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“And it came to pass at that time and Yehudah went down from his brothers.” (38:1)

Rashi  comments: This is to teach us that his brothers lowered him from his exalted rank,  when they saw  their father’s grief.  They said “You said to sell him. Had you said to return him, we would have listened to you.” Sforno comments in  even stronger  terms by  claiming that  the tragic loss  of  Yehuda’s  two  sons  was  a punishment for not insisting that Yosef be saved. The  accusation  being  leveled  at Yehudah  and  the resulting punishments seem overly severe. Surely had Yehudah felt  that his brothers would accept his words, he would have asserted himself and demanded  that Yosef …

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“And he went into the house to do his work.” (39:11)

Potiphar’s wife  made every  attempt to  entice Yosef  to sin.  Chazal comment that  it  was  the  appearance  of  his  father’s image  which ultimately  saved  him  from  falling  prey  to her enticements. We may suggest a novel approach to the narrative of Yosef and Potiphar’s wife, which has its roots  in Yosef’s  whole approach  to service  of Hashem. Yaakov taught his  children that one should be “a simple scholarly man dwelling in tents” and to simply  maintain a low  profile  when associating with the rest of the  world. This outlook  mandates one to refrain from any form of assimilation, such as …

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וימאן

But he (Yosef) adamantly refused. (39:8)

Chazal (Yoma 35:13) teach that, if a wicked person (his neshamah, soul) comes before the Heavenly Tribunal and is asked, “Why did you not engage in Torah study?” and he replies, “I was handsome and preoccupied with my evil inclination,” we reply to him, “Were you any more handsome than Yosef who did not neglect Torah, despite his beauty?” Chazal go on to describe Potifar’s wife’s various machinations to entice Yosef to be with her. He rejected it all because of his abiding devotion to Hashem. This may be good and well, but Chazal (Sotah 36B) add something to the…

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