Vayeshev

The Trials of Yosef

The Poor, the Rich, and the Wicked

The gemara (Yoma 35b) famously describes the experiences of a poor person, a rich person, and a wicked person in the Heavenly court. Each is asked why they did not occupy themselves with Torah, and each offers a different excuse.

The poor person argues, “I was poor and I was harried by the need to earn a living”, but he is swiftly rebuffed: “Were you poorer than Hillel? Hillel only earned two coins each day but he used one to pay to enter the Beit Hamedrash to learn Torah.”

The rich man defends himself thus: “I was rich and I was harried by the need to attend to my estate”, but he too is rebuffed: “Were you wealthier than Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom whose father left him 1000 cities and 1000 ships? In spite of his vast wealth he would travel from one country to another in order to learn Torah.”

The wicked person offers yet another excuse: “I was attractive and harried by the temptations of my inclination.” This pretext is also dismissed. “Were you more attractive than Yosef? Yosef was subject to extraordinary temptation; the wife of Potifar tried with all her might to convince him to sin. She changed her clothes constantly, she threatened him with incarceration and injury, and she bribed him. But he stood strong.”

The gemara concludes: “It follows that Hillel obligates the poor, Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom obligates the rich, and Yosef obligates the wicked.”

Emulating Hillel, Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom, and Yosef haTzaddik

This fascinating gemara raises an obvious question. How can a regular poor, rich, or wicked person be expected to equal the achievements of such giants as Hillel, Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom, and Yosef haTzaddik? Can ordinary people exhibit the extraordinary self-sacrifice of Hillel amidst dire poverty, the astonishing dedication of Rabbi Elazar ben Charsom with the distractions of wealth, or the remarkable righteousness of Yosef?! Surely not. How then can the gemara assert that these three men “obligate the poor, rich, and wicked”?

The Appearance of Ya’akov

We may also ask an additional question. The gemara relates (Sotah 36b) that according to one view, Yosef nearly succumbed to the advances of Potifar’s wife. When the Torah states that “Yosef came to perform his work”, it actually means that he had fallen for the temptation and had come to sin. What prevented him from doing so? It was the following incident, recorded by the gemara:

At that moment an apparition of his father appeared to him in a dream and said to him: “Yosef - your brothers are destined to be inscribed on the stones of the apron (of the Kohen Gadol), with your name among them. Do you want your name to be erased from among them?”

Seeing this, Yosef resolved not to sin.

In other words, Yosef only managed to overcome the temptation to sin by means of a miraculous appearance from his father at the last moment. Usually, once a person has reached the moment of sin he is unable to control himself - a “ru’ach shtut - a spirit of folly overcomes him and he is impervious to spiritual influences or to rational argumentation. Yosef was only saved by dint of an outright miracle.

But this seems to undermine the aforementioned gemara in masechet Yoma. How can Yosef’s righteousness be used as a stick to beat the wicked given that he needed a miracle to help him prevail? The wicked can rightfully claim, “I would also not have sinned if a miracle had occurred to prevent it!”

Tests, Trials, and Challenges

The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot relates that Avraham Avinu withstood ten tests. These tests, though extremely challenging, appear to be eclipsed by some of the tests that we face today. Each day we are tested constantly, in matters of Bein Adam laChavero, in attempting to concentrate during tefila, in guarding our eyes, etc. Why then does the Mishna so greatly praise Avraham for withstanding his challenges?

The answer is that Avraham’s tests were entirely different. The gemara explains that while “a person’s evil inclination seeks to overcome him every day”, Hashem offers him aid and assistance - “if Hashem would not help him he would not prevail”. In other words, while we certainly face many tests and challenges, Hashem is always by our side, strengthening and encouraging us.

This was not the case with Avraham Avinu. Hashem tested him ten times and did not help him prevail. His triumph was therefore extremely worthy of note.

Proof to this may be adduced from Rashi in Parashat Noach (citing the Medrash). Rashi contrasts Noach with Avraham, explaining that while Noach required assistance and support in upholding his righteousness, Avraham Avinu succeeded under his own steam.

The same may also be said of Yosef haTzaddik. Each day as Potifar’s wife attempted to seduce him he manage to withstand it purely by his own efforts and his fear of Heaven - he was not granted special assistance from Hashem

This is why Yosef’s conduct can be used to “obligate the wicked”. Though indeed the regular person is not as righteous as Yosef, he can rely on Heavenly assistance to overcome his challenges. If Yosef could overcome challenges with no Heavenly assistance, we can surely overcome ours with the help of Heavenly assistance, Yosef’s righteousness notwithstanding.

Now to our second question: How can Yosef’s success obligate others when his success was due to a miracle?

The Sefer Achat Sha’alti suggests the following. The miracle that rescued Yosef was his reward for having withstood the temptation on all the days that preceded it. A person must overcome the small, daily temptations that arise, training himself to avoid sin and inculcate himself with the fear of Heaven. If he does so he has indeed emulated Yosef haTzaddik and perhaps he too will be granted a miracle if he encounters a temptation that is simply too enormous for him to withstand.

We may also suggest a similar idea. If a person tries with all his might to withstand the tests that come his way and succeeds to the degree that Hashem expects of him, Hashem will indeed perform miracles for him. Since he fights to the limit of his capabilities Hashem helps him fight the temptations that would be too difficult for him to withstand alone. This is what occurred to Yosef and it also applies to us.

Not for nothing did Yosef attain such a unique status in history. He is understood to have assumed a status of “Av”, equivalent in some ways to Avraham, Yitzchak, and Ya’akov and thus provided two Shevatim rather than one. He reached these rarefied levels because he distanced himself from sin and overcame temptation. This is an extremely important message for us today.

Mekubalim relates that a person may struggle with parnasa because he fails to “guard the brit”. Yosef who successfully “guarded the brit” when he rebuffed the advances of Potifar’s wife, later became the “Mashbir” - the one who provided sustenance to all of Mitzrayim. It follows that sustenance depends upon emulating the ways of Yosef. This is also alluded to by the gemara which states, “Man’s parnasa is as difficult as Kriat Yam Suf…. Man’s finding a mate is as difficult as Kriat Yam Suf”. Finding a mate which is closely related to guarding the brit, is equated with parnasa. In addition, the Yam Suf is said to have “run away” and split in the merit of Yosef who ran away from Potifar’s wife.

Each of us should strengthen ourselves in matters of kedusha. We must make doubly sure that we guard ourselves from all of the daily trials and pitfalls so that we merit Hashem’s protection from the enormous temptations that may come our way.

May Hashem grant us the strength to withstand all temptations and tests, and thereby merit to see a speedy geula,  a safe return of all our hostages , a victory to our Chayalim and a refuah shelema to all the injured and to all klal Israel . Amen.

Chanukah Sameach and Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi Gad Bouskila