Potiphar's wife tried every day to seduce Joseph. She dressed in her finest ornaments, changed her clothes constantly, and spoke to him with increasing urgency. But Joseph mastered his inclination—and it was precisely this strength of will, according to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, that made him worthy of ruling Egypt.
One day, all the noble women of Egypt gathered to see what the fuss was about. When Joseph entered to serve them, his mistress handed each woman an apple and a knife to peel it. The women began peeling—but every single one of them cut her own hand. They were so captivated by Joseph's beauty that they could not look away long enough to watch the blade.
Potiphar's wife turned to them and said: "If you do this after seeing him for one hour, how much more should I be excused—I who see him every day?" This scene, preserved in a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle compiled by Jerahmeel ben Solomon and translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, closely parallels the famous apple-peeling episode found in later Islamic tradition, though it draws on much older Jewish midrash (rabbinic interpretive commentary)ic roots about Joseph's extraordinary physical beauty and his equally extraordinary restraint.