as a guide and a model for every individual in dealing with the temptation for sin.
The Sfas Emes points out that when she first approaches Yosef his response his (Chapter 39, Pasuk 8) Vayema’en Vayomar. He refused and he said, etc. This indicates that when one is faced with the possibility of sin, there must first be an outright refusal. This refusal is not based on logic or understanding, but rather it is an instinctive response of unwillingness to do sin. Only afterwards does the explanation begin. This idea is also indicated in the musical notes of how these two words are read. This is a clear break between the two words. First the refusal, and only then is logic and reason applied.
These two words of Yosef seem to be the predecessor of the famous words of Bnei Yisrael at Kabbalas HaTorah, Na’aseh V’Nishmah. The acceptance and willingness to keep the mitzvoth must come before the understanding of them. Our performance of the mitzvoth cannot be a case by case decision of what makes sense to us and what doesn’t. Similarly, Yosef needed to immediately reject the advances of Eishes Potiphar before he thought and explained why it was inappropriate.
The Sfas Emes explains this idea according to the Mishnah in Avos (3,9), where Rabbi Chaninah ben Dosa teaches, Kol She’Yiras Cheto Kodemes L’Chachmaso, Chachmaso Miskayemes. When one’s fear of sin comes before his wisdom, only then does his wisdom have a fulfillment and existence. This is because his understanding is not jaded by his temptation and yetzer hara. As the Ramchal teaches in Mesillas Yesharim, when we are not out of the chains of our desire, the decisions we make are not logical and unbiased, but rather they are driven and determined by temptation. Only when we are firmly entrenched in a state of yiras chet is our decision making process clear. Similarly, Yosef first responded with yiras chet, and only then did the explaining begin.
There is a powerful image Rashi brings that when Yosef was being tempted by Eishes Potiphar, he saw d’mus d’yokno shel Aviv, he saw the image of his father Yaakov and that ultimately (according to one position) kept him away from her.
Rav Tzadok teaches that Yosef specifically saw his father because it is from the father that one receives his holiness. The way the father brings his son into the world has ramifications for the child’s kedushah. So that when his holiness was at stake he saw his father. The Sfas Emes adds that Yosef seeing his father was his look at his source and where he comes from. We forget who we are during our mundane activities in life, and particularly when we are being tested by temptation. Therefore, it was precisely at that moment of temptation that Yosef was reminded who he was and where he comes from. And particularly being the son of Yaakov Avinu, about whom Chazal teach Mitaso Haysah Shelaimah, all of his offspring were proper Jews, Yosef was reminded that Eishes Potiphar was off limits.
There is another point to Yosef seeing a vision of his father. Often times when involved in sin, we view it as divorced from reality. We push it out of our minds afterwards and consider it as something which didn't really happen. When Yosef saw a vision of his father, it gave a more concrete sense of what he was considering doing. There is an accounting of what we do, and the vision of his father was a clear and stark reminder of this. Everything we do is seen and recorded in the heavenly courts. The starkness of the vision, coupled with the fact that Yaakov represented to Yosef his source and his true essence, prevented him from sinning.
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