Friday, December 28, 2007

Yosef's Success

It is written [Breishis 39:3]: And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and whatever he (Yosef) did, the Lord made prosper in his hand. Rashi comments: The name of Heaven was frequently in his mouth.

The Sheiris Yaakov explains Rashi: The Gemora (Nedarim 7b) states: Rav Chanin said in the name of Rav: One who hears his fellow utter Hashem’s name in vain is obligated to excommunicate him; otherwise, he himself is fit to be excommunicated. The Gemora explains the rationale behind this: For wherever the unnecessary utterance of the Divine Name is prevalent, poverty will be prevalent, and poverty is regarded as death. (Thus we see the severity of Hashem’s Name being mentioned in vain.)

Since Yosef commonly used Hashem’s Name, he should not have been successful; nevertheless, his master saw that Hashem was with him and made Yosef successful.

0 comments: