(ו) וַיַּעֲזֹ֣ב כָּל־אֲשֶׁר־לוֹ֮ בְּיַד־יוֹסֵף֒ וְלֹא־יָדַ֤ע אִתּוֹ֙ מְא֔וּמָה כִּ֥י אִם־הַלֶּ֖חֶם אֲשֶׁר־ה֣וּא אוֹכֵ֑ל וַיְהִ֣י יוֹסֵ֔ף יְפֵה־תֹ֖אַר וִיפֵ֥ה מַרְאֶֽה׃
(6) He left all that he had in Joseph’s hands and, with him there, he paid attention to nothing save the food that he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome.
“Said Rabbi Isaac, ‘Throw a stick up in the air, it will land on the root [from which it came].’[His mother was beautiful, so was he].’ So because it was written ‘But Rachel was of beautiful form’, therefore: ‘Now Joseph was handsome and good-looking.’”
-- Bereshit Rabbah, Parashah 86, Genesis 39:1-7, 86:6:4, Jacob Neusner, trans.
-- Bereshit Rabbah, Parashah 86, Genesis 39:1-7, 86:6:4, Jacob Neusner, trans.
(יז) וְעֵינֵ֥י לֵאָ֖ה רַכּ֑וֹת וְרָחֵל֙ הָֽיְתָ֔ה יְפַת־תֹּ֖אַר וִיפַ֥ת מַרְאֶֽה׃
(17) Leah had weak eyes; Rachel was shapely and beautiful.
“Rachel was beautiful of appearance and beautiful to behold," without any defect in the whole. And the appearance of the shape of her face and the rest of her limbs and the height of her body, and behold — that the skin that was white and pink, and the black hair, and he loved her." -- RaDaK (R.David Kimhi of Narbonne, 1160-1235) on Genesis 29:17
As soon as Joseph found himself [in the position of] ruler, he began eating and drinking and curling his hair. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: “Your father is mourning and you curl your hair! I will incite the bear against you.” Immediately afterwards “his master’s wife lifted up her eyes.” -- RaSHI (R. Shlomo b. Yitzchak, Troyes 1040-1105) on Genesis 39:6
(ז) וַיְהִ֗י אַחַר֙ הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֔לֶּה וַתִּשָּׂ֧א אֵֽשֶׁת־אֲדֹנָ֛יו אֶת־עֵינֶ֖יהָ אֶל־יוֹסֵ֑ף וַתֹּ֖אמֶר שִׁכְבָ֥ה עִמִּֽי׃
(7) After a time, his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Lie with me.”
When it sees no one standing against it, it is the way of the Evil Inclination to wage war with him immediately: “She caught him by his garment, saying ‘Lie with she’.” “She caught him by his garment,” because when the Evil Inclination obtains mastery over man, he first adorns and mends his clothes and curls his hair, as it is written: “She caught him by his garment, saying, ‘Lie with me’” and cleave to me. -- The Zohar, ed. and trans. Daniel C. Matt
"I suggest that male beauty is uncomfortable for male writers and readers because it runs counter to a proper performative function. Appreciation of it by other males is problematic, because on the one hand it places the object of the male gaze in a female, passive position, and on the other it puts the male gazer under suspicion of illicit desire… In the rare cases where male beauty does show itself, it is my contention that we should view with suspicion the analysis of its function offered by generations of (male) commentators. My suspicion is that their various attempts to explain away the sexual desirability of the male body are (unconsciously) driven by an ideologically masculine agenda, which leads them to overlook some plausible alternative exegetical insights." -- Stuart MacWilliam, “Ideologies of Male Beauty and the Hebrew Bible,” Biblical Interpretation: A Journal of Contemporary Approaches