Bagad
KJV (49) - transgress, 3; deceitfully, 2; offend, 1; transgressor, 10;
treacherous, 2; treacherous dealer, 3; treacherous men, 1;
treacherously, 23; unfaithful man, 1; unfaithfully, 1; very, 2;
NAS (48) - acted deceitfully, 1; acted treacherously, 2; betrayed, 1;
betrays, 1; deal, 1; deal treacherously, 10; deal very treacherously,
1; deals treacherously, 1; dealt treacherously, 8; dealt very
treacherously, 1; faithless, 2; treacherous, 15; treacherous deal, 1;
treacherous one still deals treacherously, 1; treacherously, 1;
unfairness, 1;
Beged
treachery, deceit
garment, clothing (used indiscriminately)
“The glory of men is the clothes they wear.” Derekh Eretz Zuta 10
Throughout Genesis, and Parashat Va-Yeshev in particular, clothing
exchanged, appropriated, or expropriated is a prime vehicle through
which themes of betrayal, deception, identity, treachery, ascent, and
decline are developed.
A case in point: In Genesis, ten out of fourteen occurrences of the
word beged, (a common word for clothing first introduced in 24:53 to
describe Rivkah's trousseau) deal with an act of betrayal. The world
appears twice in chapter 27 in connection with Yaakov's theft of the
birthright, twice in chapter 38 in connection with Tamar's entrapment
of Yehudah in levirate marriage, and six times (!) in chapter 29 by
Potiphar's wife to condemn Yosef's adulterous behavior.
BeGeD is one of Torah's great puns; its very root means betrayal and
deception, for the role of clothing is to hide and conceal. Does beged
deserve a bum “wrap” in every occurrence in Genesis? There is
tremendous pathos in Yaakov's use of the word in the context of his vow
at Bet El (28:20). Having substituted his original identity for Esav�s,
Yaakov becomes a confused fugitive. By asking Hashem for something as
basic as beged, perhaps Yaakov is asking for a new identity, something
that conceals his inner turmoil while allowing him to make a
presentable appearance to the world-at-large.
Consider three instances in our parashah where expropriated clothing is
used to ruin the reputation of another.
First, Yaakov is presented with the bloodied kutonet (tunic) of Yosef.
The brothers say to their distraught father, “We found this. Haker na,
identify if you please: Is this your son's tunic or not?” (37:32
Artscroll Tanakh) Then, Tamar has the goods on her father-in-law
Yehudah: “'By the man to whom these belong I am with child.' And she
says, 'haker na, identify if you please, whose are this signet, this
wrap, and this staff.'” (38:25) Finally, Potiphar's wife confronts her
husband with her evidence against Joseph, “'the Hebrew slave whom you
brought to us came to sport with me. But when it happened that when I
raised my voice and screamed, he left his garment beside me and ran
outside.'” (39:17-18).
Where is the haker na 'identify if you please' in the third incident?
Why can't Potiphar be asked to make a positive identification on the
garment of his chief steward? Except for what he eats, Potiphar knows
little of the doings of his household (39:6). Joseph may be the main
man of the house, but he is not the only man inside the house on a
regular basis (39:11). Potiphar's wife waited for the house to be empty
to commit her indiscretion, but the moment she was left holding the
'beged' she knew she was in trouble.
Unlike Yosef's beautiful coat of stripes, or Yehudah's accoutrements of
rank and distinction, a simple beged wasn't enough evidence with which
to perpetrate her fraud. All the men of the house probably had the same
garment. Possession may be nine tenths of the law, but so far, she had
demonstrated that she was capable of making a liaison with any man of
the house.
Thus, in verse thirteen, the wife of Potiphar covers her tracks by
colluding with ALL the men of her household and insisting that they
corroborate her story before Potiphar comes home. We can contrast the
humorous image of Potiphar's wife holding the dynamite with the lit
fuse with the dramatic confrontations of Yaakov and Yehudah in the
previous chapters in Va-Yeshev.
If there a pecking order for clothing appearing in the book of Genesis,
it might go something like this (in descending order): kutonet (tunic)
beged (raiment) simlah (dress, cloak) and sak (sackcloth). Consider
Yosef's decline: He starts out wearing the k'tonet passim, which is
replaced by beged in the house of Potiphar. In our parashah, we are not
told what Yosef wears in prison but it is most likely a simlah because
next week in Miketz, he will need to change his simlah before he can
have an audience with Pharoah. Then Yosef's reversal of fortune in the
house of Pharaoh begins with a reversal of clothing into bigdei shesh
(beged made from fine linen).
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