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.    

Vayeishev 5774: Tamar

In this week’s Torah portion, the narrative about Yosef (Joseph) is interrupted by an account of Yosef’s brother, Yehuda (Judah), which comprises the entire chapter 38 (30 verses) of Bereishit (Genesis) and the entire fourth aliyah (reading). http://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading.asp?AID=15555&p=4

Yehuda leaves his brothers and marries a Canaanite woman known as Bat Shua (Shua’s daughter.) He has three sons with her named Er, Onan and Shelah. “And Yehuda acquired a wife for Er, his firstborn, named Tamar.” (Bereishit 38:6) According to the Kehot Chumash, Tamar is the daughter of Noah’s son, Shem, who died 66 years before Tamar’s marriage; this means that Tamar was at least 67 years old when she married Er.

The Kehot Chumash says that despite her age, Tamar still is very beautiful. Afraid that bearing children will diminish Tamar’s beauty, Er interrupts his marital relations with her, deliberately spilling his seed and not regretting that he has broken G-d’s first commandment to be fruitful and multiply. Now Er, Yehuda’s firstborn, was evil in the eyes of the L-rd, and the L-rd put him to death.” (Bereishit 38:7)

"So Yehuda said to Onan, ‘Come to your brother’s wife and perform the rite of the Levirite, and raise up progeny for your brother.” (Bereishit 38:8) Known in Hebrew as yibum, the Levirite rite is that when a man dies childless, his widow marries the man’s brother in order to continue the family name and to assure the widow a place in the family.

“Now Onan knew that the progeny would not be his, and it came about, when he came to his brother’s wife, he wasted [his semen] on the ground, in order not to give seed to his brother.” (Bereishit 38:9) Onan is concerned that fathering a son will reduce his own inheritance, so he prevents Tamar from conceiving. “Now what he did was evil in the eyes of the L-rd, and He put him to death also.” (Bereishit 38:10) From Er and now Onan, we learn that Jewish law prohibits the practice of “onanism,” wasting sperm through masturbation or interrupted coitus.

“Then Yehuda said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, ‘Remain as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up,’ for he said [to himself], “Lest he, too, die, like his brothers.’ So Tamar went, and she remained in her father’s house.”  (Bereishit 38:11)  Since Tamar lost two husbands, Yehuda suspects that she is a “lethal woman,” in Hebrew, isha katlanit. Wanting to protect his youngest son from the same fate as his brothers, Yehuda sends away Tamar.

Shelah comes of age, but Yehuda does not allow Tamar to marry him. Meanwhile, Yehuda’s wife dies; after a period of mourning Yehuda resumes his normal activities and attends to shearing his sheep. (Sheep shearing is a festive occasion, so a mourner would not participate.)

According to Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in Women at the Crossroads, Tamar prophetically understands that she and Yehuda must produce a child who will be the progenitor of King David and of the future Moshiach (Messiah). The Rebbetzin notes that Sforno contends that Tamar’s intention is “for the sake of heaven” when she takes matters into her own hands and devises a plan to conceive a child with Yehuda.

“She [Tamar] took off her widow’s garb, covered [her head] with a veil and covered her face, and she sat down at the crossroads…When Yehuda saw her, he thought she was a harlot, because she covered her face. So he turned aside toward her to the road, and he said, ‘Get ready now, I will come to you,’ for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law, and she said, ‘What will you give me that you should come to me?’ And he said, ‘I will send a kid from the herd,’ and she said, ‘[Only] if you give me a pledge until you send [it].’ So he said, ‘What is the pledge that I should give you?’ And she said, ‘Your signet, your cloak and the staff that is in your hand.’ So he gave them to her, and he came to her, and she conceived his likeness. Then she arose and went away, and she took off her veil, and she donned her widow’s garb.” (Bereishit 38:14-19)

Kehot Chumash comments that Yehuda does not recognize Tamar because “she always covers her face when she visits his house as his daughter-in-law, thus showing herself to be a paragon of modesty and righteousness.” Tamar’s experience with Yehuda on the crossroads is therefore out of character for her; she engages in behavior unnatural to her in order to achieve a holy purpose.

The Rebbetzin remarks that the text says Yehuda “turned to” Tamar, rather than “went to” her. She writes: “Da’at Zekeinim explains that Yehuda wanted to pass her by, when Tamar lifted her eyes and prayed…Immediately G-d sent the angel Michael to turn him back.” (Michael is the angel in charge of physical desire and he is able to change Yehuda’s will.)

Yehuda sends his friend, with the promised kid, to look for the woman and collect his signet, cloak and staff.   Although he asks around, the friend cannot find the woman and returns empty-handed. To avoid becoming a laughingstock and to protect his public image, Yehuda calls off the search.

“Now it came about after nearly three months, that it was told to Yehuda, saying, ‘Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot, and behold, she is pregnant from harlotry.’ So Yehuda said, ‘Bring her out, and let her be burned.’” (Bereishit 38:24) Explains the Kehot Chumash: “When humanity collectively forswore licentiousness after the flood, it agreed to punish priests’ daughters who act licentiously with death by burning, echoing the Torah’s decree.” Since Tamar is the daughter of Shem, a priest, Yehuda orders Tamar’s death sentence.

Tamar has the means to save her life and that of her unborn child. She could publically display Yehuda’s possessions and “out” Yehuda as the baby’s father. Instead, she sends Yehuda the items with a private message: “‘From the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant,’ and she said, ‘Please recognize, whose signet ring, cloak and staff are these?’” (Bereishit 38:25) Writes Rashi: “She did not want to embarrass him and say, ‘From you I am pregnant.’…She said, ‘If he confesses by himself, let him confess, and if not, let them burn me, but I will not embarrass him.’”

“Then Yehuda recognized [them] and he said, “Tzadkah mimeni -- She is right, [it is] from me, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.” (Bereishit 38:26) Yehuda thereby justifies Tamar’s actions and takes responsibility for his own actions.

The Rebbetzin notes that the phrase tzadkah mimeni may have a different translation and interpretation: “She is more righteous than I.”  She offers a third interpretation, that the word mimeni (from me) is proclaimed by a heavenly voice: “From Me and My Agency have these things happened.” In other words, the sequence of events that leads to Yehuda and Tamar’s union, and their subsequent conception of the progenitor of kings, is pre-ordained.

After a shortened pregnancy of seven months (Midrash, Bereishit Rabbah 85:13), Tamar gives birth to twin boys whom she names Peretz and Zerach. The Book of Ruth (4:18-22) concludes with a genealogy that traces the ancestry of King David from Peretz. 

Vayishlach 5774: Dina

“And afterwards, she [Leah] bore a daughter, and she named her Dina.” (Bereishit/Genesis 30:21)

Dina’s birth is recorded in the previous Torah portion. After bearing six sons with Yaakov (Jacob), Leah conceives again. Her sister, Rachel, who also is married to Yaakov, has not yet conceived, but two handmaids have each borne two sons with Yaakov.

Rashi explains that Leah knows Yaakov will father twelve sons and he already has ten. If Leah has a son, Leah reasons that Rachel will only have the opportunity to bear one son, fewer than the handmaids. In order to save Rachel from embarrassment, Leah prays that her unborn baby will be a girl. As a result of her prayer, the baby boy in Leah’s womb is transformed into a girl whom she names Dina.

In this week’s Torah portion, after twenty years growing his family and his wealth in his father-in-law’s household, Yaakov sets out to return to Canaan. He prepares to reunite with his estranged brother, Esav (Esau.) “And he [Yaakov} arose during that night, and he took his two wives and his two maidservants and his eleven sons, and he crossed the ford of [the] Jabbok.”(Bereishit 32:23)

The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah-Vayishlach 76:9) notes a glaring omission in this verse. Dina, Yaakov’s only daughter, must have been traveling with the family, yet the text only mentions her brothers. Where is Dina? “[Yaakov] placed her in a chest and locked her in. He said, ‘This evil man [Esav] has a haughty eye – lest he see her and take her from me [as a wife].’”

After his encounter with Esav, Yaakov settles with his family in Shechem, in Canaan. “Dina, the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Yaakov, went out to look inside the daughters of the land.” (Bereishit 34:1)

Why is Dina described here as the “daughter of Leah?” Rashi explains from the Midrash (Tanchuma Vayishlach 7): “Because of her going out, she was called the daughter of Leah, since she [Leah] too was in the habit of going out, as it is said [in Bereishit 30:16]: ‘And Leah came forth toward him [Yaakov].’ And concerning her, they devise the proverb ‘like mother like daughter.’” (Bereishit Rabbah 80:1)

Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in Women at the Crossroads: “This comparison does not come to denigrate Dina, as Abarbanel explains. At first when Yaakov agreed to marry Rachel, but instead was given Leah, he did not recognize her until the next morning because of her modesty. When she later went out towards Yaakov and said ‘you must come to me’ her intention was for the sake of Heaven to bear his children and raise the tribes of Israel. The proof is that she merited that same night to conceive Yisaschar, who represents Torah.”

The Rebbetzin goes on to explain that Dina does not have improper intentions when she leaves the tent. As the only daughter in a household of boys, she longs to see the clothing and jewelry of other women and to get to know “the way of young women.” When the prince Shechem sends music-playing girls around Dina’s tent, Dina cannot resist going out. (Ohr HaChayim and Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 38)

The Lubavitcher Rebbe presents a different rationale for Dina’s venturing out. Yanki Tauber adapts the Rebbe’s teachings on meaningfullife.com (and reprinted on chabad.org): “Dina’s going out to make the acquaintance of the daughters of the land was fully in keeping with her and her mother’s unique gifts. Her exposure to an alien environment would not have adversely affected her Jewish femininity. On the contrary, she was born to the role of the outgoing Jewish woman who serves as a source of enlightenment to her surroundings without compromising her modesty.”

Rebbetzin Siegelbaum comments on the grammar of the verse, noting that it does not contain the Hebrew word et, a grammatical insert to indicate that the following word is the object of the sentence. Instead, the verse uses b’, which means “inside.” She therefore renders the translation “Dina went out to look inside the daughters of the land.”

Writes the Rebbetzin, citing Be’er Mayim Chayim: “Dina went out to see the inner depths of the hearts of the gentile girls in order to learn who would be receptive to her influence…This teaches that there is a way for a modest woman to ‘go out’ and benefit the world without being harmed.” 

Yaakov, the Rebbe teaches, does not recognize Dina’s ability to retain her values while going out to positively influence outsiders; as a protective father, he seeks to shield her from negative outside influences, and he goes so far as to hide Dina from Esav. Rashi raises the possibility that had Yaakov allowed Dina to marry Esav, Dina might have been able to influence Esav to repent.

Unfortunately, Yaakov’s efforts to closet Dina have drastic consequences. “And Shechem the son of Chamor, the Chivite, the prince of the land, saw her [Dina], and he took her, lay with her, and violated her.” (Bereishit 34:2) Dina’s brothers, Shimon and Levi, avenge the rape.

The Midrash (Yalkut Shimoni 134) tells that Dina becomes pregnant from this union and has a baby girl called Osnat. The baby ends up in Egypt and is raised by Potiphar and his wife. When Osnat comes of age, she marries Yosef (Joseph), her uncle.

http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2668/jewish/Outgoing-Woman.htm

http://www.aish.com/jl/b/women/Women-in-the-Bible-5-Dinah.html

Vayeitzei 5774: Rachel and Leah

In this week’s Torah portion, Yaakov (Jacob) heads to Charan to escape his brother Esav’s (Esau’s) wrath and to find a wife from amongst his own people.

“And it came to pass, when Yaakov saw Rachel, the daughter of Lavan (Laban), his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Lavan, his mother’s brother, that Yaakov drew near and rolled the rock off the mouth of the well, and he watered the sheep of Lavan, his mother’s brother. And Yaakov kissed Rachel, and he raised his voice and wept.” (Bereishit/Genesis 29:10-11)

Rashi writes that Yaakov weeps because he foresees that Rachel will not be buried beside him. Rabbi Moshe Hadarshan explains that Yaakov cries because he has arrived empty-handed, unlike his grandfather’s servant Eliezer, who arrived in Charan with engagement gifts for his mother Rivka (Rebecca).

“Lavan had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah’s eyes were tender, but Rachel had beautiful features and a beautiful complexion.” (Bereishit 29: 16-17)

Talmud (Bava Basra 123a) explains that Leah’s eyes are weak because she weeps profusely when she learns she is destined to marry Yaakov’s brother Esav, who she is told is an evil robber. Writes Rebbetzin Chana Bracha Siegelbaum in Women at the Crossroads: “Her eyes were soft from crying out to G-d in heartfelt prayer. This prayer enabled her to transcend her destiny and merit to become a partner with her sister in building the house of Israel.”

“And Yaakov loved Rachel and he said [to Lavan], ‘I will work for you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter.’…So Yaakov worked for Rachel seven years, but they appeared to him like a few days because of his love for her.” (Bereishit 29:18, 20)

At the end of seven years, Yaakov asks Lavan to make good on his promise to allow Yaakov to marry Rachel. Anticipating the possibility of Lavan’s deception, Yaakov and Rachel devise a series of signals so that Yaakov will be able to recognize his bride, even though she will be heavily veiled. However, when Rachel learns of Lavan’s plan to deceive Yaakov by substituting Leah for Rachel, Rachel teaches the signals to Leah. She thereby protects Leah from the embarrassment of having the deception revealed in front of the wedding guests.

After discovering Lavan’s ruse the morning after the wedding, Yaakov confronts Lavan. Lavan tells him: “It is not done so in our place to give the younger one before the firstborn.” (Bereishit 29:26) This is a not so subtle reference to Yaakov’s deception in taking his brother Esav’s birthright. Lavan then tells Yaakov he must work for another seven years to marry Rachel, which Yaakov does.

“And he came also to Rachel and he also loved Rachel more than Leah; and he worked with him yet another seven years. And the L-rd saw that Leah was hated, so He opened her womb; but Rachel was barren.”  (Bereishit 29:30-31)

Leah gives birth to four sons. She names the first three according to her relationship with Yaakov. The first is Reuven (G-d will see my affliction and Yaakov will love me); the second, Shimon (the L-rd has heard that I am hated); and the third, Levi (Now my husband will be attached to me.) The fourth son she calls Yehuda (I will give thanks.) The Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 71:4) explains that Leah does not expect to have a fourth son. She foresees that Yaakov will have twelve sons and she expects that the sons will be equally divided amongst Rachel and two maidservants. She is extremely grateful for her “bonus baby.”

“And Rachel saw that she had not borne [any children] to Yaakov, and Rachel envied her sister, and she said to Yaakov, ‘Give me children, and if not, I am dead.’ And Yaakov became angry with Rachel, and he said, ‘Am I instead of G-d, Who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?’ So she said, ‘Here is my maidservant Bilhah; come to her and she will bear [children] on my knees [I will raise them as my own] so that I, too, will be built up from her.’”  (Bereishit 31:1-3)

How could the righteous Rachel feel jealousy toward her sister? Mrs. Leah Kohn on torah.org explains: “[Rachel] feels that G-d has denied her children because she has fallen short spiritually, while her sister has succeeded. Rashi tells us that Rachel is certain Leah has earned the privilege of having so many children because of her superior righteousness, and that such envy is wholesome.”

Why is Rachel upset with Yaakov, and why does he answer her so harshly, as if to blame her for their inability to conceive since he has children from Leah? Rachel assumes that because he loves her, Yaakov will pray and wear sackcloth until his prayers are answered. Writes the Ramban: “But the prayer of righteous people is not in their control to be answered no matter what. And because she spoke like the whining of beloved women to threaten him with her death [Yaakov] was angry with her.”

Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, gives birth to two sons, Dan and Naftali. Then Leah realizes that she is no longer bearing children, so she gives her maidservant, Zilpah, to Yaakov. Zilpah gives birth to Gad and Asher. Meanwhile, Rachel still has not conceived.

Leah’s son Reuven finds dudaim (commonly translated as “mandrakes” or “mandrake flowers”, but Rashi writes “jasmine.”)  Whatever they are, they supposedly are either for fertility or have an aphrodisiac effect. The mandrake root is said to be shaped like a newborn baby.

“And Rachel said to Leah, ‘Give me your son’s dudaim.’ Leah said to her, ‘Isn’t it enough that you took my husband [he loves you more than he loves me]; now you want my son’s dudaim, too?” Rachel answered, ‘[Yaakov] will lie with you tonight in return for your son’s dudaim.’ When Yaakov came from the field in the evening, and Leah came forth toward him, and she said, ‘You shall come to me because I have hired you with my son’s dudaim.’” (Bereishit 30:14-16)

Mrs. Dina Coopersmith on aish.com notes that Leah’s assertive greeting of Yaakov seems to contradict “the natural modesty inherent in Jewish women.” She quotes the Talmud (Eruvim 11b): “Whoever invites her husband for the sake of a mitzvah [marital intimacy] merits children who are more righteous than even those in the generation of Moshe (Moses.)”

On that night, Leah conceives a fifth son whom she names Yissachar, “reward.”  She then has a sixth son and names him Zevulun, meaning “now my husband surely will make his zevul (chief abode) with me.” After that, Leah conceives again. When she learns she is pregnant, she prays for a girl, in order to save Rachel from the humiliation of bearing only one son, fewer than even her handmaids. As a result of her prayer, the baby boy in Leah’s womb is transformed into a girl.

Leah gives birth to a girl whom she names Dina, “judgment,” recalling how she judged herself and determined that she was not willing to be the cause of her sister’s humiliation. (Kehot Chumash from Rashi and Talmud, Berachos 30a) Finally, Rachel conceives and gives birth to a son she calls Yosef (Joseph), “may He add,” essentially a prayer for a second son.

Yaakov, his wives, children, servants and animals leave Charan to return to Canaan. The story of the journey is recorded in next week’s Torah portion, Vayishlach. After a difficult labor, Rachel gives birth to a son while they are stopped in Bethlehem on the way to Efrat. Before she dies, she names him Ben-Oni, “son of my troubles/sorrows,” but Yaakov changes the name to Binyamin (Benjamin), “son of my right hand/strength.”

“So Rachel died and she was buried on the road to Efrat, which is Bethlehem. And Yaakov erected a monument on her grave; that is the tombstone of Rachel until this day.” (Bereishit 35:20-21)

Many years later, before Yaakov dies, he explains to his son Yosef that G-d commanded him to bury Rachel on the road, rather than in the Cave of Machpela with Chava (Eve), Sarah, Leah, Adam, Avraham and Yitzchak. Rashi comments on Bereishit 48:7: “He [G-d} knew that in the future the [Jerusalem] Temple would be destroyed. The Jewish people will be going into exile and will pass by Rachel’s grave, and she will stand before Him and beg for mercy that they be returned.” (P’sikta Rabati 83)

Leah’s death is not recorded in Torah, but Yaakov mentions where she is buried. (Bereishit 49:31)

http://www.aish.com/jl/b/women/Women-in-the-Bible-Rachel--Leah-Part-1.html?s=raw

http://www.aish.com/jl/b/women/Women-in-the-Bible-4-Rachel-Leah-Part-2.html

http://www.torah.org/learning/women/class55.html

http://www.torah.org/learning/women/class56.html