The Midrash describes an odd detail in Greek persecution of the Jews during the time of the Chanukah story: The Jew&rsquo;s were forced to write a renunciation of their faith on the &lsquo;horn of an ox.&rsquo; What on earth did the poor ox have to do with this sorry chapter in Jewish history?
Kabbalistic and Chassidic thought offers a fascinating answer to this question, by tying the story of Chanukah directly in the story of Joseph&rsquo;s fierce dispute with his brothers. It is a dispute that has lasted for thousands of years, with important implications today.
The children of Jacob were divided into two factions: on one side were ten of the twelve brothers, led by Judah; on the other, Joseph, whose differences with his brothers were the cause of much pain and strife in Jacob&rsquo;s family. The conflict between Joseph and his brothers ran deeper than a multicolored coat or a favorite son&rsquo;s share of his father&rsquo;s affections. It was a conflict between two world-views, between two approaches to life as a Jew in a pagan world.
We learn of the Greeks&rsquo; perversion of Joseph&rsquo;s perspective on Judaism, the importance of oil this holiday, and how we set things right each Chanukah by sharing the light and the oil with the world around us.

2621_15s3aiw.jpg

22_yyj chanukah- english source sheet.pdf

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_12062015.mp4

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_12062015.mp3

yosef

vayigash

vayeishev

judah

chanukah

yeravaam ben nevat

yavan

greece

brothers selling joseph

greek culture

yehuda

Yosef, Yehuda and the Chanukah Story

Judaism Inward Or Outward? The Great Debate #1

On his deathbed Jacob speaks to Joseph: &ldquo;A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye; the women strode along to see him. They made his life bitter and they quarreled with him; archers despised him.&rdquo; Rashi explains: &ldquo;The women of Egypt strode out on the wall to gaze upon his beauty. Of the women, each one strode to a place from which she could catch a glimpse of him.&rdquo;

What is Jacob trying to bring out? Literally, that Joseph&rsquo;s beauty was dazzling. Not only was he appealing to any eye that saw him, but even the Egyptian women were enthralled by his figure. They ascended the walls and fortresses of Egypt to be able to gaze at him. But why is this so relevant on the deathbed of Jacob?

There is a remarkable law in Talmud. While when the Temple existed in Jerusalem you can only eat the meat of the sacrifices within the Jerusalem walls, when the Tabernacle stood in Shilo, in Joseph&rsquo;s territory, you can eat the meat of the offerings as far as the eye could behold the Tabernacle. This law captures the magic and revolution of Joseph which we must appreciate today.

For this we have to understand what was at the root of this conflict in the first family of Israel?&nbsp; Could it be that a multicolored coat or a favorite son&rsquo;s share of his father&rsquo;s affections should generate such profound strife? 

Something deeper was at stake. Joseph and Judah (representing the other brothers) embodied two divergent world-views. They possessed different approaches on the meaning of Judaism, which was just beginning to bud, and the place of the Jewish people in society. The conflict still persists in the Jewish world (though in a different form). At last, perhaps, we can create peace between the weltanschauung of Yehudah and Yosef.

2636_bricks.jpg

22_yyj vayechi- english source sheet.pdf

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_12202015.mp4

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_12202015.mp3

jerusalem

mishkan shilo

yosef and his brothers

Yosef: Tear Down that Wall; Yehudah: Keep Up that Wall 

Class Vayechi

Judaism Inward Or Outward? The Great Debate #2 

This&nbsp;was a &quot;Shabbos Hagadol Derasha (Sermon)&quot;&nbsp;by Rabbi YY Jacobson addressing the Young Israel of Century City, CA, on&nbsp;Sunday, 8 Nissan, 5781, March 21, 2021.

Three of the four questions we ask at the Seder are answered during the night, if only indirectly. But not the fourth question. &ldquo;On all other nights, we don&#39;t dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice? One time, karpas&mdash;a vegetable&mdash;in saltwater; the second time, maror in charoses, bitter herbs (or Romaine Lettuce) in the sweet mixture of apples, pears, nuts, and wine.&rdquo; During the entire seder, it seems, we never get an answer to this question. What is the answer? Why do we dip twice?

There are two dips that characterize Jewish history&mdash;one was the beginning of our exile, and one created the end of our exile. Both involved blood and goats. Joseph&rsquo;s brothers dipped his coat into the blood of a goat, and that is how our exile began. The Jews dipped a hyssop plant into the goat&rsquo;s blood on the eve of Passover&mdash;and that is how redemption began! What do these two dips represent? There is the dip that creates Jewish exile; and the dip that ends it.

Of all the slanders about Jews throughout history, the Blood Libel stands out as the most insane. How could have this ever taken root? The last thing a Jew would ever eat is blood. The Torah categorically prohibits a Jew from eating blood. What is more, there is a heavenly death penalty for a Jew eating blood! Reb Elchanan Wasserman suggested a daring explanation.

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21_7988_shabbos_hagodol_young_israel_century_city.ed8f.mp4

21_7988_shabbos_hagodol_young_israel_century_city.ed8f.mp3

blood

dipping twice

karban pesach

goat

yosef's tunic

The Tragic Story that Came Full Circle on the Night of Pesach

Shabbos Hagadol Derasha Young Israel Century City

A Bloody Tunic: The Dip that Creates Exile; and the Dip that Ends It 

This women&#39;s class was presented on Tuesday morning, 5 Teves 5777, January 3, 2017, At Ohr Chaim shul, Monsey, NY

4037_depositphotos_30784259_original.jpg

22_4037_yosef_sold_or_sent_vayechi_.73e7.pdf

21_4037_rabbi_yy_jacobson_confronting_your_pain_were_you_sold_or_sent_r02_.ae23.mp4

21_4037_rabbi_yy_jacobson_confronting_your_pain_were_you_sold_or_sent_r02_.ae23.mp3

vayechi

dispelling darkness

forgiveness

depression

miketz

resentment

vyigash

happiness

How Could Yosef Forgive His Brothers for All The Suffering They Brought On Him?

Vayigash Women's Class 

Confronting Your Pain: Were You Sold or Sent?

In the listing of the offerings brought by the leaders of the twelve tribes of Israel, in dedication of the newly erected Sanctuary, the seventh leader is from the tribe of Ephraim.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Yet here we face a fascinating question. The leaders of the tribes began offering their contributions on the first day of the month of Nissan, the day the Sanctuary was erected, which was on a Sunday. This means that Ephraim brought his offering on the seventh day of the week, on the Shabbos. But on Shabbos you are not allowed to bring an individual offering? On Shabbos you may not slaughter an animal, nor can you place meat in a fire, nor can you cook meat&mdash;all components necessary for an offering in the Sanctuary?!

The Midrash answers, that Ephraim was a son of Joseph. The tribe of Ephraim carried the genes and legacy of Joseph. Joseph observed the Shabbos in Egypt. So G-d said: &quot;Joseph! You kept Shabbos even before it was given, I will pay you back such that your descendant will offer his sacrifice on Shabbos!&rdquo;&nbsp;

Yet this is so strange. What is the logic behind saying that since Joseph kept Shabbos, and prepared for Shabbos on Friday, his great grandson would bring a sacrifice that ordinarily violates the sanctity of Shabbos?&nbsp;

I will present to you one answer, based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, presented on Shabbos Parshas Metzora, 7 Nissan, 5741 (1981) and on 19 Kislev 5721 (December 8, 1960).

7544_depositphotos_198227688_xl_2015.9ea0.jpg

1025_sermon_5778_epherayim_karban_essay_5780_edited_6_4_20.9866.pdf

shabbos

ephraim

individual

power of individual

potiphar wife

keeping shabbos

An Individual Is a Community: Why Ephraim Can Bring a Shabbos Sacrifice

Essay Nasso/Vayeishev

Are You Afraid of Your Power?

Brother’s Keeper

One day the zookeeper noticed that the orangutan was reading two books, the Bible and Darwin's Origin of Species.

Surprised, he asked the ape, "Why are you reading both those books?"

"Well," said the orangutan, "I just wanted to know if I was my brother's keeper, or my keeper's brother."

The Contrast

Sometimes, the contrast is too conspicuous to ignore. In both stories, the Torah employs the same term: “Ish,” which means, a man. (The term is already used in Bereishis, to describe the first man, Adam.) In two consecutive portions, Vayishlach and Vayeishev, the same term is used. Yet Rashi, based on the tradition of our sages, changes his commentary from one extreme to the other.&nbsp;

In the portion of Vayishlach, we find the term “ish,” a man.

And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn.

Rashi explains that this “man” was the spiritual angel of Esau. In other words, this battle in the middle of the night between Jacob and this mysterious “man,” was part of the ongoing struggle between Jacob and his brother Esau.

Yet, in Vayeishev, we have the same exact term used. But there everything changes.

Joseph was sent by his father Jacob, to go visit his brothers and seek their welfare. Despite his brothers loathing him, Joseph embarked on the journey and he got lost on the way. The Torah tells us:

Then a man found him, and behold, he was straying in the field, and the man asked him, "What are you looking for?"

And he said, "I am looking for my brothers. Tell me now, where are they pasturing?"

Who was this mysterious man, “ish,” who encountered Joseph at that vulnerable moment?

Rashi says it was angel Gabriel, who we see is defined elsewhere in Scriptures as Ish.

Strange. In Vayishlach it says that Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him. In Vayeishev, Joseph is alone, lost in the field, and, again, a man encounters him and asks him what he is searching for. The same exact word is used in both cases to describe this person: Ish. Yet in Vayeishev, Rashi sees him as the angel Gabriel, and in Vayishlach as Esau’s angel?

A Tale of Two Men

The Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum (1887-1979), shared the following explanation in the name of Rabbi Chaim Halberstam, the Divrei Chaim of Tzanz (1793-1876).<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn1" name="_ftnref1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>

Context is always the key. The word may be the same, “ish,” but the question is what does this “ish,” this man, do?

In both stories, there is a person who is vulnerable. In Vayishlach, “Jacob remains alone,” in the middle of the night. He has been away from home for 34 years, and has been dealing with a world-class crook. In Vayeishev, Joseph, a young 17-year-old lad, is also lost and vulnerable. He has left his father, he was an orphan from his mother, and how he was on the way to brothers who despised him. He does not know it, but this journey would take him to slavery, prison, and complete alienation from his family.

In both stories, two people are deeply vulnerable. Father and son. Jacob and Joseph. Both of them meet a stranger. A man who appears out of the blue.

The question is what does this “ish,” this man, do?

Here is the difference. In Jacob’s case, the man sees a lonely man in the middle of the night and pounces on him. There is lonely Jacob in the middle of the night? Let me attack him.

What about in the second story? Here too Joseph is alone. And a man encounters him. But what does the man say and do?

“Then a man found him, and behold, he was straying in the field, and the man asked him, saying, "What are you looking for?"

Do you see the difference? He does not pounce on Joseph. He does not exploit his vulnerability, manipulate his moment of weakness toward his own goals. Instead, he sees it as an opportunity to help. He asks the young lad: What are you looking for? You are a dreamer. I see you are searching for something. What is it that you seek? How can I help you?

And Joseph tells him: “I am searching for my brothers!”

I want a relationship. I am searching for love. For belonging. For understanding. For comradery. &nbsp;For attachment.

So Rashi is simply mirroring the context of the narrative. When a man, encountering a vulnerable person, seizes the opportunity to attack him, that man, Rashi says, is an angel of Esau. But when a man, encountering a vulnerable person, seizes the opportunity to offer a loving hand, a guiding heart, to see how he can be here for you in your search for love and family, this person, Rashi says, must be the angel Gabriel!

The Lesson

We all encounter a person, a child, a teen, an adult, who is “alone,” vulnerable, lonely, lost, confused, bewildered, pained.

We see them in their vulnerability. And we make a choice.

Some of us seize the opportunity to use exploit them. Some people even utilize the opportunity to use them in immoral ways, to abuse them, to pounce on them, to attack them, to hurt them, willingly or unwillingly. Even just to judge them.

But some of us encounter the same vulnerable people. And our response is: My dear boy, my dear girl, my dear friend, tell me what are you looking for? Let me find out what you are searching for, what you yearn for.

We each have to make a choice about what type of “man” we will be. I can either become a force of Esau, or I can become the angel Gabriel.

When the Rebbe Went to Warm Up Soup 

It was the night of Yom Kippur, the holiest night of the year.

The Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, also known as the Alter Rebbe (1745-1812), was praying. Wrapped in his talis and his kitel, he was immersed in his davening, in intimacy with G-d.

Suddenly, he removed his talis and left the shul. It was shocking.

The Rebbe went to the home of a mother who had just given birth. The rest of the family went to the synagogue to pray, so nobody was present. The Rebbe kindled a flame, warmed up a soup on the stove, and fed it to the young mother who desperately needed the food.

I once heard the Lubavitcher Rebbe share this story.<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_edn2" name="_ftnref2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a> And he added: The greatness in the story is not that the Alter Rebbe went on Yom Kippur to save this mother. After all, saving a life override Yom Kippur. The uniqueness of the story is the Rebbe, in the midst of his Yom Kippur prayers, experiencing oneness with the Divine, felt the pain and anguish of the young mother.

Many spiritual people, when they are immersed in transcendence, they become deaf to the cry of a mother and a baby. In contrast, the Alter Rebbe, as he spoke to G-d on the holiest night of the year, his soul could not calm down till he went to comfort a young mother who yearned for help.

______________________________________

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref1" name="_ftn1" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Moshian Shel Yisroel. vol. 2, p. 210

<a href="javascript: void(0);" id="_ednref2" name="_ftn2" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> 19 Kislev 5744 (1983), at a farbrengen celebrating the liberation day of the Alter Rebbe, on 19 Kislev, 1798.

Sometimes, the contrast is too conspicuous to ignore. In both stories, the Torah employs the same term: &ldquo;Ish,&rdquo; which means, a man. In two consecutive portions, Vayishlach and Vayeishev, the same term is used. Yet Rashi, based on the tradition of our sages, changes his commentary from one extreme to the other.&nbsp; 

In Vayishlach, Jacob remains alone, in middle of the night, a man encounters him. Rashi says this man was the guardian angel of Esau. In Vayeishev, Joseph is alone, lost in the field. A man encounters him. Rashi says, it was the angel Gabriel.

But wait! In Vayishlach it says that Jacob remained alone and a man wrestled with him. In Vayeishev, Joseph is alone, lost in the field, and, again, a man encounters him and asks him what he is looking for. The same exact word is used in both cases to describe this person: Eish. Yet in Vayeishes, Rashi sees him as the angel Gabriel, and in Vayishlach as Esau&rsquo;s angel? That seems unfair.

But of course, context is always the key.

7848_essay_vayishlach.7463.jpg

eisav

gabriel

A Tale of Two Angels

Essay Vayishlach/Vayeishev

When You Encounter a Lost Soul, How Do You React?

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Two Roads Diverged in the Woods of History: The Path of Enlightenment &amp; the Path of Surrender. Which One Will Triumph<span dir="RTL" lang="HE" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">?

2613_depositphotos_6311154_original.jpg

22_yyj vayeishev english source sheet.pdf

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_11292015.mp4

21_rabbi_yy_jacobson_sunday_class_11292015.mp3

yehudah

bitul

self expression

The Split Between Yehuda & Yosef Throughout History

Is Religion about Surrender or Self-Expression? 

On his deathbed Jacob speaks to Joseph: &ldquo;A charming son is Joseph, a son charming to the eye; the women strode along to see him. They made his life bitter and they quarreled with him; archers despised him.&rdquo; Rashi explains: &ldquo;The women of Egypt strode on the wall to gaze upon his beauty.&rdquo;

What is Jacob trying to bring out? Literally, that Joseph&rsquo;s beauty was dazzling. Not only was he appealing to any eye that saw him, but even the Egyptian women were enthralled by his figure. They ascended the walls and fortresses of Egypt to be able to gaze at him. But why is this so relevant on the deathbed of Jacob?

What was at the root of the conflict in the first family of Israel?&nbsp; Could it be that a multicolored coat or a favorite son&rsquo;s share of his father&rsquo;s affections should generate such profound strife? Why did Joseph&rsquo;s brothers loath him so deeply?

Joseph and Judah embodied two divergent world-views. They possessed different approaches on the meaning of Judaism, which was just beginning to bud.

There is a remarkable law in Talmud. While when the Temple existed in Jerusalem you can only eat the meat of the sacrifices within the Jerusalem walls, when the Tabernacle stood in Shilo, in Joseph&rsquo;s territory, you can eat the meat of the offerings as far as the eye could behold the Tabernacle. This law captures the magic and revolution of Joseph.

6115_trumpwesternwall.10de.jpg

mishkon

seclusion

shilo

ghetto

universal jew

The Grand Debate Between Judah and Joseph

Essay Vayechi/Vayeishev

Does Judaism Believe in the Wall?

This lecture was presented&nbsp;on Tisha B&#39;Av, 5779, Sunday, August 11, 2019, at 11 Forshay Road, Monsey, NY.

Sometimes when you&#39;re in a dark place you think you&#39;ve been buried, but you&#39;ve actually been planted.

7079_depositphotos_105172936_xl_2015.0473.jpg

21_7079_rabbi_yy_jacobson_tisha_bav_lecture_5579_r03.238c.mp4

21_7079_rabbi_yy_jacobson_tisha_bav_lecture_5579_r03.238c.mp3

pain

molestation

seed

sheaves

abuse

Shir HaMa'alos Beshuv Hashem: A Little Seedling Nurtured by Tears

Tishah B'Av 5779

Those Who Sow With Tears: A Prayer of an Abuse Victim

Indian Weather Prediction
It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild.
Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.
But also being a practical leader, after several days he had an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.
A week later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's definitely going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find.
Two weeks later, he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked. The weatherman replied,
"The Indians are collecting wood like crazy."
Joseph's Drama 
This week's portion (Vayeishev) tells the dramatic story of Joseph, an extremely handsome young man, attracting the lustful imagination of his master's wife. She desperately tries to engage him in a relationship, yet he steadfastly refuses her.
Then came the fateful day, "When he entered the house to do his work and none of the household staff was inside. She grabbed him by his cloak and pleaded 'lie with me.' He ran away from her, leaving his cloak in her hand, and he fled outside <a id="_edn1" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref1')">[1]</a>."
Humiliated and furious, she used the cloak as evidence that it was he who attempted to violate her. Her husband, Potiphar, had Joseph imprisoned, where he spent the next 12 years of his life until, through an astonishing turn of events, he was appointed Prime Minister of Egypt.
What’s the Point?
Why is this episode recorded in detail in the Torah? The Torah is not a book of history and biography in the literal sense. It emits most of the events of its protagonists, beside those that are essential to convey a specific lessons to the reader. Even when it tells a story, it emits any details not relevant to the theme. (Abraham got involved in a war between nine kings. What exactly caused the five kings to rebel against the four and trigger a world-war? The Torah does not tell us. What did Isaac tell Rebecca when he discovered that Jacob took the blessings? What did Jacob tell Leah when he discovered she deceived him? The Torah does not tell us). &nbsp;
The objective of these portions is to relate how the Jewish family ended up in Egypt. Thus, we read about Joseph's sale as a slave to Egypt, his prison sentence and his encounter there with the king's ministers. This ultimately leads to his release from prison and designation as viceroy of the country in a critical time of famine, which, in turn, causes his father and entire family to relocate to Egypt, resulting in the Egyptian exile, which would then lead to Exodus and Sinai.
Why did the Torah find it necessary to relate the story of Joseph's struggle with his master's wife? Why is it important for us to know the detailed episode that caused his imprisonment?
The Face of Jacob 
The Midrash <a id="_edn2" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref2')">[2]</a> explains the meaning of the phrase that Joseph "entered the house do to his work and none of the household staff was inside." What type of work did Joseph come to do?&nbsp;
The Midrash says that the "work" Joseph came to do was to yield to the advances of his master's wife. After all of her unceasing pleas, Joseph at last succumbed. However, as the union between them was about to materialize, the visage of his father, Jacob, suddenly appeared to him. This caused Joseph to reject the powerful urge. He left his garment in her hand and he fled outside. What was it about Jacob's visage that inspired Joseph to deny the temptation <a id="_edn3" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref3')">[3]</a>?
The Lonely Slave 
Let us reflect more closely on the psychological and physical condition of Joseph during that day when his master's wife almost lured him into a relationship.
Joseph was a 17-year-old slave in a foreign country. He did not even own his body—his master exercised full control over his life, as was the fate of all ancient and modern slaves. Joseph had not a single friend or relative in the world. His mother died when he was nine years old, and his father thought he was dead. His siblings were the ones who sold him into slavery and robbed him of his youth and liberty. One could only imagine the profound sense of loneliness that must have pervaded the heart of this lad. This is the context in which we need to understand Joseph's struggle. A person in such isolation is naturally overtaken by extremely powerful temptations, and is also likely to feel that a single action of his makes little difference in the ultimate scheme of things.
After all, what was at stake if Joseph succumbed to this woman's demands? Nobody was ever likely to find out what had occurred between the two. Joseph would not need to return home in the evening to face a dedicated spouse or a spiritual father, nor would he have to go back to a family or a community of moral standing. This act would not harm his prospects on getting a good sheduch (marriage partner), nor would it get him thrown out of his yeshiva… He would remain alone after the event, just as he was alone before it. So what's the big deal to engage in a snapshot relationship?
In addition we must take into consideration the power possessed by this Egyptian noblewoman who was inciting Joseph. She was in the position of being able to turn Joseph's life into a paradise or a living hell. In fact, she did the latter, having him incarcerated for in an Egyptian dungeon on the false charges that he attempted to violate her. If it was up to her, he would have remained there for life.
The Talmud <a id="_edn4" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref4')">[4]</a> indeed described the techniques the woman used in order to persuade Joseph. "Each and every day," the Talmud says, "the wife of Potiphar would attempt to seduce him with words. Cloth she wore for him in the morning she would not wear for him in the evening. Cloth she wore for him in the evening she would not wear for him in the morning. She said to him, 'Surrender yourself to me.' He answered her 'No.' She threatened him, 'I shall confine you in prison...I shall bend your proud stature...I will blind your eyes,'" but Joseph refused her. She than gave him a huge sum of money, but he did not budge.
What is more, this story took place before the giving of the Torah, when adultery became forbidden for Jews even at the threat of death. One may argue that in light of the death threats presented to Joseph by his master’s wife, it would have been halachically permissible, perhaps even obligatory, for him to engage in the union <a id="_edn5" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref5')">[5]</a>! What, then, was the secret behind Joseph's moral rectitude? What empowered a lonely and frail slave to reject such an awesome temptation?
"The visage of his father Jacob"! That is what gave Joseph the extraordinary fortitude to smack his impulse in the face and to emphatically dismiss the noblewoman's lure.
But why? Jacob was living many miles away, unaware even of the fact that his son was alive. What was the magic that lay in his physiognomy?
Adam's Moment 
The Talmud presents a tradition that the beauty of Jacob reflected the beauty of Adam, the first human being formed by the Almighty Himself <a id="_edn6" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref6')">[6]</a>. Therefore, when Joseph saw the visage of Jacob, he was seeing the visage of Adam as well.
Adam, we know, was instructed by G-d not to eat from the fruit of "the tree of knowledge." His disobeying of this directive altered the course of human and world history forever <a id="_edn7" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref7')">[7]</a>. Though he did something apparently insignificant, merely eating a single fruit from a single tree, this minuscule act still vibrates through the consciousness of humanity to this very day.
Why? Because every single human being is part of the knot in which heaven and earth are interlaced. G-d's dream was not to be alone but to have mankind as a partner in the continuous task of healing the world. By whatever we do, we either advance or obstruct the drama of redemption; we either reduce or enhance the power of evil. Something eternal and Divine is at stake in every decision, every word, every deed performed by every single man, woman or child <a id="_edn8" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref8')">[8]</a>.
When Joseph saw the visage of (Jacob which reflected the visage of) Adam, he reclaimed an inner unshakable dignity; he remembered that he was a candle of G-d lit on the cosmic way. Seeing the visage of Adam reminded Joseph how a single act, performed at a single moment by a single man, changed history forever.
This is the reason for the Torah's recording of the Joseph drama. During our lonely moments of misery, when we, too, may feel that nobody cares for us and we are alone in a large indifferent universe, we ought never fall prey to the easy outlet of immoral gratification. We must remember that something very real and absolute is at stake at every moment of our existence and in every act we do.
You may view your individual actions in the privacy of your bedroom as insignificant. Yet in the biblical imagination, these decisions create history, not unlike the Indian chief’s hesitant predictions which defined the truth for the National Weather Service.
If you only open your eyes, you will see the visage of your father whispering to you through the silent winds of history that you are not an isolated creature in a titanic world whose behavior is inconsequential. At this very moment, G-d needs you and me to bring redemption to His world. <a id="_edn9" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_ednref9')">[9]</a>
<a id="_ednref1" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn1')">[1]</a> Genesis 39:11-12. <a id="_ednref2" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn2')">[2]</a> Bereishis Rabah 87:7. Tanchumah 8-9. Zohar Vayechi 222a. This is also the opinions of one of the Talmudic sages, in Talmud Soteh 36b, quoted in Rashi to Genesis ibid. <a id="_ednref3" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn3')">[3]</a> The Talmud in Soteh ibid. relates that Jacob warned Joseph that if he consorted with her, his name would not appear with those of his brothers on the breastplate of the High Priest. That is what led Joseph to resist her importunities. But from the Midrash and Zohar cited in previous footnote it appears that it was Jacob's visage per se that inspired Joseph to abstain. Even from the wording of the Talmud it seems that it was not only Jacob's warning but also the very appearance of his countenance that caused Joseph to reject his master's wife. Here one must wonder what was the power of Jacob's visage? <a id="_ednref4" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn4')">[4]</a> Yuma 36a. <a id="_ednref5" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn5')">[5]</a> See Benei Yissachar Maamarei Nissan; Pardas Yosef to Parshas Vayeishev; Sichos Kodeash Yud Tes Kislev 5721. <a id="_ednref6" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn6')">[6]</a> Bava Metzia 84a; Bava Basra 58a. Cf. Tanya Igeres Hakodesh chapter 7. <a id="_ednref7" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn7')">[7]</a> See Genesis 3:16-24. Talmud Eiruvin 100b. Likkutei Torah of the Arizal Parshas Bereishis. The writings of Kabbalah and Chassidism are actually full with this theme of how Adam and Eve's partaking of the forbidden fruit altered human history for eternity. <a id="_ednref8" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn8')">[8]</a> See Sanhedrin 37a. Tanya chapter 41. This, too, is a theme that pervades the teachings of Jewish mysticism. <a id="_ednref9" href="javascript: void(0);" onclick="ty.scrollTo('_edn9')">[9]</a> This essay is based on an address by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, given on the 19th of Kislev, 5721, December 8, 1960. Published in Sichos Kodesh Yud Tes Kislev 5721.

During Our Downers, We Must Recall the Power of an Individual Act.

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loneliness

temptation

During Our Downers, We Must Recall the Power of an Individual Act

The Lonely Moment

This class to women was presented on Tuesday Parshas Vayigash, 1 Teves, 5778, December 19, 2017, at Ohr Chaim,&nbsp;Monsey, NY

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confession

integrity

transformation

yehuda and binyamin

kingship

honesty

yehuda and yosef

royalty

yehuda and tamar

malachus

The Moment Which Transformed Yehuda

Vayigash Women's Class

Yosef, Yehuda and Tamar: When You Discover That You Got It All Wrong

This lecture for Madreigos Midwest of Chicago, helping children with social or academic challenges, was presented on Thursday Parshas Vayigash 3 Teves 5778, December 21, 2017

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yaakov

education

special children

eliphaz

chicago

yosef and yaakov

The Eye of the Storm: Understanding Today’s Youth 

Chicago Education Lecture

We Need to Believe in These Kids  

An address at the annual Melave Malka of Hatzalah in Boro Park, Motzoai Shabbos, 27 Iyar, 5775, May 16, 2015.

Yiddish Hatzalah Dinner Speech: I Am My Brother's Keeper!

The Extraordinary Story of Hatzalah

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