12-18-2024 Torah Commentary

Normally we do not read this week’s parashah, Va’Yeshev together with next week’s: Mi’Ketz.  Due to the fact, however, that next week the topic will be Chanukah, we look at both this week’s and next week’s parashah together. 

We find this week’s section, Va’Yeshev, in the Book of Genesis 37:1-40:23.  The section intertwines tales
about two young people, Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son, and Tamar the woman who refused to take no for an answer and through her sexual powers helped to forge a nation.  At first reading these two short stories appear to have nothing in common.  Upon placing them side-by-side, however, we note that the atemporal and universal motif of sexual seduction unites both sub-plots. 

In Joseph’s case, his master’s wife unsuccessfully attempted to seduce the sexy (y’fah toar) and handsome (y’fat mareh) Joseph. It is unusual for the Biblical text to use such descriptive words.  What is the text teaching us about Joseph by the use of such terminology?  We learn that Potiphar’s wife thereafter falsely accused Joseph of attempted rape and then tried to ruin his life.  Was she merely taken by his beauty?  On this point the text is silent.  Unfortunately, as in the case of the recent admissions by the accuser in the Duke University lacrosse case, tragically these false accusations are not unique to the Biblical period.  Potiphar’s wife’s actions and that of the Duke University accuser underline the importance of not prejudging an individual and remind us that it is a mistake always to believe the accuser.  Joseph, as is the case of many innocents, was jailed for an act he did not commit. 

Tamar’s situation at first appears to be completely different and yet is very much the same.  Her father-in-law falsely believed Tamar to be a prostitute, slept with her, and then sought to punisher her.  Tamar produced a brilliant defense forcing her father-in-law to rescind his attack.  In both cases we see the tragedy of false accusation. Both tales underline a lesson many in the media need to learn, the need to know all the details before jumping to conclusions.

Perhaps we should read these two tales as a single unit.  Do both cases teach us, who live in highly politicized societies, that people are innocent until proven guilty?  How would Joseph and Tamar have fared in the modern media?  Would they too have become victims of a dishonest and overly politicized media? 

Va’Yeshev teaches us that it is wrong to condemn a person without knowing all the facts.   These are essential lessons not only for Biblical times but also for our own age and media. 

We find next week’s parashah, “Mi’ketz,” in the Book of Genesis 41:1-44:17.  The tale’s setting revolves around Joseph’s false imprisonment. 

His imprisonment serves as the backdrop for the fact that Joseph, through creative thinking, proved the experts wrong.  Is this week’s parashah teaching all of us to be a bit more skeptical of the so-called experts?  The parashah reminds us, as we saw with the mistakes that experts made during the Covid pandemic, and never apologized for, that experts are not G-d and often make costly mistakes.

Next week’s parashah teaches us, through the example of Joseph, the importance of knowing how to recognize and seize an opportunity.   Although falsely imprisoned, Joseph refused to become dejected and defeated. Instead, he become one of the great leaders of Egypt. Joseph accomplished his amazing turn-of-fortune by 1) refusing to allow his false imprisonment to defeat him, 2) seeking opportunities when they occurred, 3) concentrating not on his own welfare but on the welfare of others, 4) considering the weight of his words and how others might react to those words, and 5) offering practical and doable solutions, that were not mired in assumptions.  What can you learn from these two weekly sections?