Talmud reads Torah // Vayeshev

After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused. He said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me here, my master gives no thought to anything in this house, and all that he owns he has placed in my hands. He wields no more authority in this house than I, and he has withheld nothing from me except yourself, since you are his wife. How then could I do this most wicked thing, and sin before God?” And much as she coaxed Joseph day after day, he did not yield to her request to lie beside her, to be with her. One such day, he came into the house to do his work. None of the household being there inside, she caught hold of him by his garment and said, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and got away and fled outside. When she saw that he had left it in her hand and had fled outside, she called out to her servants and said to them, “Look, he had to bring us a Hebrew to dally with us! This one came to lie with me; but I screamed loud. And when he heard me screaming at the top of my voice, he left his garment with me and got away and fled outside.” She kept his garment beside her, until his master came home. Then she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew slave whom you brought into our house came to me to dally with me; but when I screamed at the top of my voice, he left his garment with me and fled outside.” When his master heard the story that his wife told him, namely, “Thus and so your slave did to me,” he was furious. So Joseph’s master had him put in prison, where the king’s prisoners were confined. But even while he was there in prison, the LORD was with Joseph: He extended kindness to him and disposed the chief jailer favorably toward him. The chief jailer put in Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in that prison, and he was the one to carry out everything that was done there. The chief jailer did not supervise anything that was in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him, and whatever he did the LORD made successful.

וחטאתי לאלהים AND SIN AGAINST GOD — The “Sons of Noah” (בני נח) were subject to the command which forbade sexual immorality (Sanhedrin 56b).

The sons of Noah were subject to the command against sexual immorality, writes Rashi. In reality, it is only due to the limited knowledge of women that he first mentioned to her his treason toward his master who trusts him, and only then added that there is an additional affront to God. It is further possible to comment that this treason is an affront to God, since "his eyes are on the faithful in the land" (Psalms 101:6) and he does not favor traitors. But he did not mention the prohibition on sexual misconduct (erva), as he spoke to her as to a woman.

And if a wicked man comes to judgment, the members of the court say to him: Why did you not engage in Torah? If he said: I was handsome and preoccupied with my evil inclination, as I had many temptations, they say to him: Were you any more handsome than Joseph, who did not neglect Torah despite his beauty? They said about Joseph the righteous: Each and every day, the wife of Potiphar seduced him with words. In addition, the clothes that she wore to entice him in the morning, she did not wear to entice him in the evening. The clothes that she wore to entice him in the evening, she did not wear to entice him in the morning of the next day. One day she said to him: Submit to me and have relations with me.
He said to her: No.
She said to him: I will incarcerate you in the prison. He said to her: I do not fear you, as it is stated: “God releases prisoners” (Psalms 146:7).
She said to him: I will cause you to be bent over with suffering.
He said: “God straightens those who are bent over” (Psalms 146:8).
She said I will blind your eyes.
He said to her “God opens the eyes of the blind” (Psalms 146:8).
She gave him a thousand talents of silver to submit to her, “to lie with her and be with her” (Genesis 39:10), and he refused. The Gemara elaborates: Had he submitted to her to lie with her in this world, it would have been decreed in Heaven that he would be with her in the World-to-Come.

"They asked him this day after day, and he would not listen to them" (Esther 3:4) Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Binyamin Bar Rabbi Levi: the children of Rachel all have equal miracles and equal greatness. Their miracles are equal, as it is written: "And much as she coaxed Joseph day after day and he did not listen to them" (Genesis 39:10) and here it is written: "They asked him this day after day, and he would not listen to them." There it is written "he did not yield to her request to lie beside her, to be with her."

Their greatness is equal, as it is written: "Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in robes of fine linen" (Genesis 41:42) and here it is written: "The king took off his signet ring, which he had reclaimed from Haman, and presented it to Mordecai" (Esther 8:2). There it is written: "He had him ride in a chariot as his second-in-command, and people shouted before him, “Bow down!” (Genesis 41:42) and here it is written: "Then let the robe and horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them robe the man the king delights to honor, and lead him on the horse through the city streets, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man the king delights to honor!’" (Esther 6:9).

"And it was, after these things" (Genesis 39:7) Rabbi Yonatan said: A potter does not test defective vessels, because he cannot give them a single blow without breaking them. What then does he test? Only strong vessels, for he will not break them even with many blows. Similarly, the Holy One of Blessing does not test the wicked but the righteous, as it says, ‘Ad-nai tries the righteous.’ Rabbi Eleazar said: When a man possesses two cows, one strong and the other weak, on which one he puts the yoke? Surely on the strong one Similarly, God tests only the righteous, as it says, ‘Ad-nai tries the righteous.’

Rav Ḥana bar Bizna says that Rabbi Shimon Ḥasida says: Joseph, who sanctified the name of Heaven in private, had one letter of the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, the letter heh, added to his name. Whereas in the case of Judah, who sanctified the name of Heaven in public [befarhesya] at the Red Sea during the exodus from Egypt, merited that his entire name is called by the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, as the entire four-letter name of God can be found within Judah’s name. The Gemara explains: What is the situation where Joseph sanctified God’s name in private? As it is written: “And it came to pass on a certain day, when he went into the house to do his work” (Genesis 39:11). Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This teaches that both Joseph and Potiphar’s wife stayed in the house, as they intended to perform a matter of sin. With regard to the phrase “when he went into the house to do his work,” Rav and Shmuel engage in a dispute with regard to its meaning. One says: It means that he went into the house to do his work, literally. And one says: He entered the house in order to fulfill his sexual needs with her. The verse continues: “And there was none of the men of the house there within” (Genesis 39:11). The Gemara asks: Is it possible that in such a large and important house like the house of that wicked man that no one was in there? The school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: That day was their festival day and they all went to their house of idol worship; and she told them that she was sick and could not go, as she said to herself: I have no day on which Joseph will attend to me like this day. The verse states: “And she caught him by his garment, saying: Lie with me” (Genesis 39:12).

At that moment his father’s image [deyokeno] came and appeared to him in the window. The image said to him: Joseph, the names of your brothers are destined to be written on the stones of the ephod, and you are to be included among them. Do you desire your name to be erased from among them, and to be called an associate [ro’eh] of promiscuous women? As it is written: “But he who keeps company with harlots wastes his riches” (Proverbs 29:3), as he loses his honor, which is more valuable than wealth. Immediately: “And his bow abode [teishev] firm” (Genesis 49:24). Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Meir: This means that his bow, i.e., his penis, returned [shava] to its strength, as he overcame his desire. The verse about Joseph continues: “And the arms of his hands were made supple” (Genesis 49:24), meaning that he dug his hands into the ground and his semen was emitted between his fingernails.

What is the way of God? "He repays everyone for what they have done" (Job 34:11). Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon [say:] "His master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph" (Genesis 39:7) What is written above this matter? "Now Joseph was well built and handsome" (Genesis 39:6). There is a parable of a hero who would stand in the market and color his eyes, and curl his hair, picked up his heel. He said: I am so pretty, this becomes me. They said to him: you are no hero, you are not pretty, behold this bear before you: go fight it.

Babylon/Italy/Israel, 10th century

One should guard himself not to laugh and converse excessively. Laughing is nothing but sexual promiscuity, as it is written:

Rabbi Akiva said: Merriment and frivolity accustom one to sexual licentiousness [...]