Related for Sotah 72:23

יהודה מאי היא דתניא היה ר"מ אומר כשעמדו ישראל על הים היו שבטים מנצחים זה עם זה זה אומר אני יורד תחלה לים וזה אומר אני יורד תחלה לים קפץ

— R. Johanan said in the name of R. Meir: [This means] that his passion subsided. And the arms of his hands were made active<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XLIX, 24. ');">²⁰</span> — he stuck his hands in the ground so that his lust came out from between his finger-nails. 'By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XLIX, 24. ');">²⁰</span> — Who caused his name to be engraven upon the stones of the ephod but the Mighty One of Jacob? 'From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XLIX, 24. ');">²¹</span> — from there was he worthy to be made a shepherd, as it is said: Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, Thou that leadest like the flock of Joseph.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LXXX, 2, E.V. 1., sic. Hence Israel is called Joseph's flock and he is the shepherd. ');">²²</span> It has been taught: Joseph was worthy that twelve tribes should issue from him as they issued from his father Jacob, as it is said: These are the generations of Jacob, Joseph;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Gen. XXXVII, 2. ');">²³</span> but his lust came out from between his finger-nails.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As mentioned above, and so his power to beget was diminished. ');">²⁴</span> Nevertheless they<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., ten sons, who, added to Joseph's two, made the total of twelve. ');">²⁵</span> issued from his brother Benjamin and were given names on his own account; as it is said: And the sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel etc.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XLVI, 21. ');">²⁶</span> [He was called] Bela, because [Joseph] was swallowed up [nibla'] among the peoples. [He was called] Becher, because [Joseph] was the firstborn [bekor] of his mother. [He was called] Ashbel, because God sent [Joseph] into captivity [sheba'o el]. [He was called] Gera, because [Joseph] dwelt [gar] in lodgings [in a strange land]. [He was called] Naaman, because he was especially beloved [na'im]. [They were called] Ehi and Rosh, because [Joseph] is my brother [ahi] and chief [rosh]. [They were called] Muppim and Huppim, because [Benjamin said: Joseph] did not see my marriage-canopy [huppah] and I did not see his.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The derivation of Muppim has fallen out of the text, but is found in Tanhuma to Genesis (ed. Buber, p. 206), viz., his mouth (pi) was like that of our father, i.e., he learnt Torah from Joseph as from Jacob. ');">²⁷</span> [He was called] Ard, because [Joseph] descended [yarad] among the peoples. Others explain [that he was called] Ard, because [Joseph's] face was like a rose [wered]. R. Hiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Johanan: At the moment when Pharaoh said to Joseph, And without thee shall no man lift up his hand etc.,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. XLI, 44 ');">²⁸</span> Pharaoh's astrologers exclaimed: 'Wilt thou set in power over us a slave whom his master bought for twenty pieces of silver!' He replied to them, 'I discern in him royal characteristics.' They said to him, 'In that case he must be acquainted with the seventy languages'. Gabriel came and taught [Joseph] the seventy languages, but he could not learn them. Thereupon [Gabriel] added to his name a letter from the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He, and he learnt [the languages] as it is said: He appointed it in Joseph<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 179, n. 7. ');">²⁹</span> for a testimony, when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I [Joseph] heard a language that I knew not.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LXXXI, 6. ');">³⁰</span> On the morrow, in whatever language Pharaoh conversed with him he replied to him; but when [Joseph] spoke to him in the holy tongue he did not understand what he said. So he asked him to teach it to him; he taught it to him but he could not learn it. [Pharaoh] said to him, 'Swear to me that thou wilt not reveal this';<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That he was ignorant of Hebrew, and a king was expected to know every language. ');">³¹</span> and he swore to him. When [Joseph] later said to him, My father made me swear, saying,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. L, 5, viz., that he should inter his body in Canaan. ');">³²</span> he remarked to him, 'Go, ask [to be released from] thine oath.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Jewish Law only proper authorities could release a man from his oath. Pharaoh did not wish Joseph to leave Egypt to bury his father. ');">³³</span> He replied to him, 'I will also ask [to be released from my oath] concerning thee'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if Pharaoh refused him permission, he would take steps to enable him to disclose the king's ignorance of Hebrew. ');">³⁴</span> Therefore, although it was displeasing to him, [Pharaoh] said to him, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 6. ');">³⁵</span> What was it that Judah did?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That he sanctified God's Name publicly. ');">³⁶</span> — As it has been taught: R. Meir said: When the Israelites stood by the Red Sea, the tribes strove with one another, each wishing to descend into the sea first. Then sprang forward

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