This week's parashah tells us about Yosef’s great test with eishes Potiphar. A seventeen-year-old bachur, alone in Mitzrayim, distant from all Yidden, when he faced his difficult test. However, when we study the details of the test, we discover the magnitude of the challenge, but with all his might, he passed the test.
The Gemara (Yoma 35:) says, "Every day eishes Potiphar spoke to Yosef and tried to convince him to sin. The clothes she wore in the morning were not the same ones she wore at night." Yosef kept his eyes down, so she placed an iron blade under his neck to force his head to remain erect. Still, Yosef didn’t look at her.
The Midrash (Bereishis Rabba 87; Tanchuma) states that eishes Potiphar said, "I will give you less parnassah [if you refuse to sin]." Yosef replied, "Hashem feeds the hungry." She threatened to imprison him, to blind him, to send him to a distant land, but Yosef remained steadfast. He wouldn't sin before Hashem.
Another difficulty in this test was that the yetzer hara told him that it was a mitzvah. The Sfas Emes zt'l explains that the yetzer hara can’t convince tzaddikim to perform aveiros, so he tries to convince them that the aveirah is a mitzvah, and that is what made Yosef's test so difficult.
Rashi (39:1) writes, "Just as Tamar intended leshem shamayim, also eishes Potiphar intended leshem shamayim. She saw in the stars that she would bear children with Yosef, but she didn’t know whether it would be with her or her daughter." Eishes Potiphar saw the message in the stars, and she tried to convince Yosef that this meant that it was a mitzvah. Nevertheless, (39:8) וימאן, Yosef refused to sin.
Ultimately, he married Osnas bas Potiphar and bore children in a permitted manner.
The Divrei Shmuel zt’l writes that Yosef also saw in the stars that he would have a child with eishes Potiphar. He understood that this meant that he would eventually fail the test. He thought, "I will anyway end up committing this grave aveirah, so what purpose is there in passing the test now?" But then Yosef told himself, "Right now, I can overcome the yetzer hara. What will be in the future will be, but now I can pass the test." This thought saved Yosef from the aveirah.
The Rambam (Avos 2:13) writes, רשע תהי ואל עצמך בפני, “Don’t consider yourself a rasha, because if you think lowly about yourself, you won’t consider your aveiros severe." The Beis Avraham says that eishes Potiphar tried to make Yosef look down at himself so he wouldn’t feel distant from sin. This was one of the techniques she used to get Yosef to sin.
It states (39:12), בבגדו ותתפשהו, "She grabbed [Yosef] by his clothes." בבגדו also means rebellion. The Beis Avraham explains that eishes Potiphar tried to convince Yosef that he was a rebellious and sinful person, so why shouldn't he perform this aveirah?
What was eishes Potiphar referring to when she said Yosef is sinful and rebellious? Rashi (39:6) writes, "When Yosef saw that he was ruling [in Potiphar’s home], he began eating and drinking and fixing his hair. HaKadosh Baruch Hu said, 'Your father is mourning, and you are curling your hair?! I will incite the bear [Potiphar’s wife] against you.” Perhaps Potiphar’s wife was referring to this when she told Yosef that he is rebellious. She wanted Yosef to focus on his faults and weaknesses.
Nevertheless, despite all these challenges, Yosef passed this difficult test. His example strengthens everyone to pass the tests that come their way.
