Parshas Mkeitz 5776

What was Potiphar's Job?

The Torah writes (Genesis 41:10):

Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in the ward of the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker.

Midrash Sechel Tov (Genesis 38:21) writes:

"captain of the guards" - this is Potiphar who was appointed to oversee those to be executed and those to be imprisoned

Rashbam writes (Genesis 39:1):

he would execute the people sentenced as murderers and would generally be in charge of imprisoned criminals. 

Shadal (Genesis 40:3) writes in a similar fashion:

"captain of the guards" - this is the prison which was under the authority of Potiphar, and under Potiphar there was a warden over the prison

Radak (Genesis 37:36) writes similarly:

As per Onkelos, he was Pharaoh's chief executioner

Rashi (ibid) explains otherwise:

"chief of the butchers" - those who kill the king's animals

Ibn Ezra (ibid) explains the disagreement:

This language ["butchers"] can be applied to killing and to cooking

Bereishit Rabbah (86:3) explains that he was also in charge of preparing animals for idol sacrifices:

Potiphar is the same person as Potiphera - Potiphar because he prepared calves for idols, Potiphera - because he made himself free for idol worship

The Torah  (Genesis 41:45) also calls him a priest. However, Targum Onkelos [ibid] identifies Potiphera as an governor of On, not a priest.

The Ramban (Genesis 41:45) explains that he had all of these jobs:

And I say that according to the words of our Sages Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh. When he became an eunuch and they realized that, they started to call him Potiphera and he was embarrassed and resigned his post. He went and put himself into a house of idol worship, and became a priest to idols for this was the custom among the nobility. And perhaps, "On", is the name of his idol...

(see also Sefer Mayim Rabim for discussion of Potiphar becoming an eunuch)

Who was Asenath, the wife of Joseph?

The Torah writes (Genesis 41:45):

And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

Pirkei deRabbi Eliezer (chapter 38) and Targum Jonathan (ibid) write that Asenath was the daughter of Dinah, from Shechem, exiled by Jacob to Egypt

(see also Bereishis Rabbah [80:11], that Dinah had another child, Zimri, who was a son of Simeon; see our earlier post; see also the Jewish Encyclopedia citing a Midrash, which identifies Zimri as the son of Shechem and Dinah)

Yalkut Shemoni (Nach 9) writes that she was a convert, implying that she was not Dinah's daughter (unless patrilineal descent applied before the Giving of the Torah):

There are some righteous women who converted: Hagar, Asenath, Tzeporah, Shifra, Puah, daughter of Pharoh, Rahab, Ruth, and Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenanite.

Midrash Rabbah (Bamidbar Rabbah 8) also writes that she was a convert:

When the Gibeonites came to ask for help, Joshua said: "And for converts we should trouble the public? G-d told him: Joshua! If you push away the ones that are further away, in the end you will push away the ones close to you as well. From where did you come from, wasn't it from converts? For it is written (Genesis 46): "And they were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt", and it states earlier that Joshua was from Ephraim.

(see Sefer Mayim Rabbim for a further discussion)

[Published at parshapeople.blogspot.com / Comments welcome to parsha-people@publishyoursefer.com]