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.    

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