An Orwellian Tzadik: Against the Temptation to be Super-Holy

I never understood exactly what Joseph's greatness was in refusing to sleep with Potiphar's wife. I do not claim that it did not require a modicum of moral backbone to refuse her seduction. But is his resistance to have sexual relations with a married woman, the wife of a man to whom Joseph is a slave, a man who trusted Joseph and entrusted him with the management of his entire household, a man who would have had Joseph executed in the event that he learned Joseph had committed adultery with his wife - something that would justify Joseph becoming labeled a supreme righteous individual? I doubt it. The temptation exists, but resisting her advances is not great heroism.
Moreover, not only is Joseph considered the paragon of every future righteous man, his resistance to temptation rises to the level of an impeccable example of sexual restraint and self-control. Righteous Joseph is the address of those who seek inspiration around the whole issue of masturbation and the prohibition of shedding seed in vain. This is all the more strange when we discover that according to the Midrash, Joseph could not resist at all. Yes, you read it right. The Talmud already tells us that Joseph succumbed to his sexual urge, did not conquer his will and spilled his seed. Of course he did not sleep with Potiphar's wife, but "his semen was emitted from between his fingernails" (Sota 36b) - that is, he put his hands on his genitals and the sperm broke through his fingers.
How can one understand this dissonance between Joseph's reputation and his reputed achievements? George Orwell, in his Reflections on Gandhi, once said that “many people genuinely do not wish to be saints, and it is probable that some who achieve or aspire to sainthood have never felt much temptation to be human beings.” Joseph's real temptation is the temptation to be superhuman. It would have been easy for the authors of the Bible and the Talmud to turn Joseph into an unattainable ideal. But true righteousness is not absolute purity, but rather honest humanity. Joseph is tempted and shows his imperfection. This is a righteous man who can be said to be “the foundation of the world” (Proverbs 10:25) since the world is not founded on immaculate people - that is, those that do not exist.

Dr. Tomer Persico is a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and teaches at the department for Comparative Religion in Tel-Aviv University.

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