How Joseph Became Our First Tzaddik

How does an arrogant spoiled young man become known as Judaism’s first Tzaddik, righteous person? Though casting Yosef into a pit and selling him into slavery was inexcusable, the resentment his brother’s felt towards him was understandable. The parsha opens by portraying Yosef as a snitch, who brought negative reports about his brothers to their father, Yaakov. 

Indeed, a case can be made that Yosef was Yaakov’s Frankenstein monster. The fact that Yosef, despite being Yaakov’s youngest son at the time, is the only son mentioned in the “Chronicles of Yaakov” (Genesis 37:2) foreshadows the favoritism Yaakov showers upon the son of his favored wife, Rachel. Yaakov’s gift to Yosef of the fancy tunic, known in popular culture as the “Coat of Many Colors” was illustrative of the patriarch’s toxic favoritism.  

Ironically, at least according to the Talmud (Sotah 36b), it is the creator of the monster who is responsible for the monster’s redemption. According to the Zohar, Yosef was only endowed with the title tzaddik, righteous one, after he resisted the advances of his master, Potiphar’s wife. The Talmudic sage Shmuel, understood, “he [Yosef] entered the house [of his master] to do his work” to mean that the work he intended to do was to have relations with Potiphar’s wife. That is to say, he had lost the moral fortitude to resist her advances. However, the Talmud explains that at the very moment that Potiphar’s wife grabbed hold of Yosef and instructed him to lie with her, Yosef saw a vision of his father, disapproving of his actions. Yosef, buoyed by the thought of his father, immediately regained his moral fortitude and rejected his master’s wife. 

Because Yosef was able to withstand the attempted seduction, the letter “hey” was added to his name as it appears in Psalms 81:6, which is the psalm for Thursday. There his name is written not as יוסף Yosef but יהוסף Yehosef. The letter “hey” was added after the letter “yud” in order that his name would start with the letters “yud” & “hey” which is pronounced “yah.” This is an abbreviation of “yud,” “hey,” “vav,” “hey,” (YHVH), God’s name. In other word’s his ability to suppress his yetzer hara, evil inclination, which was telling him to give into his master’s wife’s overtures, made him worthy of having God’s name located within his name and earned him the title tzaddik.   

What truly made Yosef a tzaddik was not simply his ability to reign in his evil inclination, for many overcame their evil inclination. What truly made him a tzaddik was his ability to learn from a deeply flawed individual, his father. The young Yosef could have easily disregarded his father’s disapproving image on the grounds that Yaakov did not have the moral standing to sit in judgment of his son. After all, Yaakov as a young man engaged in multiple instances of chicanery. His track record was not better as a husband and father. His ill-advised favoritism led to family dysfunction.  Yet, Yosef understood what Ben Zoma would later teach in Pirkei Avot 4:1, “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.”  Likewise Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai’s debates are considered to be machlokot l’shem shamayim, debates for the sake of heaven, that withstand the test of time, because they were willing to consider the opposing side’s point of view. The willingness to learn from all is an act of modesty. By allowing himself to learn from his father, Yosef finally humbled himself and demonstrated his readiness to serve as God’s instrument of salvation.