OROH V'SIMCHOH - MESHECH CHOCHMOH ON PARSHAS VA'YEISHEV
5763
BS"D
Ch. 39, v. 20: "M'kome asher asi'rei ha'melech asurim" - The Ramban says that
the Torah makes note of the jail in which Yoseif was incarcerated as being
that of the people the king would have incarcerated, to show the Divine
providence that Yosief would be joined by the king's personal wine butler and
baker, something that would not have taken place had Yosief been jailed im
the "common man's" jail. Alternately, he offers that the Torah is teaching us
that Yoseif's former master Potifar was so appreciative of his devoted
service all the years that he had Yoseif placed in a more comfortable prison.
The MESHECH CHOCHMOH answers that Potifar actually knew that Yoseif was
innocent, and would have readily sided with him. However, he would then have
suffered great shame from the resultant guilt of his wife. He therefore
decided to go along with her, but not have Yoseif killed as he was aware of
his innocence. Potifar decided to place Yoseif into jail, but this presented
a new problem. Once in jail, Yoseif would speak with other incarcerated
people and tell them of his innocence, which Potifar knew would be quite
convincing. Therefore, rather than place Yoseif into a common jail, where
many jailbirds slept in a ward, he sent him off to the federal penitentiary,
"m'kome asher asi'rei ha'melech asurim," where the "bessereh menshen" go,
which had private single occupancy suites, so that when they retired Yoseif
would have no one to tell of his innocence, and by day they were all guarded
and under control.
FEEDBACK AND SUBMISSIONS ARE APPRECIATED. SHOLOM613@AOL.COM
See also Sedrah
Selections and Chasidic Insights |