Joseph Brought Down to Egypt and the Lord Was With Him

"And Joseph was brought down to Egypt" (Genesis 39:1). Do not read it as "was brought down" but as "he brought down" [the same letters reread] — for he brought down Pharaoh's astrologers from their high standing. "And Potiphar bought him." He bought him for himself; the angel Gabriel came and castrated and mutilated him: at first it is written Potiphar, and later it is written "Potiphera." "And the LORD was with Joseph" (Genesis 39:2). Yet of the other tribes it does not say this. Rabbi Yudan said: A parable. It is like a man who had before him twelve beasts laden with wine. One of them entered the shop of a gentile. He left the eleven and went after that one. They said to him, "Why?" He said, "These are in the public domain, and I do not fear that their wine will be made into a libation to idols; but this one entered a gentile's shop, and I fear its wine may be made into a libation." So too, these were grown and under their father's authority, but Joseph was young and on his own — therefore, "And the LORD was with Joseph." "And he became a prosperous man." "A man who leaps," as you say, "And they crossed over [forded] the Jordan before the king" (II Samuel 19:18). A parable: a she-bear was passing through the marketplace adorned with precious stones and pearls. They said, "Whoever leaps onto her may take what is on her." There was a clever man there. He said, "You are looking at what is on her, but I am looking at her teeth."