Today we return to Yosef. Last week we said that Yosef’s success depended on haShem’s help (כל אשר הוא עושה ה’ מצליח) but also on the impeccable moral behavior of Yosef, which earned him the Divine help. We already talked about Yosef’s patience, his self-esteem, his proactivity and his ability to see the future from a Jewish perspective, as a dimension open to possibilities that we ourselves can create.
There is another feature of Yosef, perhaps the least unknown, that brought Yosef to succeed: his integrity.
Yosef’s integrity is implicitly or explicitly manifested in at least three cases
1. HONESTY
Yosef was bought by Potiphar as a slave. Shortly after being in Potiphar’s house, Potiphar assigns him as the administrator of his estate. The Tora says that Potiphar (Gen. 39: 6) “… left everything he owned in the hands of Yosef, and Yosef did not have to give him any reports of anything …”. Potiphar had total trust in Yosef. What did Potiphar see in Yosef that led him to appoint him as his administrator? It was very common for slaves to steal. The rabbis said in Pirqe Abot מרבה עבדים מרבה גזל “the more workers at home, the higher the rate of robberies the employer will suffer”. Domestic workers felt that their pay was never enough, and thought that it was their right to take whatever they wanted from their employers, as a just compensatory act. Yosef obviously behaved with an uncommon honesty, which was identified by Potiphar and made Potiphar promote Yosef as his manager. Rabbi Eliezer Papo, z “l, says in his wonderful book Pele Yoets that honesty is the key to professional and commercial success, because sooner or later the honest person acquires a reputation that becomes its greatest asset and his more important credit report (and vice versa).
2. FIDELITY
As we know, Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Yosef. For a young man with not family and alone, the affection of a woman was not only a matter of instincts but also, or above all, the fulfillment of an emotional need. But Yosef contained himself. He was not carried away by his physical or emotional needs and instincts. Yosef guided himself by the moral principles he learned from Ya’aqob, his father. The Rabbis already warned us that there are two very sensitive areas, in which many people fall, and therefore we must redouble our efforts to overcome them. First, the area of financial integrity (גזל), and second the area of sexual behavior (עריות). This is not new: we permanently hear in the news how people of all social levels and even (or especially) individuals in prominent political positions, fell in disgrace because of matters related to economic corruption or improper sexual behavior. Yosef gives us a great example of moral integrity and loyalty.
3. NOBILITY
We all think that Joseph is called “tsadiq” (a righteous man) because he refused the advances of Potiphar’s wife. This year I heard from Rabbi Hayim Sabato ( you can listen to his class, in Hebrew here) that additionally (or mainly) we should consider Yosef as a great tsadiq because of his ability to forgive. When he finally reveals his identity to his brothers Yosef did not express any accusation, and said nothing about blame. He forgave them and tried to comfort them. In an incredible display of moral magnanimity Yosef told his brothers. 45: 6 “And now, grieve no more, and do not feel bad with yourself … because in the end, it was to save lives that God sent me before you came here.” 45: 8 “It was HaShem not you, Who sent me to Egypt.” Yosef tells his brothers not to feel guilty. That they were actually a tool Hashem used to save millions of lives from starvation. It would have been so natural and expected for someone who suffered so much to express a minimum reproach, a small oral and emotional revenge, something that would make his brothers feel bad or responsible for what they did… But Yosef did not do that. Yosef only thought to comfort his brothers, because they felt so guilty.
Rabbi Sabato explains that sometimes a person can be a great “tsadiq” in the religious area, while when facing a social situation (בן אדם לחברו) this person may not act with the same greatness and altruism. Yosef, we are shown, had a comprehensive impeccable character, he was loyal to HaShem and nobel to his peers. All these attributes made Yosef attain his great and unique title, Yosef haTsadiq, “Yosef, the righteous, the man of integrity”.
