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This week's Parasha-Page has been dedicated by Tuli Bodner, in memory of his father, Reb Menachem Mendel ben Zvi (Bodner).
Chanukah 5756YOSEF AND THE HAZARDS OF BEAUTYThe following essay is based on the volume on Chanukah, pp. 74-81; 224-227 (along with some embellishments of my own). I
Every year during the festival of Chanukah, in the regular cycle of weekly Parasha readings, we read the story of Yosef and his brothers. This could be taken as mere happenstance, since, after all, the fixed yearly Torah-reading cycle happens to reach the story of Yosef and his brothers around this time of year. However, great Kabbalists throughout the ages have pointed out that there is more to it than that. According to Rav Natan Shapiro (16th century Poland) in "Megaleh Amukot" (Parashat Vayeshev), the Greek domination over Israel came about as Divine retribution for the sale of Yosef. Rav Zvi Elimelech of Dinov (Bnai Yisaschar, Kislev, 4:119) points out further that the name of the Greek king at the time of the Chanukah story, "Antiochus," has the same numerical Gematria value as "Yosef" (=156). It is as if the Greek king Antiochus somehow derived his power through what transpired with Yosef! (See also Bnai Yisaschar, Kislev, #13). How are we to understand this? What is the connection between the Greek conquest and the Chanukah story on the one hand, and the story of Yosef on the other? II
Yosef was beautiful of form and beautiful in appearance. When Yosef saw that he was successful in Potifar's house, he began to eat, drink and curl his hair. Hashem said to him, "Your father is mourning for you and you are busy curling your hair? I am going to set the bear upon you!Yosef was extremely handsome. Rashi (Bereishit 49:22) tells us that Yosef was so attractive, the Egyptian women would climb on top of a wall in order to get a glimpse of him as he went by. Yosef sometimes acted in a conceited manner, due to his good looks. Rashi (37:1) tells us that while he was still in his father's home, Yosef used to act childishly, fixing his hair and touching up his eyes to look more beautiful. He continued this behavior in the house of Potifar, after being sold into slavery. Hashem punished him for his conceit with the advances and seductive pleas of Potifar's wife, and with her subsequent false accusations. Being overly conscious of one's personal beauty can lead to more than simple arrogance. One who becomes obsessed with himself will want to become more and more beautiful -- to amass all the beauty that money can buy. He will want to ornament himself with gold and jewelry, and with the riches of royalty. The obsession will gradually turn into self-idolization, and to more than that -- into idol-worship itself! The idol worshipper believes that he will obtain whatever he wants by procuring it through his idols. He aims to satisfy his physical desires with nothing in mind but his own personal gain. There is no responsibility, no accountability, no sense of fairness, in idol-worship. He serves the sun god so that the sun should bestow its bounty upon him, the god of the sea so that the sea should bestow its blessings upon him, and the god of gold to acquire more gold. He plays a game with the gods in order to get what he needs. This is the culmination of an obsession with one's self. "I have given [Israel] much wealth, and they made their gold into an idol" (Hoshea 2:10). The more gold, or beauty, that a person has, the more at risk he is of falling into idolatry (see Berachot 32a). III
"The brothers [of Yosef] said one to the other, 'Behold, the Ba'al Hachalomot [= dreamer] is coming.' "(Bereishit 37:19) -- The brothers said, "This is the one who will lead them all to the Ba'al [= a form of idolatry]."When the brothers saw Yosef coming they remarked, "This is the one who will bring idol worship to Israel!" Yosef's descendant, Yeravam ben Nevat broke away from the Davidic kingdom to form the kingdom of the ten northern tribes, and set up two golden calves in his kingdom. He forbade his subjects from going to the Temple in Jerusalem, forcing them to serve his golden calves instead. This, the brothers foresaw, would be the result of Yosef's preoccupation with his own beauty. This is the reason they felt it necessary to stop Yosef at all costs. They felt that they could not allow him to be a part of the holy nation that was to descend from them. Thus they agreed to sell him as a slave, where his erroneous ways would not be able to affect others. It was this same abuse of beauty that Yosef demonstrated, which brought about the worship of the Golden Calf that the Jews served after receiving the Ten Commandments (Shmot, Ch. 32). Rashi (Shmot 32:4) explains that after Aharon had cast the gold that was brought to him into the furnace, one of the Jews threw into the fire a slate engraved with an incantation. This gave the Golden Calf the appearance of life. The background of this slate and its incantation is as follows: Before Yosef died, he left instructions that his body be transported out of Egypt when the time for the exodus arrived (Bereishit 50:25). In the meantime, however, his body was placed in a leaden coffin which was sunk to the bottom of the Nile River. When the time came for the Jews to leave Egypt, Moshe took a slate and wrote on it the phrase, "Aleh Shor, Aleh Shor" -- "Arise bull, arise bull!" (See Bereishit 49:6, where Yosef is compared to a bull.) Moshe threw this slate into the Nile, and the coffin of Yosef miraculously rose to the surface (see Sota 13a). It was this slate, with its reference to Yosef, which the worshippers of the Golden Calf cast into the furnace, causing the calf to mystically take on the appearance of life. The Midrash is telling us that the Jews came to worship the Golden Calf through an expression of the same lust for beauty -- and riches -- that Yosef had shown. Indeed, the Gemara tells us, "Moshe protested to Hashem, 'It was the tremendous amount of gold and silver that you granted the Jews [upon their exodus from Egypt] that caused them to build the Golden Calf!' " (Berachot 32a). And it was this very attribute which brought about Yeravam's worship of golden calves, and, eventually, the Greek exile. The very day that Yeravam brought his golden calves to Beit El and Dan, a shanty was built, which grew through the centuries into the city Italy of the empire of Yavan [= Greece].Greece, the nation of self-worship -- the nation which epitomized the idolization of beauty and the worship of pagan gods -- overpowered Israel when the Jews themselves showed a weakness in this regard. And the root of this weakness lay in Yosef's actions as a youth -- those same actions upon which Yosef's brothers based their decision to sell him. "The brothers said, 'This is the one who will lead them all to the Ba'al!"
IV
Beauty and favor are false, but a woman who fears God should genuinely be praised.If a woman uses her beauty to invoke the fear of God, then even her beauty can be praised. It is not "false" beauty, but "true" beauty. If beauty is used to inspire awe and admiration for the Almighty, then it is a praiseworthy trait. That is the purpose of gold and silver, and that is when beauty should be expressed. The Midrash describes the Mishkan [= Tabernacle] which the Jews built to worship Hashem in the desert, as the "beauty of Israel" (Tanchuma Ki Tisa, #13). This may be what Chazal [= our Sages] meant when they said, "Let the gold of the Mishkan come and atone for the gold of the Calf" (Tanchuma Terumah, #8). By using gold, wealth and beauty properly, to increase the awe of Heaven, the Jews were able to rectify the wrongdoing of making the Golden Calf. The Temple in Jerusalem is also referred to as "the beauty of the world" (Zevachim 54b). Similarly, "This is my Lord, I shall beautify Him" (Shmot 15:2) "This is my Lord, I shall build Him a Holy Temple" One who never saw Jerusalem during the days of the Temple, never saw a coveted city in his life! One who never saw the Holy Temple while it was erect, never saw a beautiful building in his life! "Zion [= Jerusalem, while it was crowned with the glory of the Holy Temple], the all-beautiful" (Tehillim 50:2) -- from Zion sprouted forth all of the beauty of the world!The victory over Greece represented the victory of God-fearing beauty over pagan beauty. The rededication of the Holy Temple symbolized the use of beauty to serve Hashem, rather than to serve one's self. By channeling their appreciation for beauty in the proper direction the Jews were able to free themselves of the pagan Greek rule. They were able to rebuild Zion and the Holy Temple -- the "beauty of the world." Yosef set the pattern for the rectification as well as for the sin. Ultimately, he conquered his impulse to be led astray by his beauty. He refused to give in to Potifar's wife, even though it meant his long imprisonment and near death (see Sota 36b). So too, the Chashmona'im [=Hasmoneans] were able to withstand the Hellenistic pressures of the assimilated Jews. V
An interesting Midrash draws a close parallel between the life of Yosef and the history of Zion. Take note of the fact that all of the adversity that Yosef faced, Zion faced... About Yosef we are told, "They hated him" (Bereishit 37:4); Of Zion we are told, "Therefore I hated her." (Yirmiyah 12:8). About Yosef, "They plotted against him" (37:18); Of Zion, "They schemed secretly against your nation" (Psalms 83:4). About Yosef, "The Midianites sold him to Egypt" (37:36); Of Zion, "You have sold the children of Yehudah and of Jerusalem to the children of *Yavan*." ... And all of Yosef's good fortune also befell Zion: About Yosef we are told, "Yosef was beautiful of form and beautiful in appearance." (Bereishit 39:6); Of Zion we are told, "Beautiful land, joy of all the world!" (Psalms 48:3). About Yosef, "There is no one greater than I in this house" (39:9); Of Zion, "The glory of this latter *Temple* shall be even greater than that of the former." (Chaggai 2:9) The Midrash continues at great length, bringing many other parallels between the history of Zion and the life of Yosef. As the commentary "Etz Yosef" points out, even the numerical values of Zion and Yosef are identical. They both equal 156! The fate of Zion, the city of beauty, is patterned after the life of Yosef. As Yosef misused his beauty, so too, Zion lost its "Tzaddik." This brought about Zion's eventual subjugation, or "sale," to Yavan, just as it had caused Yosef himself to be sold. When Yosef conquered his temptations and refused the advances of Potifar's wife, it caused him to be called by a new title: Yosef the Tzaddik (Zohar 1:194). Through this accomplishment, Yosef was able to add the "Tzaddik" to "Yavan" (Yud, Vav, Nun), making it "Zion" (Tzadi, Yud, Vav, Nun). Fortified with this spiritual armor, he eventually became freed of his bondage, and rose to rule over the entire land. It was in this manner, too, that the weak forces of the Chashmona'im were able to defeat the mighty Greek armies. Yosef set the pattern of history for the Chanukah miracle. He turned the "Yosef = Antiochus" into "Yosef = Zion." And Zion has what it takes to overcome the forces of Yavan -- "I will awaken your children *Zion* against your children *Yavan*!" (Zecharya 9:13) May we merit to bring about the final return to Zion, soon and in our days! | |||||||
