Miketz 5774: Osnat

“And Pharaoh named Yosef (Joseph) Tzaphenat Pa’neach, and he gave him Osnat, the daughter of Potiphera, the governor of On, for a wife, and Yosef went forth over the land of Egypt.” (Bereishit/Genesis 41:45)

“And to Yosef were born two sons before the year of the famine set in, whom Osnat, the daughter of Potiphera, the governor of On, bore to him.” (Bereishit 41:50)

In this week’s Torah portion, Yosef, now the viceroy of Egypt, marries. Does he marry an Egyptian woman? Writes Tamar Kadari on jwa.org: “The question of Asenath’s (Osnat’s) origins has significant consequences for the standing within the Israelite tribes of Manasseh (Menashe) and Ephraim, the two sons born to Asenath and Joseph.”

Ms. Kadari explains that there are two rabbinic approaches to the issue of Osnat’s descent. The first view contends that Osnat is an ethnic Egyptian who converts before marrying Yosef. The other position holds that Osnat is a member of Yaakov’s (Jacob’s) family – she is Dina’s daughter, conceived when Shechem violates Dina.  According to this approach, G-d directs matters so Osnat ends up in Egypt, in order for Yosef to find a spouse from among the members of his own family.

How does Osnat end up in Egypt? The Midrash (Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer 35-38) tells that Dina’s brothers want to kill the baby girl to prevent public disgrace. To protect her, Yaakov places a gold amulet around Osnat’s neck and hides her in a bush, in Hebrew, sneh, from which the name Osnat may derive. (Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Sielgelbaum writes that the name Osnat may also derive from the Hebrew word senua, hatred.) An angel, or in another version, an eagle, carries Osnat to Egypt.

A different Midrash tells that Dina places Osnat on the Egyptian wall. Potiphera discovers her crying and brings her to his barren wife, who raises Osnat as her own. (This is the same wife who in the previous Torah portion tries to seduce Yosef and has him jailed when he refuses her advances.)

As to the amulet, there are various accounts of the written message it contains: a recounting of the episode with Shechem; the name of G-d; and/or “Whoever cleaves to you cleaves to the seed of Yaakov.”  (Targum Onkelos, Vayechi 48:9)

Reuven A. Stone adapts the Midrash on torahtots.com: “When Yosef was promoted from lowly prisoner to viceroy, Pharaoh had him led through the streets on a beautiful chariot. Yosef was very handsome. Local women stood on their roofs and threw their jewels at him to attract his attention. Osnat was no different. Since she had no jewels, she threw her locket.” (Two weeks from now, in the Torah portion Vayechi, the text mentions how women are attracted to Yosef and “stride the wall” to gaze at him when he rides by.) (Bereishit 49:22)

Vayechi begins with Yosef’s return to Yaakov in order to receive his and his sons’ blessings. “Then Yisroel [Yaakov] saw Yosef’s sons and he said. ‘Who are these?’ Yosef said to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom G-d gave me here.’”   (Bereishit 47:8-9) Writes Rashi: “He [Yosef] showed him [Yaakov] the document of betrothal [to Osnat] and the ketubah (marriage contract.) Only then does the Shechina (G-d’s presence) return to Yaakov and he blesses the sons.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asenath-midrash-and-aggadah

http://www.torahtots.com/parsha/breishis/miketz3.htm  

This week’s blog is in honor of the bat mitzvah of Yael Stochel.