Vayeshev: The Strength We Give Each Other

By Ian Schwartz

This week’s parsha features the rare musical note shalshalet. As we know, the shalshalet appears only three times in the entire Torah, and in our parsha it appears on the word “Vayima’ein”—“and he refused,” describing Yosef’s refusal of Eshet Potiphar.

I once heard a beautiful explanation of this shalshalet from Rav YY Jacobson. Chazal tell us: “Eileh toldos Yaakov, Yosef.” Everything that happened to Yaakov happened to Yosef. Yosef experienced the same trials: he was hated by his brothers, threatened, forced to run away from home—mirroring the life of Yaakov Avinu. Yosef, who was the continuation of Yaakov through his beloved Rachel, relived his father’s struggles in Mitzrayim.

Now Yosef finds himself alone—far from his father, far from his family, without support or guidance. And there, the most beautiful woman in Egypt pursues him day after day. The temptation grows and grows until Yosef reaches a moment where, as Chazal describe, he is seconds away from giving in.

And then—“Vayima’ein.”

He refuses.

The shalshalet stretched over this word represents a chain. A long, trembling, wavering sound—reflecting Yosef’s inner struggle. But a chain also connects two things. What, then, is the shalshalet of Vayima’ein connecting?

Earlier in the parsha, the same word appears: “Vayima’ein l’hisnachem”—Yaakov refused to be comforted after hearing of Yosef’s supposed death. For 22 years, Yaakov remained in perpetual mourning. Despite time’s natural healing, Yaakov could not move on. Rashi explains: since Yosef was truly alive, Yaakov’s heart could not accept consolation.

The Alter Rebbe—the Baal HaTanya—offers a deeper insight. He says that the Vayima’ein of Yaakov is chained to the Vayima’ein of Yosef.

How? Chazal say that at the moment Yosef was about to sin, he saw the image of his father. What does that mean? Not necessarily a literal vision. Perhaps, says the Alter Rebbe, it means that Yosef suddenly remembered who he truly was.

When he looked at Eshet Potiphar, he realized that what he was seeking was not physical pleasure or escape. What he longed for was Yaakov—the midah of Tiferet, beauty, balance, vitality, spiritual fullness. He wanted to feel whole again. Yosef understood that this act would not bring him life; it would take him further from the person he wanted to be.

And what gave him the strength to access that?

The knowledge—deep within his soul—that Yaakov never gave up on him. Yaakov’s refusal to move on, his refusal to believe that Yosef was gone, created a spiritual chain of belief between father and son. That chain—the shalshelet—gave Yosef the strength to refuse, to hold on to his identity even in the depths of Mitzrayim.

Because Yaakov believed in Yosef, Yosef was able to believe in himself.

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Takeaway

There are many lessons here, but one stands out:

When someone truly believes in you, it gives you the strength to overcome challenges you never thought possible. And when you show someone else that you believe in them—genuinely—it can change their life.

Like Yaakov and Yosef, we can be that “shalshalet,” that chain of support and faith, for one another. If we see the goodness, potential, and greatness in each other, we give each other the chizuk to rise above any test—no matter how difficult.

Shabbat Shalom.