Dinah's Daughter, Asenath, Gives Legitimacy to Joseph

 



Dinah’s Daughter: A Vital Link

By: Prof. Livia Bitton-Jackson
 

Published: December 8th, 2011
Latest update: May 3rd, 2013   

This week’s parsha, Vayislach, relates a shocking episode that causes genuine outrage in the Israelite camp -- the Canaanite Prince Shechem’s brutal assault of Yaakov’s [Jacob's]daughter Dinah. “And Yaakov’s sons came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved and agonized in fury because he had committed a despicable deed against Israel by laying Yaakov’s daughter – a thing not to be done” (Bereshit 34:7).  The Torah then depicts the aggressive revenge of Yaakov’s sons against the Canaanite tribe, and the narrative flows on to additional future events, but of Dinah’s fate there is no further mention.

Two parshiyot later (Miketz) we learn of Yosef’s [Joseph's] amazing rise to power in Egypt. Paraoh, in elevating Yosef to an exalted position, makes two ceremonial gestures. One: he grants Yosef a new name: "And Pharaoh called Yosef Tzafenat Paneah” (Bereshit 41:45) -- and the second: he arranges a prestigious marriage for Yosef:  “…he gave him for a wife Asenat the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On..."(Ibid.)

These two official gestures by Paraoh seem linked: a prominent Egyptian name and a prominent Egyptian wife were designed to launch Yosef's illustrious governmental career in Egypt. Egyptologists tell us that in the language of ancient Egypt Tzafenat translates as "supplier of food," and Paneah as "vital." From the connotation of the name given to Yosef it is apparent that it was a title denoting his job as Chief Steward, a preeminent and powerful governmental position further enhanced by his marriage to a woman hand-picked by Paraoh. By taking an Egyptian name and marrying a highborn Egyptian woman, Yosef acquired great prestige and, most importantly, an Egyptian identity.

When he married the daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, Yosef became a member of a socially and politically prominent family. On, the equivalent of the Greek Heliopolis, neighboring the Eastern Delta or Goshen, later the site of the Hebrews’ settlement, was the center of sun worship. During the reign of Akhenaton when sun worship was the official religion in Egypt, the chief sanctuary to Ra, the Sun God, was erected in On, rendering the Priest of On the Supreme Clerical Authority.

Asenat, the daughter of the Supreme Clerical Authority, eventually became the mother of Menashe and Efraim. On his deathbed Yaakov raised Menashe and Efrayim to become Israel's tribal fathers, on par with Yaakov's own sons. Asenat, who, according to the Midrash, was the adopted daughter of Potiphera (whom Rashi identifies with Potiphar) thus became one of the eemahos of Bnei Yisrael, sharing that honor equally with Rachel, Leah, Bilhah and Zilpah.

Who was Asenat if not the natural daughter of Potiphera? Where did she come from? Rabbinic literature picks up the thread that the Torah text did not continue to weave. Midrash Esther reveals that Asenath was in fact Dinah's daughter, born of Dinah's disastrous encounter with the Canaanite prince Shechem. How did the tale evolve? How did Dinah’s daughter become the adopted child of the Egyptian potentate? What miraculous coincidence helped the beautiful young girl to reach Potiphera’s home?

"And Dinah gave birth to a daughter and named her Asenat, saying, `To my woe did I bear her for Shechem the son of Chamor who had taken me by force to his house'" (Midrash Esther). The same Midrash discloses that when "Yaakov saw that his sons regard Asenat with hostility, he took a gold medal and wrote upon it the Holy Name and placed on her neck."  With that Asenat left Yaakov’s household and the Almighty guided her to the house of Seleikha, wife of Potiphar.

"And Seleikha was barren of child, and she saw the lovely girl who came to her house, and she gathered her to her house, and she became her daughter" (Ibid.)

Years later, when Asenat was presented to him by Pharaoh, Yosef instantaneously noticed the medallion with the Holy Name on Asenat's neck, and understood that it was the Divine Hand, which guided Asenat to him.

This Midrash solves several problems with one stroke. First, the brutality of Dinah's fate is mitigated by this sequel. We are updated on Dinah’s story: the child born of the unhappy Shechem episode is redeemed from the stigma of her birth by eventually serving an essential role in the Divine plan. Secondly, through Asenat, Dinah's rightful inheritance is restored, as she becomes a tribal ancestress on equal footing with her brothers. Thirdly, it allays fears about Yosef's potential assimilation, marriage to a foreign woman being its ultimate element.

Not only did Yosef not marry an Egyptian, Chazal teach, on the contrary, he married a young woman provided by the Almighty Himself, a wife from the house of Yaakov to serve as a vital link to the next generation.

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Asenath the Daughter of Dinah



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The traditions that trace Asenath to the family of Jacob relate that she was the daughter born to Dinah following her rape by Shechem son of Hamor. Jacob’s sons wanted to kill the infant, lest it be said that there was harlotry in the tents of Jacob. Jacob brought a gold plate and wrote God’s name on it; according to another tradition, he wrote on it the episode with Shechem. Jacob hung the plate around Asenath’s neck and sent her away. God dispatched the angel Michael to bring her to the house of Poti-phera in Egypt; according to yet another tradition, Dinah left Asenath on the wall of Egypt. That day Poti-phera went out for a walk near the wall with his young men, and he heard the infant’s crying. When they brought the baby to him, he saw the plate and the record of the episode. Poti-phera told his servants, “This girl is the daughter of great ones.” He brought her to his home and gave her a wet nurse. Poti-phera’s wife was barren, and she raised Asenath as her own daughter. Consequently, she was called “Asenath daughter of Poti-phera,” for she was raised in the home of Poti-phera and his wife, as if she were their own daughter. This narrative teaches that all is foreseen by God. Each of Jacob’s sons was born together with his future spouse, except for Joseph, who was not born together with his mate, since Asenath daughter of Dinah was fit to be his wife. God directed matters so that Joseph would find a wife when he went down to Egypt, and Asenath was suitable for him (Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer [ed. Higger], chaps. 35, 37; Midrash Aggadah [ed. Buber], Gen. 41:45).

Asenath as Part of the Family

Gen. 43:24–34 relates that Joseph invited his brothers to eat with him when they went down to Egypt to procure food. In the midrashic depiction, this was a family meal in which Joseph’s wife and children also participated. Joseph sat his brothers before him, “from the oldest in the order of his seniority to the youngest in the order of his youth” (v. 33), and brought the portions to the meal. Joseph gave each one, including Benjamin, his portion, and then he took his own portion and gave it to Benjamin. Asenath took her portion and gave it to Benjamin, as did Ephraim and Manasseh. Thus, there were five portions next to Benjamin, as is recorded in v. 34: “But Benjamin’s portion was five times that of anyone else” (Tanhuma, Vayigash 4). The verse then continues: “And they drank their fill with him,” on which the midrash comments that all those years during which Joseph had not seen his brothers, he did not imbibe of wine, nor did his brothers until they saw him; now they drank with him, to intoxication (Gen. Rabbah 92:5). In these midrashim, Asenath and her children shared Joseph’s sense of loss all the years that he lived apart from his family, and they also participate in the excitement and joy when he is reunited with Benjamin, his only maternal brother.

The Torah relates (Gen. 48) that when Jacob was old and infirm, Joseph came to visit him, together with his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob blessed Joseph’s sons and declared that, for him, they were equal to his own sons and they would receive a double land portion. The midrash describes the soul searching that accompanied this decision, which was connected to Joseph’s marriage to Asenath. According to one tradition, when Jacob saw Joseph’s sons and wished to bless them, the Shekhinah (Divine Presence) departed from him. Jacob thought that Manasseh and Ephraim were not the sons of a legitimate marital union, and were therefore unfit to receive a blessing. Jacob asked (v. 8): “Who are these?”, that is, how were these born? (Midrash Aggadah [ed. Buber] 48:8). In another tradition, Jacob saw with the spirit of divine inspiration that Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite, would erect (statues of) calves, incite Israel to engage in idolatry, and cause five hundred thousand of Israel to fall in a single day (as is related in II Chron. 13:17). Jacob therefore asked: “Who are these?”—perhaps you improperly married the mother of these? Joseph brought before him Asenath and her ketubah (marriage contract) and said (Gen. 48:9): “They are my sons, whom God has given me here [ba-zeh, literally, with this]”: “with this”—with a ketubah and proper marriage. He also showed him that, just as he was circumcised, so were his sons (Midrash ha-Gadol, Vayehi 48:8–9 [ed. Margaliot], pp. 820–21). In another midrashic unfolding, Joseph began his request by saying: “Father, my children are righteous like me.” He brought their mother Asenath before his father and said: “Father, please, even if only on behalf of this righteous woman.” When Jacob saw this, he told Joseph (Gen. 48:9): “Bring them up to me that I may bless them.” Joseph brought them to his father, who began to embrace and kiss them, and rejoiced in them (Pesikta Rabbati [ed. Friedmann (Ish-Shalom)], chap. 3, fol. 12a).

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Taken from: http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asenath-midrash-and-aggadah