Friday, December 8, 2017

But He Refused

Vayeshev
Gen. 37:1 - 40:23

PrĂ©cis: The story of Joseph begins with the words, “And Jacob dwelt (vayeshev) in the land of his father’s travels.” We learn that Joseph is Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph receives the famous coat of many colors, and dreams strange dreams and relates them to his brothers and father, creating additional concern (jealousy) on their part. The sons conspire to do away with Joseph, but before he dies, they sell him into slavery. Jacob is devastated when the sons present evidence of Joseph’s “death.” 
            We then have an intervening story about Judah. He marries off his first son to Tamar. The son soon dies, and, the next son is married to the widow (“levirate marriage.”) The second son (Onan) dies, and Judah is loath to offer the third son. The widow dresses as a harlot, seduces Judah, becomes pregnant, and reveals herself to Judah as a woman wronged. He acknowledges her as a rightful daughter.
           The scene shifts back to Joseph, who is now a servant in the household of Potiphar, an Egyptian official. Potiphar’s wife attempts to seduce Joseph but he refuses her advances. She accuses him nonetheless of attempted rape, and Joseph is tossed into prison. There, he meets jailed servants of Pharaoh, for whom he interprets dreams successfully. When the chief butler is restored to his post, he promises to “remember” Joseph, but the parasha ends with the words, “but he forgot him.”

Gen. 39:7-8 “After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused….”
            This parasha includes two stories of sexual impropriety: the failure of Judah to provide for his daughter-in-law (and her need to play the harlot), and this story of the false rape accusation in the cited verse.
            When Joseph refuses the advances of Potiphar’s wife, she grabs an article of his clothing, which she uses as “evidence” of rape, and Joseph goes to prison.
            While in terms of power the gender roles​ in this story​ are reversed from our present 
​“norm,” this episode has remarkable parallels to the current news cycle in particular, and to our society in general.
            A person of power coerces another towards improper sexual contact. Here, the individual refuses, and is punished for that refusal. Joseph not only loses his job, he goes to prison! What would his fellow servants of Potiphar think about that result? Would they decide to accept the abuse to save their jobs, or would they speak out and defend themselves?
            This is the issue which our society is attempting to deal with today. Sexual abuse and harassment have been present throughout human history as this story demonstrates. There is also no doubt that it has been wrong throughout human history as well. Joseph, who is not always portrayed in a positive light (his tattling on his brothers, his braggadocio, his games-playing with his brothers when he is in power, his failure to contact his mourning father, etc.) here stands up straight and strong, refusing the improper advances of his mistress. It is not only wrong for him to do what is demanded of him; it is also a violation of the trust which is owner Potiphar has placed in him. It must have been exceedingly difficult for Joseph to take this stand (a notion which the Rabbis suggest was not initially unequivocal).

            What we need to learn from this vignette is not only that those who are harassed and abused must come forward, but that the perpetrators must learn to avoid their sin. In more common terms, it is not harassed (mostly) women in our society who need to come forward; it is (largely) men in positions of authority (as employers, as teachers, as political leaders) who must learn that the authority they possess gives them no entitlement to harass or abuse those under their sway. We, as a society, must give no quarter to those who use their positions in such despicable ways.