Parshas Vayeishev brings us to the story
of Yosef and his brothers. The story of how the brothers sold Yosef as a slave
to Egypt is well known, as are the events leading up to and following the sale.
This story is very hard to understand on many levels for obvious reasons, how
could anybody, let alone the sons of Yaakov, sell their sibling into
slavery? One thing is certain though, Yosef’s journey to Egypt began his
journey to greatness. The main catalyst to it is what we will talk about this
week.
When Yosef is brought to Egypt, he is
sold to the house of Potiphar, a minister of Paroh, and eventually works his
way up to become the head of the household. The Torah tells us that Yosef was a
good-looking guy and he soon drew the attention of Potiphar’s wife. Despite her
constant advances, Yosef was able to maintain his distance. One day the entire
household was out celebrating an Egyptian holiday and she used this opportunity
to once again entice Yosef. Even with the Evil Inclination at its strongest,
Yosef was once again able to resist and ran out of the house. “וַתִּתְפְּשֵׂהוּ
בְּבִגְדוֹ לֵאמֹר שִׁכְבָה עִמִּי וַיַּעֲזֹב בִּגְדוֹ בְּיָדָהּ וַיָּנָס וַיֵּצֵא
הַחוּצָה” “She grabbed him by his garment saying, ‘Lie with me!’ But
he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside.” (Bereishis
(39:12). Because of this incredible act of self-control, Yosef was given the
title Yosef HaTzaddik, Yosef the Righteous.
The commentaries point out that this
pasuk seems a little wordy. Why do we need to know that he both fled and
went outside, shouldn’t one suffice? Chazal tell us an interesting idea on a
pasuk we say in Hallel, “הַיָּם רָאָה וַיָּנֹס” “the
sea saw and fled” (Tehillim 114:3). This is referring to the time of Krias
Yam Suf, the Splitting of the Red Sea. Chazal explain that when the sea saw the
coffin of Yosef which Bnei Yisrael had brought with them out of Egypt, it
immediately fled, the same way that Yosef fled from Potiphar’s wife (Tanchuma
9). What is it about Yosef’s act that caused the sea to split?
The Gemarah in Kesubos
(30b) explains that nowadays, since we do not have courts that can carry out
capital punishment, a person who would be deserving of death will die a similar
death to the one he would have been given. For example, the punishment for
purposely desecrating the Shabbos is Stoning, so nowadays this person would
perhaps die by falling off of a rocky cliff. The punishment for illicit
relations is Strangulation which could be accomplished nowadays by drowning in
the ocean and being strangled by the waters.
We can now understand
the connection between Yosef and the sea. When Yosef fled from Potiphar’s wife
and the potential punishment of Strangulation, he gave Bnei Yisrael the merit
which enabled them to travel safely through the waters which would have
otherwise suffocated them. Furthermore, by fleeing the scene, Yosef went
against basic human nature, so therefore the sea also went against its’ basic
nature and split. As a final proof to this, we have mentioned several times
that the Egyptian nation was known for its’ licentiousness. It is for this
reason that the sea did not stay split for them but instead came crashing back
down upon them, drowning them all.
We see a very powerful
idea from this story, that any one of our actions can have ever-reaching
consequences. When Yosef fled from the scene, there was no way he could have
imagined the future millions of Bnei Yisrael standing on the beach, staring in amazement
as the sea split in two. While we might not have to picture the results of our
actions 200 years down the line, let us at least try to view all our actions in
how they will affect our family, friends, and ourselves.
Shabbat Shalom!
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