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Your donation will be tax deductible in the US to the extent allowed by the IRS.
To make a tax-deductible donation by wire transfer in the US, please contact:
Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
To make a tax-deductible donation in Israel, please contact:
Dina Gudai, Israeli Representative
Phone: 074-7800643
Email: dina@schechter.ac.il
Please mail your check to:
The Schechter Institutes, Inc. (a 501(c) 3 tax exempt organization)
Box #3566
PO Box 8500
Philadelphia, PA 19178-3566
Attn: Mr. Avrum Lapin, North American Representative
Toll-free: 1-866-830-3321
Email: schechter@thelapingroup.com
Please indicate the donation is "for your joint Schechter Institutes program."
Checks should be made payable to the Jewish Theological Society of Canada and mailed to:
Jewish Theological Society of Canada
c/o Camp Ramah in Canada
3845 Bathhurst St., Suite 310
Toronto, ON, M3H 3N2
Phone: 416-789-2193, ext. 2139
E-mail: accounting@campramah.com
Please mail a check to:
The Schechter Institutes
Attn: Dina Gudai, Finance Department
PO Box 16080,
Jerusalem, 9116002
Israel
For assistance, please call Dina Gudai at 074-780-0643 (8:00 AM – 3:00 Israel time Sunday through Thursday).
In Parashat Vayeishev, Tamar tricks Judah into helping her conceive an heir. Later on, Joseph, after defying his Egyptian master Potiphar’s wife, is thrown into jail, where he interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s cup-bearer and baker.
Dr. Gila Vachman, lecturer in Midrash and Aggadah at the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, explores the connection between Tamar and Potiphar’s wife, two women using their feminine initiative to achieve their goals. What was the difference between them?
Full transcription below:
Is a feminine initiative, a woman using her charm or even her body, a good thing or a sign of immodesty? Does the Torah encouraged such an act or does it condemn it?
In Parshat Vayeishev, we read about two women: Tamar and Potiphar’s wife. Both act in uncommon ways to achieve their goals. Both use their bodies to reach what they want to do.
The first woman is Tamar. She comes from Canaanite origins and is taken as a wife to two of Yehudah’s sons. After they died, Yehudah sends her home to sit and wait for his third son to grow up. But he never sends for her.
Another woman might have silently accepted this bitter fate, but not Tamar. Tamar decides to act. She dresses up as a prostitute and seduces Yehudah. She gets pregnant and when he finds out without knowing he’s the father, he sends her to be killed. Tamar hints to him that the children she is bearing are his and when Yehudah acknowledges this he marries her and from this pair will emerge David, the king of Israel. This is probably a sign that Tamar was doing good.
Immediately, afterward. We hear the story about Yosef and Potiphar’s wife. It seems there is no connection between the two stories. One of them tells about Yehudah’s family and the other one tells about Yosef in Egypt.
But I think that Torah put these two stories together in order to teach us something. Eshet Potiphar, Potiphar’s wife, seems to be a mirror image of Tamar, she does a very similar thing. She also uses her charm and her body to seduce Yosef but when he refuses, she falsely accuses him and throws him to jail. What a difference between Potiphar’s wife and Tamar. Potiphar’s wife is acting out of selfish goals, trying to seduce in a very explicit way. When she fails, she throws Yosef into jail.
So, we can see this is sort of a twisted mirror image and we don’t even know Potiphar’s wife’s name. What the Torah is telling us is that the same act of feminine initiative, of a woman using her body could be a bad thing when it is done out of selfish motives, without respect. But when it is done out of noble motives it is well worthy of praise.
Dr. Gila Vachman is a Lecturer in Midrash at The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies and coordinates The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary’s Torah Lishmah program at Neve Schechter in Tel Aviv.
Dr. Gila Vachman received her BA (summa cum laude) in Talmud and Hebrew Literature, MA (summa cum laude) in Midrash and Aggadah, and her PhD from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She is also a lecturer in Midrash and Aggadah at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Born on Kibbutz Yavne, Dr. Vachman is married, the mother of three children, and lives in Jerusalem.
