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Beit Midrash
- Torah Portion and Tanach
- Bereshit
- Vayeshev
How true! The "buzz" all around us today regarding impropriety among the rich & famous is right out of our Sedra, as both Yosef & Yehuda – the twin "kings" of Israel - grapple with this very same issue, with a twist.
In Yosef’s case, it is Mrs. Potiphar – powerful in her own right, as she is the wife of Yosef’s master – who tries desperately to seduce Yosef, threatening to have him imprisoned if he does not succumb to her desires. In Yehuda’s case, it is Tamar, Yehuda’s daughter-in-law, who disguises herself and entraps Yehuda into impregnating her.
Though the cases are somewhat similar – two stories of women who want to impose themselves on men – there is a big difference. While Yehuda goes through with the act, causing him a great deal of shame & blame ("And Yehuda went down (morally) among his brothers," is the chapter’s headline), Yosef is resolute to the very end & refuses to compromise his moral character, despite the harsh punishment that results from his stance. This is perhaps why Yosef comes to be called a Tzadik.
Where did Yosef find the strength to resist Mrs. P’s advances? How did he overcome such temptation? What did he have that so many other men fail to have?
Chazal suggest that, at the most crucial moment, as he began to weaken,Yosef saw the face of his father reflected in a window or mirror. This may have been his own reflection, as Yosef & Yakov are said to have looked very much alike ("And these are the generations of Yakov/Yosef") says the pasuk. Yosef asked himself, "How can I betray the trust placed in me by my father, who told me I would be a great leader in Israel?"
At the same time, I suggest, Yosef was thinking about another father: Avinu She’bashamayim. G-d had watched over him so closely, helping him endure the pit, survive his sale to unscrupulous traders, allowing this semi-slave to become an "Ish Matzliach – a successful man among men. How could Yosef now betray Hashem after all this?
The lesson is eternal and ever-present: As long as we keep constant the twin faces of our parents & our Creator, we, too, can resist falling to sin and instead rise to the level of Tzadik.
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Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
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Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
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As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
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This may be the most important class of the entire book, where we finally get to the Jewish proof of the existence of G-d and truth of the Torah. We should follow His own direction where He tells us how to get to Him: through the Nation of Israel: Jewish history, Jewish prophets (and today, prophecies fulfilled), and national reward & punishment towards Am Yisrael.
Ein Aya One Humanity, One Creator, One Jerusalem
Rav Kook innovatively and beautifully explains this aggadeta where our sages say that after Jerusalem was destroyed her cinnamon fragrance is only found locked in a particular kingdom's treasury.
