My thanks to Rabbi Zvi Romm for the inspiration
Parshat Vayeshev (and Chanukah)
by Rabbi Avi Billet
When Yosef was confronted by the temptress, his master Potiphar’s wife, the Talmud says he was able to control himself and overcome her advances because he saw his father Yaakov's image appear "in the window." If an image popped into his head or mind, why did it specifically need to be seen in a window? The old cartoon method of having a conscience on the shoulder, countering the little red guy who is telling him to sin, might accomplish the same mission! Why the window?
Rabbi Zvi Romm noted the root of the word for window - Chalon (חלון) - that it appears in other contexts as well (חל). In addition to Chalon (חלון), we find Chulin (חולין), Chalal (חלל). Even Potiphar’s wife claimed she was another word: Cholah (חולה).
The root חל implies an emptiness or a void. Owing to the topography and weather conditions of the Middle East, the Biblical Chalon was an empty, open spot in the wall - it was not likely filled by a glass pane.Chulin: refers to something that is emptied of its holiness. It can not be used for holy activities, such as those which take place in the Temple. Chalal might refer to a dead body, emptied of life, or to a Kohen who has lost his holy status. A Choleh or Cholah is a person who is not completely himself or herself. Even the word “Chalom,” (חלום) dream, which plays such prominence in these parshas, is indicative of a person who has not yet achieved the things he or she aspires to achieve in life.
It is easy to fall into a trap of doing the wrong thing when there is a feeling of emptiness in life. “This is wrong. And I probably shouldn’t be doing it. But it makes me feel good. And I need that right now.” Or we’ll excuse errors in judgment saying things like, “I wasn’t myself.” “I don’t know what I was thinking.” “I already did one thing wrong, so I may as well enjoy myself while I’m already in God’s dog house.”
The Midrash suggests that Yosef even came to the house to sin with her. It is possible to view this perspective of Yosef's as coming from the emptiness in his life, that he'd never see his family again, that they had even rejected him.
In an article addressing why Yosef did not write a letter to his father in Egypt once he had the opportunity, Rabbi Yoel Bin Nun depicts Yosef’s despair in the following dramatic way: “No one is coming! Why did my father send me to see my brothers? Why did they take off my coat when I got to them? Why did they throw me in a pit? Did my father not know how dangerous Shimon and Levi could be? What did the brothers tell him when they got home?” Pit….. Camels….. Sold into slavery…… No one is coming!
Perhaps, before Yosef got his wits back, he perceived his master's wife as the entry point to being able to fill the emptiness he saw about him. She was highly connected. If he became her lover, she could introduce him to the right people, help him climb the Egyptian society ladder. And her claiming to be a “cholah” was code language to give her the excuse to stay home – to also be missing something. So that Yosef could fulfill the void in her life, in her empty relationship with her husband – who may have been successful and vain, but was no match for the young, vibrant, virile, and vigorous Yosef.
How many people have fallen on account of such thought processes?
Yaakov appeared to Yosef in the Chalon, in the emptiness, so Yosef could recognize that life could still be meaningful for him, even though things looked bad. He could still become Yosef HaTzaddik, he could still achieve holiness even in Egypt, if he could just stay loyal to his upbringing and his God. Yosef could not just see his father’s face anywhere. It had to be the window, the portal through which the world might see transgressions, and he had to be inspired from the emptiness, through seeing the symbolic void in his life, to discover his father, the source of his personal hope. He envisioned that his father did not sell him down the river. That when his father said “A beast has torn him up… I will descend to She’ol to my son” he referred to the wife of Potiphar trying to seduce Yosef, and his own image saving Yosef from sin.
Once Yosef saw his father's image, his goals in life - and in particular in Egypt - changed. He knew he couldn't fall to sin, and that he wouldn't fall to sin. He would live in the high-road, be pure and innocent, and just to do the job that will get him to where he needs to be, despite how bleak things look.
This Sunday night, as we begin Chanukah, many of us will place the Menorah in the Chalon. We make a clear statement that “this is a Jewish home.” Hopefully we will be allowing the light of the menorah that is in the window represent for us all that it should: the victory of Torah over the Greeks, and how the Torah can serve as the light of our lives, the flame that keeps us going. If indeed Chanukah doesn't touch us the way it should, perhaps because it is so commercialized that it almost looks like the Greeks actually won, perhaps seeing the candles in the window can remind us to fill our lives with a sense of meaning and purpose.
May this holiday of Lights serve as an inspiration to all of us, as the vision in the window inspires us to achieve greatness.
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