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Why did Yosef resist Potiphar's wife when she had seemingly valid arguments—an impotent husband living an open marriage? The shiur develops the Ramban (רמב"ן)'s insight that moral decisions require proving an action is right, not merely that it isn't clearly wrong. Yosef exemplified fear of God by refusing to act on desire unless he had certainty the action was permitted.
This shiur explores the fundamental question of how a person arrives at moral decisions, using the episode of Yosef and Potiphar's wife as the paradigmatic case. The parsha presents Yosef resisting the year-long seduction by his master's wife, giving rational reasons: betrayal of trust, violation of his position, and sin against God. Yet Rashi (רש"י) reveals "the rest of the story"—Yosef actually came close to succumbing and only stopped when he saw an image of his father. This raises a puzzle: if Yosef gave such cogent moral reasons, why did the Gemara (גמרא) need to add that he saw his father's image? The complexity deepens when Rashi explains why the Torah (תורה) interrupts the Yosef narrative to insert the story of Yehuda and Tamar. Rashi states that just as Tamar acted "for the sake of heaven" with noble intentions, so too did Potiphar's wife act for the sake of heaven. How can attempted adultery be noble? The answer lies in understanding that Potiphar was emasculated—Rashi in next week's parsha explains he purchased Yosef as a boyfriend, not for his wife, and God made him impotent as punishment. This creates a marriage in name only, an effectively open marriage. From the wife's perspective, she had legitimate arguments: her husband was impotent, interested in men not her, possibly wouldn't object, and she had astrological signs suggesting she should be with Yosef. She genuinely thought her actions were justified.
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Vayeishev (Bereishis 39:7-12)
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