Vayeishev 5 - The Controversy of Judah and Joseph

A d'var torah that I wrote for this week's issue of the UPenn d'var torah newsletter. I also handed in a condensed version, in the event that space constraints are an issue, but this is the full version.
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In this week’s sedra, the two parshiyos describing Judah’s family and Joseph in the house of Potiphar are treated as one unit, being separated from each other by a minor break and being separated from the preceding and following parshiyos by major breaks. A close examination reveals that the two stories are eerily similar to one another: In both stories, one of the brothers is separated from his family and becomes attached to a new family; meets with a measure of success; has his world turned upside down by a woman; attempts to resist the woman; and continues to be pursued by the woman. Ultimately, Joseph successfully resists the woman, while Judah acquiesces to her temptation. Given the stunning parallelisms between these two stories, why do they have different results? Why did Joseph pass his test with full marks, while Judah stumbled?

Rachel, Joseph’s mother, is described by her complete physical beauty, representing engagement with the world. Judah’s mother, Leah, was described by her beautiful eyes, emphasizing her focus on the hidden intellectual and spiritual realms. It was the active Rachel who watered her father’s sheep, who asserted herself in demanding that her husband pray for her and that her sister share her love-fruits with her, who struggled with God’s decrees, and who had the foresight to steal her father’s teraphim. The retiring Leah calmly accepted everything she received. When she left her tent to speak to Jacob, Midrash Tanchuma (7) finds it so shocking that it compares it to Dinah’s going forth that resulted in her being assaulted. Once Rachel bore Jacob a child, he was ready to confront Esau, as he now possessed physicality to fight physicality.

Judah is named after “Hoda’ah”, thanksgiving. The word hoda’ah in a more general sense means admission or concession. One who concedes a point reciprocates exactly what is set before him, no more and no less. Joseph is named after “Asifah”, after the reduction of Rachel’s shame, and “Hosafah”, after Rachel’s desire for an additional child. Judah is associated with repetition and stability, Joseph with addition and subtraction.

R’ Joseph B. Soloveitchik in his address “And Joseph Dreamt a Dream” (included in Chameish Derashot) notes that Joseph realized that the time of the prophecy that Abraham’s descendants would be strangers in a strange land was very near, and that his family would then be forced to adapt to a new environment. Hence, he told his brothers his dreams in preparation for the time when his skills of engagement and reaction to change would be needed. His brothers, though, did not accept his arguments that a change from their current lifestyle would be necessary. They viewed the future as a continuation of the present, and instead concluded that he was their generation’s Ishmael or Esau, who was not content with his role, but rather sought to overstep into the boundaries of others. To neutralize this threat, Judah recommended that they dismiss Joseph from the family heritage, just as Abraham expelled Ishmael and Esau removed himself to Mount Se’ir.

When Judah left his comfort zone, he was anchored by his friend Chirah and by his wife and children, who replaced the society that he had lost. Joseph similarly prospered in the house of Potiphar. At the time of crisis, though, when the two men were left alone with their inclinations, Joseph’s ability to adapt to this intensified challenge enabled him to overcome, while Judah, on the other hand, succumbed. Joseph, with his gift for adapting to new situations, ultimately became the Egyptian viceroy and used his foresight to save the region from famine; Judah utilized his skill in strengthening the status quo in organizing the transfer of the Jewish settlement to Goshen. Joseph is compared to an ox, which is intimately connected to physical needs. Judah is referred to as a lion, whose awe-inspiring roar is compared to the blast of prophecy. When Moses died, it was Joseph’s descendant, Joshua, who had the skills to lead the people into their new phase. Judah’s descendant, Osniel ben Kenaz, restored to the nation the laws that had been forgotten during the mourning for Moses.

When King Solomon’s son Rechav’am refused to acknowledge the paradigm shift resulting from his father’s death, the northern tribes broke away and coronated as king Yarav’am ben Nevat, a scion of Joseph. Yarav’am’s beginning was auspicious, as he was given license to reign by the prophet Achiyah HaShiloni. Things quickly went awry, though, as Yarav’am became distracted from his designated purpose, and replaced the Temple in Jerusalem with local temples. Sanhedrin 102b relates that after these events, God told Yarav’am, “If you recant, then you, I, and [David] the son of Jesse will stroll together in the Garden of Eden – but David shall walk in front.” Yarav’am refused to depart from his chosen path, and became one of the most disastrous kings in our history. Yarav’am had great potential, but made the mistake of overvaluing himself and losing sight of the fact that his Judaism was authenticated only by its subordination to that of Judah. Once he viewed himself as superior to the Judean king, all was lost.

The prophet Ezekiel describes the conclusion of this struggle between the descendants of Judah and of Joseph. The twin staffs shall ultimately become one, under the unification of a Davidic monarch. Although David was a descendant of Judah, he possessed both the beautiful eyes of his grandmother Leah and the ruddy physical beauty of Rachel. In the end of days, Judah shall again be regnant, but shall be revitalized by the beauty of Joseph.

Trivia - Vayeshev 3 - Amnon

This week's sedra seems to have a lot of similarities to the story of Amnon in II Shmuel chapter 13. By a lot, I mean at least 7. All 7 are real connections, stuff that can't be said about any other section of Tanach besides these two (I believe), as opposed to features common to numerous episodes in Tanach. I don't think that the connections are strong enough for me to write an essay making the claim that I did a few days ago regarding the stories of Yehuda and Yosef in the middle two chapters of this week's parsha, but it's still extremely strange.

I think that I'll end my post now and leave this as a trivia question.

Clarification, 10:50 a: The question is what the 7 connections are. They're all primarily textually based.

Update, 12/28: Moving through the parsha of Amnon step-by-step...

• A significant character named Tamar.
• Amnon interacts with a friend, as did Yehudah. (I believe that Chirah and Yonadav are the only significant characters (as opposed to Shimshon's unnamed friend) who are described in this way).
• Amnon's story begins with Yonadav's question to him, "Why are you looking so lean every morning?", while the story of the butler and the baker begins with Yosef's similar query to the butler and baker, "Why are your countenances bad today?".
  
• Amnon demanded of Tamar, "Lay with me", as did Potiphar's wife of Yosef.
  
• Tamar was wearing a k'sones pasim, which we only find elsewhere by Yosef.
• The event that introduces the climax of the story which takes place after a break in time is Avshalom shearing his sheep. The event that introduces the climax of the story of Yehudah and Tamar is Yehudah shearing his sheep.
• David tore his garments upon hearing an incorrect report that all of his sons were killed. Similar to Yaakov tearing his garments over an incorrect report.
• "And he mourned for his son for all of the days", found by David, is similar to Yaakov's "And he mourned for his son for many days".

8 connections: 3 from the sale of Yosef, 3 from Yehudah's story, 1 from the incident with Potiphar's wife, and 1 from the story of the butler and the baker.

Vayeishev 2 - Yehudah and Yosef

I began to write this as a tangent to a post on my other blog, Parshiyos, but decided that this was somewhat off-topic there (and also that I've been neglecting this blog). There's definitely room for improvement, but even as it is, I think it's pretty interesting.

I noticed that the Torah separates between the story of Yehudah and Tamar and the story of Yosef and Potiphar's wife with a s'tumah, creating a minor break, rather than with a p'sucha, which would have been a more major break. This is curious, in that the two stories utilize entirely different protagonists, entirely different supporting casts, and settings miles apart. (I would say that the s'tumah is what the Torah uses to indicate parallelism between two parshiyos, but I already argued that this is the meaning of an "extreme p'sucha", where it's a p'sucha that doesn't start with a conjunctive vav.) The two stories do have certain stylistic similarities, though. Let's examine:

1)
38:1 - And Yehudah went down from his brothers, and he turned unto an Adulamite man, whose name was Chirah.
39:1 - And Yosef was brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar the officer of Pharoah, chief executioner, purchased him.

It already looks interesting. Both Yehudah and Yosef begin the parsha with a descent. The active descent of Yehudah is contrasted with the passive descent of Yosef. Similarly, Yehudah's descent from his brothers, emphasizing the significance of his origin (we don't even know where he went down to!), is contrasted with Yosef's descent to Egypt. Both immediately move into the orbit of another man: Yehudah to Chirah and Yosef to Potiphar. The words "Va-yet ad" used by Yehudah is of somewhat unclear meaning, but "Va-yet" was used with reference to Avraham's transient dwelling in 12:8. Why is Yehudah now channeling his great grandfather? By going down to Egypt, even against his will, Yosef is channeling his great-grandfather!

2)
38:2-6 - Yehudah marries, has three children, and marries one of them off
39:2-6 - Yosef thrives in the house of Potiphar.

Both Yehudah and Yosef meet with success in the house of their host.

3)
38:7-10 - Er and Onan are both killed after marrying Tamar.
39:7 - Potiphar's wife propositions Yosef.

Both Yehudah and Yosef have their idyllic worlds rocked by a woman.

4)
38:11 - Yehudah tells Tamar to return to her father's house.
39:8-10 - Yosef rejects Potiphar's wife's advances.

Both Yehudah and Yosef try to ignore the changes.

5a)
38:12 - "Vayirbu HaYamim" - Yehudah's wife dies, he's comforted, and he goes up to Timnah with Chirah (his Adulamite friend) to shear his sheep.
39:11 - "Vayhi K'haYom HaZeh" - Yosef comes to the house when no other man is there.

Yom-yom. Yehudah goes up, as opposed to going down, and his host comes with him. Yosef comes to the house, as opposed to being brought, and his host is not there.

5b)
38:13-14 - Tamar sits down by the crossroads.
39:12a - Potiphar's wife grabs Yosef by his garment, and demands of him, "Shichva imi"

Tamar tries to induce Yehudah to proposition her; Potiphar's wife tries to induce Yosef to lay with her.

7)
38:15-19 - Yehudah sees the disguised Tamar and propositions her "Hava na avo eilayich". Yehudah agrees to give Tamar a kid, gives her his signet, his cord, and his staff as collateral, and has relations with her.
39:12b - Yosef flees, leaving his garment in Potiphar's wife's hand.

Yehudah succumbs to Tamar's enticement, and gives her his property. Yosef flees from Potiphar's wife's enticement, but leaves her his property.

38:20-23- Yehudah sends Chirah to bring the kid to the prostitute; he asks around, but cannot find her.
39:13-18- Potiphar's wife tells the men of her house what Yosef did to her, and then tells Potiphar what Yosef did to her.

Yehudah, the defeated one, spreads the word about what he has of Tamar's, first to his host, then to others; Potiphar's wife, the defeated one, spreads the word of what she has of Yosef's, first to others, then to his host.

38:24 - Yehudah is told that Tamar is pregnant from illicit relations, and he sentences her to death.
39:19- Potiphar's wife tells her husband what Yosef did to her, and his anger flares.

Yehudah, the defeated one, hears that Tamar, the victor, has sinned, and sentences her to death; Potiphar's wife, the defeated one, tells her husband that Yosef, the victor, has sinned, and gets him angry (and logically this should have resulted in his being sentenced to death).

38:25-26- Tamar sends Yehudah's collateral to him, and he admits that she was right.
39:20 - Yosef is thrown in prison.

Tamar shows Yehudah his items, which belie his claim and he does not have her killed. (According to the midrash, Potiphar saw that Yosef's garment belied his wife's claim and) Yosef is not killed.

38:27-30- Tamar gives birth to Peretz and Zerach; Yehudah now has three sons, again.
39:21-23- Yosef thrives in prison.

Yehudah is whole again. Yosef is whole again.

In all three stories, we have a man (Yehudah/Yosef), a woman (Tamar/Potiphar's wife), and a host (Chirah/Potiphar). The roles become a little scrambled after the climax.

Incidentally, this may shed light on my question in the previous post about what the significance of Chirah is.

Vayeishev 1 - Chirah

38:1 - Yehudah leaves his brothers, and joins up with a guy from Adulam named Chirah.
38:12 - After the death of Yehudah's wife, the daughter of Shu'a, Yehudah is comforted, and goes up to Timnah to shear his sheep - he and Chirah, his Adulamite friend.
38:20 - Yehudah attempts to send a kid to Tamar as her payment through the agency of his Adulamite friend.

At first glance, Chirah seems to be a fairly unremarkable character. If this is the case, though, why does the Torah keep on pulling him into the story? And why does it tiptoe around his name so strangely? Do we see anyone else who's referred to by a moniker analogous to "his Adulamite friend"?

Chirah seems to be a positive character. When Yehudah sends him to find Tamar, he does not merely look on his own, but takes the initiative of asking around on his own if anyone was familiar with the prostitute who had been at the crossroads.

After the episode of Tamar and the birth of Peretz and Zerach, Chirah vanishes. When Yehudah is back with his brothers, we hear nothing more of this man, who was Yehudah's friend.

What's up with Chirah?