{"id":4642,"date":"2024-12-15T21:16:46","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T02:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/?p=4642"},"modified":"2024-12-15T21:16:47","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T02:16:47","slug":"vayeishev-momentous-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Vayeishev – Momentous Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The nature of the \u201cwork\u201d that Yosef came to Potifar\u2019s house to do on the day when the Egyptian\u2019s wife sought to entice him to sin with her (Beraishis 39:11) is famously the subject of a disagreement between Rav and Shmuel.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One opinion is that Yosef intended \u201cto do his [household] duties\u201d; and the other, \u201cto do his needs,\u201d i.e. to submit to the woman\u2019s blandishments \u2013 an intention that was undermined only after an image of Yaakov appeared to Yosef, giving him the strength to resist (Sotah 36b). (That latter opinion, with its portrayal of Yosef as vacillating before finally resisting may be audibly symbolized by the <em>shalsheles <\/em>cantillation of the word <em>vayima\u2019en<\/em>, \u201cand he resisted.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rav Simcha Bunim of Pshischa is quoted to have commented that the word \u201cwork\u201d employed at the pivotal point in Yosef\u2019s life \u2013 when he earned the appellation <em>tzaddik<\/em>, \u201crighteous\u201d \u2013 holds the message that each of us has a \u201cwork\u201d to accomplish in his life, not just in a general sense but with regard to acting \u2013 or not acting \u2013 at a pivotal moment, when we are faced with a decision that will define us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yosef\u2019s life-changing moment was when he was faced with an insistent Mrs. Potifar. Every person, the Pshischer suggested, will be faced with a pivotal moment, or moments, of his own, when his choice will make all the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which idea may lie behind Targum Onkelos\u2019 translation of \u201chis work.\u201d He renders it in Aramaic as: \u201cto audit his [Potifar\u2019s] financial records.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While that may simply be a presaging of the time-honored Jewish profession of accounting, the word Onkelos uses for \u201chis financial records\u201d is <em>chushbenei<\/em>. The word\u2019s root is <em>cheshbon<\/em>, \u201caccounting,\u201d and it brings to mind its use in the phrase <em>cheshbon hanefesh<\/em> \u2013 an accounting of one\u2019s \u201csoul,\u201d an examination of one\u2019s standing in his spiritual life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Each of us is charged with discerning moments in life, when the choice before us may be pivotal. Of course, we never know whether what we are facing is indeed such a moment. And so, we are wise to treat every decision we face as potentially momentous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>\u00a9 2024 Rabbi Avi Shafran<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The nature of the \u201cwork\u201d that Yosef came to Potifar\u2019s house to do on the day when the Egyptian\u2019s wife sought to entice him to sin with her (Beraishis 39:11) is famously the subject of a disagreement between Rav and Shmuel.\u00a0 One opinion is that Yosef intended \u201cto do his [household] duties\u201d; and the other, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4643,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewish-thought","category-parsha"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Vayeishev - Momentous Moments - Rabbi Avi Shafran<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vayeishev - Momentous Moments - Rabbi Avi Shafran\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The nature of the \u201cwork\u201d that Yosef came to Potifar\u2019s house to do on the day when the Egyptian\u2019s wife sought to entice him to sin with her (Beraishis 39:11) is famously the subject of a disagreement between Rav and Shmuel.\u00a0 One opinion is that Yosef intended \u201cto do his [household] duties\u201d; and the other, […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-16T02:16:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-16T02:16:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"438\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e\"},\"headline\":\"Vayeishev – Momentous Moments\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-16T02:16:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-16T02:16:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Jewish Thought\",\"PARSHA\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\",\"name\":\"Vayeishev - Momentous Moments - Rabbi Avi Shafran\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-12-16T02:16:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-16T02:16:47+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":438},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\",\"description\":\"Reflections on Jews, Judaism, Media and Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e\",\"name\":\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dcafa906da608bb8eaee5654a2d184d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dcafa906da608bb8eaee5654a2d184d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rabbi Avi Shafran\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/RabbiAviShafran\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vayeishev - Momentous Moments - Rabbi Avi Shafran","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vayeishev - Momentous Moments - Rabbi Avi Shafran","og_description":"The nature of the \u201cwork\u201d that Yosef came to Potifar\u2019s house to do on the day when the Egyptian\u2019s wife sought to entice him to sin with her (Beraishis 39:11) is famously the subject of a disagreement between Rav and Shmuel.\u00a0 One opinion is that Yosef intended \u201cto do his [household] duties\u201d; and the other, […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/","og_site_name":"Rabbi Avi Shafran","article_published_time":"2024-12-16T02:16:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-16T02:16:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":438,"url":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rabbi Avi Shafran","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rabbi Avi Shafran","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/"},"author":{"name":"Rabbi Avi Shafran","@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e"},"headline":"Vayeishev – Momentous Moments","datePublished":"2024-12-16T02:16:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-16T02:16:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/"},"wordCount":373,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg","articleSection":["Jewish Thought","PARSHA"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/","url":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/","name":"Vayeishev - Momentous Moments - Rabbi Avi Shafran","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg","datePublished":"2024-12-16T02:16:46+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-16T02:16:47+00:00","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/vayeishev-momentous-moments\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/balance.jpg","width":620,"height":438},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/","name":"Rabbi Avi Shafran","description":"Reflections on Jews, Judaism, Media and Life","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/604b3a8c12b7d6c123996cc7a3cec66e","name":"Rabbi Avi Shafran","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dcafa906da608bb8eaee5654a2d184d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dcafa906da608bb8eaee5654a2d184d3?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rabbi Avi Shafran"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/RabbiAviShafran"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4642"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4644,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions\/4644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rabbiavishafran.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}