{"id":39633,"date":"2018-09-07T17:12:49","date_gmt":"2018-09-07T14:12:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=39633"},"modified":"2022-04-03T14:35:59","modified_gmt":"2022-04-03T11:35:59","slug":"joseph-the-tzaddik-decoder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joseph-the-tzaddik-decoder\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph the Tzaddik-Decoder"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joseph is a decoder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though the title \u201ctzafnat paneach<\/em>\u201d(41:45) is bestowed on him by a Pharaoh who has just met him, it is the most appropriate title he could receive. <\/span><\/p>\n

Throughout his life, Joseph has had to decode messages from one medium into another. His father\u2019s great love for him (37:3) as the first-born of the beloved wife Rachel \u2013 how does it translate into the intense hatred of the sons of the other wife and concubines for him (37:4)? \u00a0He didn\u2019t grasp the message of the anonymous man he asks directions of (37:15) who, according to some interpretations, was hinting when he tells Joseph \u201cyour brothers left\u201d (37:17) that they had veered away from seeing Joseph as their brother, and was attempting to give him a veiled warning.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Joseph arrives in Egypt, he needs to interpret the organizational structure of the household of Potiphar. Joseph, placed by his master as second in command of the household (39:4-6) fails to run from the mistress of the household soon enough when she attempts to bed him (39:12). The #MeToo movement has shown that a person with power asking for sex from someone with lesser power is premised on the importance of the power, not the sex, though the text helpfully reminds us that Joseph is quite a hunk (39:6). Joseph has failed to decode what Potiphar\u2019s wife is seeking \u2013proof of her dominance \u00a0over him – which is why her retaliation, putting him in jail (39:20), is so severe.<\/span><\/p>\n

In jail, he is finally ready to access his interpretative abilities. <\/span><\/p>\n

What is most striking to a modern reader about Joseph in Egypt, like Esther in the palace of Ahasuerus, is though we are never told that God is speaking directly to either of them, they are both able to act decisively to save their families and people despite not having any explicit divine guidance. <\/span><\/p>\n

Though Joseph states, \u201cdream interpretations are God\u2019s\u201d(40:8), we don\u2019t know what messages God has given him. Yet, Joseph \u00a0is able to go on to translate the dream images of both the butcher and the baker to their real fates. As we learn in the Talmud, Berachot 55b, dreams are manifested in their interpretation. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pharaoh sees God as manifesting a message through Joseph (41: 38) although we are not told that God appears to Joseph as God has elsewhere in Genesis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph is a master decoder because even though he invokes God\u2019s name, God does not appear to him explicitly, but he is able to understand what God wants of him and how to behave. \u00a0This is confirmed for us by his final statement to his brothers, \u201cyou planned a bad fate for me, but God planned a good one\u201d(50:20). <\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":103626,"id":103626,"title":"-6249868d3b289--6249868d3b28agen41-decoder.jpg","filename":"6249868d3b289-6249868d3b28agen41-decoder.jpg.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/cetwpuploads.blob.core.windows.net\/wp929\/uploads\/2018\/09\/6249868d3b289-6249868d3b28agen41-decoder.jpg.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/joseph-the-tzaddik-decoder\/6249868d3b289-6249868d3b28agen41-decoder-jpg\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"6249868d3b289-6249868d3b28agen41-decoder-jpg","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":39633,"date":"2022-04-03 11:35:41","modified":"2022-04-03 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