Blaming the Victim – Parshat Vayeishev

We are all familiar of the story of the wife of Potiphar’s planned seduction of Yosef. Yosef runs away, conquering any potential Yetzer Hara. When her scheme ran afoul, the instigator blamed the innocent victim. Who would the courts believe, the slave, or the wife of the minister? The man or the woman? YosFef stood no chance, and was indeed found guilty.

However, if we read the pesukim carefully, the simple pshat suggests that Potiphar did not really believe his wife, and deep down believed that Yosef was innocent. What’s the proof? He didn’t behead him! A slave’s life is worth nothing, and he anyway was forced to lose his services by putting him in jail. Potiphar had to imprison Yosef, otherwise it would be a big scandal, as everyone would then believe his wife was מזנה, a terrible embarrassment. Potiphar wasn’t an ethical person, but deep down, he didn’t want to kill Yosef, because he knew he was innocent.

How history repeats itself. Blaming the victim – even if they deep down know what the truth is. There are those who will blame Israel, blame the Jews, but b’ezrat Hashem, everything will have a good ending like the story of Yosef.

Shabbat Shalom