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Why is Yosef called a tzaddik when he needed his father's image and the promise of reward to resist Potiphar's wife? The shiur distinguishes two separate tests: first, the soul-level test of not taking what isn't his (where Yosef excels absolutely), and second, the physical lust test (where others surpassed him). Yosef's greatness lies in his total immunity to psychological and emotional fulfillment from sin—the mark of true tzidkus.
Rabbi Zweig opens with a puzzling set of Rashis and Gemaras surrounding Yosef and Potiphar's wife. Rashi (רש"י) identifies Potiphar's wife as the "evil animal" (chaya ra'ah) that will devour Yosef, yet simultaneously says she acted "l'shem shamayim" (for the sake of heaven) because she foresaw astrologically that she would have children connected to Yosef. How can the same person be both acting for heaven's sake and be called an evil animal? Additionally, Rashi explains that Yosef only withstood the temptation because he saw his father's image and was warned his name would be erased from the Kohen Gadol's stones—hardly the behavior expected of Yosef HaTzadik, the paradigm of righteousness. Yet the Midrash credits Yosef's merit with all of Israel's separation from immorality in Egypt for generations. Further complications arise from the Gemara (גמרא) in Sanhedrin, which compares three biblical figures who resisted sexual temptation: Yosef, Boaz, and Palti ben Layish. The Gemara ranks Yosef lowest ("sheker ha-chein"), Boaz intermediate ("hevel ha-yofi"), and Palti ben Layish highest ("isha yiras Hashem (ה׳)"). If others surpassed Yosef, why is he considered the exemplar of tzidkus? Moreover, the Gemara in Yoma states that on Judgment Day, the wicked who claim they had too great a yetzer hara to study Torah (תורה) will be refuted by Yosef HaTzadik—but where in the narrative does Yosef study Torah? And why is a comparison being made to reshaim (the wicked) rather than to ordinary people?
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Bereishis 37:33, 39:1-12
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