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In previous years, this author has written about Yosef’s being thrown in a bor (pit) seething with snakes and scorpions — yet emerging unscathed, his being sold and ensuing journey to Mitzrayim and his slavery, his imprisonment and his liberation and ascendency to the position of Viceroy, second only to Pharoh. And this author wrote a vort based on Jay Shapiro’s book “Almost Midrash.” Shapiro encorporated the story of Yosef into a fictional story entitled “Duaf of Memphis” and this author dealt with the contrast of Yosef in Mitzrayim, the years after Yosef and the other brothers were niftar and the ensuing long period of cruel bondage; and persecution and the dialogue of Page 13 A & B of Gemora Megillah Esther (the dialogue between Achashveirosh and Haman resulting in the evil decree against the Jews). The point of the Torah Vort at that time was that with longevity in Shushan and throughout Achashveirosh’s Empire, as in Mitzrayim, the Jews were disparaged as either useless or too powerful. In both cases, the antagonists conveniently forgot about Yosef and the Jews got comfortable, complacent, sought to own property and saw where they were at the time as home and forgot and lost track of who and what they are. This is a point and lesson which Jews keep having to learn time and again throughout our history, including here and now in our times in Eretz Yisrael in dealing with a cruel, corrupt ruling regime in Medina Yisrael.
But this Chanukah, in the spirit of a few upcoming Chassunas, this author comes from a different direction. That is, as has happened so often in our history, the miracle, i.e. the cure for the illness, which Hashem prepared for Yosef far ahead of time.
The story begins with the episode of Dina’s abduction by Shechem, the son of Chamor, and his proposal of marraige to Dina. We recall from the Torah portion of Vayishlach that the sons of Yaakov made any marriage conditional on Bris Milah of Shechem, Chamor and all the Shechemites. And while they were all incapacitated, they were slaughtered by Shimon and Levi.
Shapiro weaves this story into the story of Yuhuda and Tamar;
the incident of Tamar’s seduction of Yehuda, as he was travelling to oversee his sheep herds. Yehuda was near the village of Timnah at the fork in the road, when he encountered a prostitute, actually Tamar in disguise. Shapiro’s method is to insert an enabler who, in the shadow of the Newsmaker, unwittingly is part of a historical event but who sees the event, of which he is part, only in the perspective of the present. In this case, the son of an Arab milk merchant, the merchant who moved his venue from Shechem for lack of business, happened to have set up shop at the Tzomet Timna shortly before Tamar showed up incognito.
And it happened that a prostitute showed up at the Tzomet while the father was away on business. The son, who had an understanding of prostitutes being holy and somehow connected to the temple service of the local avodah zora, assumed all was normal, that there was nothing unseemly when he assisted a veiled woman in setting up and later dismantling her carpet and tent near his milk stand.
Later, when a stranger with a goat appeared before milk merchant inquiring as to the whereabouts of a certain prostitute, the father led the stranger to his son who had manned the milk concession while he was away.
Years later, the son confessed to a pagan priest how he responded to his father’s question, “…was there a prostitute at the crossroads while I was away?” His answer was “No,” thus validating his father’s answer to the stranger. The son feared that he caused his father to lie to the stranger, therefore angering the avodah zora and bringing on various problems in his life. The priest reassured the son; “You did not lie to your father. You answered the question as you understood it.” The priest then told the son that he cannot see that this incident is the cause of his problems.
But getting back to Dina, her abduction by Shechem and the resultant birth. What happened to the child? Seemingly, we never hear of the resultant offspring.
The Encyclopedia of Biblical Personalities by Yishai Chasida (pages 97-98) cites Sofrim 21:9 which states that Dina was six years old when she bore Asenath (Asnat). The brothers sought to kill Asenath to avoid accusations of immorality in Yaakov’s tents. And so, as Chasida cites in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eleizer Perek 38, Yaakov wrote all that had transpired on metal foil, or on gold foil (as Chasida cites in Midrash Aggadah, Breish’t 41:45) placed it on Asnat as a necklace and sent her away. The Moloch Michael brought her down to Mitzrayim, to the house of Potiphar.
The Midrash Aggadah, Breish’t 41:45 relates that Potiphar found the child crying while out strolling with friends, read the foil and said, “This is the daughter of a great man. Take her to my house. There we learn that his wife (named Zelichah, according to Chasida’s citing in the Encyclopedia page 497, of Sefer HaYashar, Vayeishev), unable to give birth, raised Asnat as her own.
As we learned, Joseph ends up in Mitzrayim and incarcerated, on trumped up, false charges having to do with the wife of Pontiphar. Chasida cites Yalkut Shimoni on Vayeishev 146 which states that Asnat went to Potiphar and testified to the truth, thus sparing Yosef the death penalty. Said Hashem, “By your life, since you have spoken on Yosef’s behalf, the tribes which I will raise from him will come through you.”
And so, as cited in Pirkei d’Rabbi Eleizer Perek 38, Targum Yonatan and Da’at Zekenim by the Judaica Press Chumash, Parsha Mikeitz, page 523b, after Yosef was appointed Viceroy by Pharoh;
When Yosef traveled throughout Mitzrayim, every maiden who saw him cast a trinket or an item of Jewelry at his feet. Asnat, too, cast her amulet at Yosef’s feet. He ignored all of the jewelry cast before him, but when he saw the maulet bearing Hashem’s name, he examined it and determined that the maiden who had cast it… was of the seed of Yaakov.
The Judaica Press Chumash, Parsha Mikeitz also indicates that Pharoh called to Potiphar (Poti-phera denoting emasculation, i.e. that he was bi-sexual and also had designs on Yosef — stuff of a different shmooze) to give his young daughter to Yosef for a wife;
The damsel was beautiful, a virgin, and no man had been intimate with her, and Yosef took her for a wife.
And so, bearing in mind stories I have heard recently regarding a few Shidduchim and upcoming Chassunas of children of friends, i.e. that they came to be acquainted, date and become engaged only after having seperately committed to the same causes and who are unquestionably on the same hoshkophic, values and spiritual pages. And may their spirit inspire us all this Chanukah, in the modern-day emulation of the Maccabees, to stand up against an evil regime, a regime set on self-destruction driven by their disdain for who and what they are.
B’Ezrat Hashem, that my young friends both have unions and offspring which bring Nachas to their parents, to Hashem and bring merit to Kol Klal Yisrael.
May we be zocha in this coming year that our brethren — the refugee families from Gush Katif be permanently settled and be made totally whole, that our dear brother Jonathan Pollard and the 3 captive Chayalim and the other MIAs be liberated and returned to us and that we fulfill Hashem’s blueprint of B’nai Yisrael as a Unique people — an Am Segula, not to be reckoned with as with “the nations” and may we be zocha the Moshiach, the Ge’ula Shlaima, as Dov Shurin sings; “Yom Hashem V’Kol HaGoyim”, the Ultimate Redemption, bim hay v’yameinu — speedily, in our time”, — Achshav, Chik Chuk, Miyad, Etmol!!!
Good Shabbos!
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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.
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