[Avodah] Gentlemen and Ladies; Who Goes First?

[Prof. Levine]

At 02:35 PM 11/29/2007, Micha Berger wrote:

>: Yet when YaAkov gets the family introduced to Uncle Esau, the ladies
>: go first until Yosef steps in front of his mother.
>
>Safety before kavod. It almost seems straightforward, if someone can
>explain why Rachel was in more danger from Eisav than the woman he
>could claim should have been his, and why Yosef saw a danger Yaaqov
>did not.
This is because derech eretz requires that children follow the 
parents, and this is what all of them did except for Yosef.

As you probably know, Rashi comments on why Yosef went in front of 
his mother. He feared that Eisav would be attracted by Rachel's great 
beauty and want to take her for himself. (Leah was not as attractive 
a Rochel. Indeed, the Chumash earlier in Vayetze describes Rochel as 
being exceptionally beautiful.) Hence Yosef partially blocked Eisav's 
view of his mother by going in front of her.

See also RSRH on these Pesukim regarding Eisav meeting Yaakov's wives.

YL

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20071129/6bb9dc9b/attachment-0002.htm>