“Joseph is a fruitful tree, a fruitful tree alongside a spring; branches run over the wall” (Genesis 49:22). “Joseph is a fruitful [porat] tree ” – a son who broke faith [shehefer] with his brothers; a son whose brothers broke faith with him;102Joseph brought his father evil reports about his brothers (Genesis 37:2); they later sold him into slavery (Genesis 37:28). a son who defied [shehefer] his master’s wife; a son whose master’s wife turned against [shehefera] him.
Rabbi Avin said: The son who achieved greatness through cows [parot].103Joseph rose to prominence after interpreting Pharaoh’s dream, which featured cows. Joseph is the son who achieved greatness through produce [perot]. “Joseph is a fruitful tree” – Joseph achieved greatness. Regarding them all it is written: “The maidservants approached…” (Genesis 33:6)104See Bereshit Rabba 90:4. – this is what he said to him: I must repay you for that eye.105Jacob wanted to compensate Joseph for having obscured Rachel from Esau’s eye.
“Branches [banot] run [tzaada] over the wall…” – you find that when Joseph emerged to rule over Egypt, the daughters [banot] of kings would peer through the slits and would cast upon him bracelets, pendants, nose rings, and rings so he would lift his eyes and look at them. Nevertheless, he did not look at them. The Holy One blessed be He said: You did not lift your eyes and look at them; as you live, you will cause your daughters106The daughters of Tzelofḥad. to have a foothold [tze’ida] in the Torah.
What is a foothold? A Torah portion.107A passage regarding the laws of inheritance (Numbers 27:1–11) was stated as a response to the request of the daughters of Tzelofḥad.