Around that time (38:1). Pondering why the story of Joseph is interrupted by events in the life of his brother Judah, the Rabbis draw our attention to the pivotal roles women play in the lives of both men. Midrash B’reishit Rabbah 85.2 explains that Judah’s and Joseph’s adventures are juxtaposed “to bring the stories of Tamar and Potiphar’s wife into close proximity, in order to teach that as the former was actuated by a pure motive, so was the latter. For Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: Potiphar’s wife saw by her astrological arts that she was to produce a child by Joseph, but she did not know whether it was to be from her—or from her daughter.” In fact, as related in B’reishit Rabbah 86.3, the Rabbis believed that the woman whom Joseph eventually married was none other than the daughter of Potiphar and his wife, since they identified Potiphar with “Potiphera priest of On,” Joseph’s future father-in-law (41:45).
covered herself up with a veil (38:14). For the Rabbis, Tamar’s heroic actions displayed the where-withal, foresight, and fortitude of a matriarch such as Rebekah. They allude to this association in B’reishit Rabbah 60.15 and 85.7: “Two covered themselves with a veil, and each gave birth to twins—Rebekah and Tamar.” Tamar’s behavior is considered a praiseworthy response to a situation of injustice.
he turned toward her (38:16). The Rabbis saw Tamar’s deception as foreordained since they believed that the messiah will ultimately arise from her long-ago union with Judah. B’reishit Rabbah 85.8 recounts that an angel intervened on Tamar’s behalf in order to make sure that Judah did not pass her by: “Rabbi Yohanan said: He wished to go on, but the blessed Holy One made the angel who is in charge of desire appear before him and say to him: ‘Where are you going, Judah? From where are kings and redeemers to arise?’ Thus: he turned toward her.”
a kid from the flock (38:17). B’reishit Rabbah 85.9 makes clear that Judah received his comeuppance: “The blessed Holy One said to Judah, ‘You deceived your father with a kid of goats [when you hid the truth about Joseph’s disappearance, 37:31–32], thus Tamar will deceive you with a kid of goats.”
“Your signet seal, your cord, and the staff in your hand” (38:18). In B’reishit Rabbah 85.9, the Rabbis further express their support for Tamar’s actions by interpreting the pledges that Judah gives her as emblems of (future) royalty.
she became pregnant by him (38:18). Even Tamar herself was mindful of the important role her descendants would later play. During her pregnancy, “she would pat her belly and exclaim, ‘I am big with kings and redeemers’” (B’reishit Rabbah 85.10).
A 1st-century-C. E. Jewish work known as Biblical Antiquities (by an unknown author usually referred to as Pseudo-Philo) presents Tamar as a role model for the Israelites in Egypt. In that account, Amram, Moses’ father, speaks of her as “our mother Tamar.” The emphasis falls on her determination to perpetuate the line of Judah despite risk—which Amram uses to encourage the people to continue to perpetuate life despite their slavery (Biblical Antiquities 9.5–6).
Judah…said, “She is more in the right than I” (38:26). According to B’reishit Rabbah 97, Judah was rewarded for his confession that he had wronged Tamar, since God delivers those who admit their misdeeds—and promises them a life in the world to come.
after all this, his master’s wife (39:7). Tamar and Potiphar’s wife are both presented in midrashic texts as powerful, beautiful, clever, and seductive women. However, while Tamar is universally praised because she ensured the future destiny of the tribe of Judah—from which the Davidic dynasty would eventually spring—Potiphar’s wife emerges as a more ambiguous figure. She is most often depicted as both seducer and seduced. She is portrayed as an immoral woman who meant to taunt and tease Joseph but was overwhelmed by his great beauty. According to B’reishit Rabbah 87.10, when Joseph was in prison, she would say to him: “See how I have made you suffer. By your life, I will persecute you in other ways too.” The midrash continues: “She went so far as to place an iron fork under his neck so that he should have to lift up his eyes and look at her. Yet in spite of that he would not look at her.” Rabbi Huna explains that Jacob’s outcry—“a wild animal has devoured him” (37:33)—was actually a moment of clairvoyance in which the distraught father perceived Mrs. Potiphar’s wicked ways and her obsession with Joseph (B’reishit Rabbah 84.19). Indeed, the more depraved and seductive she acted, the more commendable was Joseph’s resistance and display of honor.
—Carol Bakhos