Sota 36: What Happened When We Entered HaAretz; Joseph, Potiphar's Wife, Joseph's Descendants

Telling of the Israelites entering ha'aretz, we learn that no one was permitted to be too close to Mount Gerezim or Mount Ebal, which were sixty mil from the river Jordan.  In Exodus 23;27 we learn that G-d said, "I will send my terror before you, and will confound all of the people you encounter".  One of the interpretations of this verse is, surprisingly, that people were over taken with diarrhea.  First, diarrhea would be the natural result of a confused bowel.  Second, terror is known to cause diarrhea.  And so we see the very ancient connection between Jews and nervous stomach.

The Gemara walks us through all of the miracles that happen on that day, or at that time.  We entered the land, stood at the mountains, brought the stones and built the altar on Mount Ebal, wrote out the Torah in seventy languages and plastered the stones, sacrificed burnt and peace offerings, celebrated, uttered the blessings and the curses, took the stones to Mount Gilgal.  The hornets did not accompany us, some rabbis say, but instead poisoned our foes from above, in their eyes, and from below, in their genitals.

The Gemara then questions the ordering of the tribes.  Did six tribes wait at one mountain and six at another?  In which order?  Is this the same order that the names of the tribes were inscribed into the two ephods worn by the High Priest?  The rabbis consider the number of letters split into two groups of 25; which name had a letter added to it and why.  The significance of Joseph is discussed at length.  Which sons were placed where on the ephod?    The descendants of Joseph are said to be protected from the harmful effects of the evil eye.  

In a discussion of the time that Joseph sanctified G-d's name in private, we are told a bizarre version of the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife.  Joseph was, in fact, about to have relations with her.  That was her plan, and that was why he entered her suite.  Just before acting on his desire, Joseph saw the face of his father in the window, reminding him that if he has intercourse with this woman, he will forfeit the right to have his name carved onto the stone ephod of the High Priest.  He will be knows as one who fornicates with prostitutes.  Instead of completing the sexual act, his "bow" is controlled; and the arms of his hands were made supple (Genesis 49:24).  The rabbis interpret this - and here is the bizarre part - as Joseph digging his hands into the earth where the semen was released through his fingernails.

All of Benjamin's sons, we are told, were named after traits of Joseph.  Each of their names is understood to represent a trait of Joseph.  

At the end of today's daf we are told that Pharaoh was not as nice as he might have seemed.  He did not allow Joseph to bury his father's bones as Joseph had made an oath to do.  Pharaoh told Joseph to break his oath.  Joseph suggested that Pharaoh to break his own oath - Pharoah was embarrased that he knew all seventy languages but he did not know Hebrew.  Joseph now threatened to break his oath of secrecy.  Only then did Pharaoh say, "Go up and bury your father according to what he made you swear" (Genesis 50:6).

Sota is offering incredible agadaic material in addition to fascinating perspective on the gendered halachot regarding behaviour motivated by jealousy.  I am glad that there is more to come.