(For the riddles, please see back page)
1) The Shlah explains, that the shevotim were eating an animal which they created with Sefer Yetzirah, and such animals don’t require slaughtering. Yosef, however, didn’t know this, therefore, he thought they were eating aver min hachai. The question is, however, Ya’akov had lots of sheep, so why did they need to create a sheep using Sefer Yetzirah, what was wrong with a normal sheep?
The Gemara in Sanhedrin (65b) says: Rav Chaninah and Rav Oshia would sit on erev Shabbos and learn Sefer Yetzirah, and they would create an igla tilsa [type of calf] and eat it.” The Shu”t HaRashbah (413) explains, that only on erev Shabbos is it possible to create animals with Sefer Yetzirah.
Based on the Rashbah, it must be that the story with Yosef and the brothers eating from aver min hachai took place on erev Shabbos. Therefore, perhaps we can suggest that they were running late, and Shabbos was about to arrive, and they hadn’t yet had a chance to prepare any meat for Shabbos. At this late hour, there wasn’t enough time to take a regular sheep and slaughter it, as slaughtering takes time, and they would also need to do nikkur and salting, and only then be able to cook the meat. To avoid all these timely processes, they decided to create an animal using Sefer Yetzirah, and such animals don’t require all these steps. (Otzar Pelois HaTorah)
2) A jokester asked this question to Rav Chaim Kanievsky. He answered by pointing out that in Parshas Mikeitz, Yosef marries a woman named Osnas (41:45). Who was Osnas, and why would Yosef agree to marry an Egyptian woman? The Daas Z’keinim writes that when Shechem defiled Dina, she became pregnant and gave birth to a daughter. This daughter was sent away and through a tremendous miracle of Divine providence, she ended up in Egypt where she was known as Osnas and married none other than her uncle Yosef. The jokester concluded that according to this explanation, Dina wasn’t only Yosef’s sister but also his mother-in-law, and nobody would imagine his shvigger [mother-in-law] bowing down to him even in his wildest dreams, an answer which brought a smile to Rav Chaim’s face. (R’ Ozer Alport, Parsha Potpourri)
3) When Yosef entered Potiphar’s home, the Torah (39:11) records that אין איש בבית, which literally means that there were no other men present in the house. However, the Tosefos Shantz (Sotah 36b) writes that it can be interpreted as saying that to protect Yosef from sinning with his master’s wife, Hashem miraculously transformed him into a tumtum who was no longer an איש. This novel understanding can also be found in the Medrash Rabbah (87:7) and Medrash Tanchuma (9). (R’ Ozer Alport, Parsha Potpourri)
4) See first Devar Torah.
