Parashat Miketz is the second of the Torah portions comprising the Joseph saga, a story that takes up much of the latter half of the book of Genesis. For many readers, it is Joseph’s role as dreamer that is most memorable. And indeed, as we saw last week, the Zohar draws on Joseph’s skill as an interpreter of dreams to explore the kabbalistic significance of dreams themselves.
But equally important is Joseph’s persona as Yosef Hatzaddik, Joseph the righteous, an epithet he earned by resisting the sexual seductions of the wife of Potiphar, an act that wound up landing him in jail. Whereas the title of tzaddik goes back to the ancient rabbis, in the Zohar (and in the kabbalistic works that preceded it), Joseph the righteous is transformed into “Joseph the Righteous One” — not simply a virtuous man, but the cosmic righteous one, which in turn is associated with the ninth sefirah, Yesod (Foundation).
Rabbi Shimon said: Until that incident befell Joseph, he was not called Righteous. Once he guarded that sealed covenant, he was called Righteous, with that rung of Holy Covenant crowning him.
The association between righteousness and Yesod comes from Proverbs 10:25: “The righteous one is the foundation (yesod) of the world.” The Zohar takes this association further. Yesod represents the sexual organ of male divinity, the generative font of creative transmission.
As we know, one of the chief innovations of Kabbalah is not only that the divine is composed of many parts or emanations (the sefirot), but of masculine and feminine dimensions as well. The deeper purpose of our performance of mitzvot is to bring these energies into balance and to unite the feminine and masculine aspects of God. Because Joseph guarded his “sealed covenant” — namely, his sexual purity at the site of the covenant of circumcision — he not only earns the title “righteous,” but is now associated with the divine quality that manifests creative potential and feeds the world.
Far more important than decoding the sefirot is understanding the qualities that the sefirot and their various symbols suggest. In this case, we get an important sense from the rich tapestry of symbols that coalesces around Joseph. Consider the Zohar’s commentary on the first mention of Joseph in the saga:
“These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph.” (Genesis 37:2) … Who is it that generated offspring? Scripture resumes, saying: Joseph. For that flowing, gushing river generates offspring since its waters never cease, generating offspring in this land, from which generations issue to the world. For although the sun draws near the moon, only that rung called Righteous One bears fruit; Joseph is the rung of Jacob bearing fruit, issuing offspring to the world. So, “These are the generations of Jacob: Joseph.”
The Zohar makes a critical linkage between Joseph and the image of a flowing river. Joseph is not just the literal extension of his father Jacob, but the procreative aspect of male divinity. The Zohar here is identifying Joseph as the gushing channel through which God’s masculine potency unites with God’s feminine energy in the divine realm. Joseph is the divine phallus.
In its commentary on Miketz too, the Zohar continues to home in on Joseph as the cosmic conduit of divine energy into the divine female:
Come and see: “Joseph was the governor over the land.” (Genesis 42:6) — sun governing moon, illumining her, nourishing her. “He was the provider to all the people of the land.” From that flowing, gushing river, all are nourished; from there souls fly to all. So they all bow to that site, for there is nothing in the world that does not depend on the flux of destiny, since from there all goodness flows into the world. As they have established, all depends on flux.
Here the Zohar continues with its bold sexual metaphor, understanding the verses in Genesis describing Joseph’s role as Egyptian viceroy as hinting at how Joseph/Yesod nourishes Shekhinah (land, moon), filling her and the world with a flux of goodness.
In a similar vein, the Zohar unpacks another biblical reference concerning Joseph: “He [Pharaoh] had him ride in his second chariot. They called out before him, avrekh.” (Genesis 41:43) The meaning of “avrekh” is uncertain. It is most probably an Egyptian word and it could be a title, or it might mean something like, “Make way!” But for the Zohar, this strange word holds the key to grasping Joseph the Righteous One.
What is Avrekh? A link linking sun with moon, and all kneel to this place.
The Zohar understands avrekh as deriving from berekh (knee, kneel) and also hivrikh (to graft, join). As the divine phallus, Joseph/Yesod represents the link with the divine female (and the lower worlds as well). It is a site before which one must be in awe.
The Zohar’s celebration of male sexuality (human and divine) is remarkable, and perhaps rivaled only by its equally daring celebration of female sexuality (human and divine). No other canonical Jewish text dives so deeply into the mysteries of human sexuality, which in the Zohar’s view holds one key to grasping the inner life of God.
The Zohar is many things, but chief among these is a work of stunning, sacred erotic imagination. As readers, our task is to meditate on these startling poetic images. Joseph the potent gushing river is one such image, which takes us to heart of the Zohar’s dynamic conception of reality and the deep divine desire to unite above and below and pour forth its flow upon us.
This piece was originally published as part of A Year of Zohar: Kabbalah for Everyone, an original series produced by My Jewish Learning and Sefaria. Sign up for the entire series here.
