24
PARTISAN REVIEW
which is a key word for me:
a/ilah,
meaning "deed" and "work," but
also "plot." We can then read this verse: "In His plotting He is awesome
toward the children of men, oh God." Now, the term
norah
means
"awesome" and "terrible" or "awful" so the verse can also be read: "In
His plotting He is awful toward the children of men, oh God." And
echoing the Yom Kippur liturgy based on this verse:
E/ norah a/ilah,
I
suggest it may be read "Oh, God of awesome plotting," or even "Oh,
God of awful plotting." Following the verse, the Midrash interprets the
outcome of joseph's story as the crude plotting of God. It is God who
makes joseph the hated sibling of his brothers, who finally plan to kill
him, but alter their scheme at the last moment. They throw him in a well
full of snakes and later sell him to a company of Ishmaelites, who carry
joseph along with them to Egypt. The Midrash compares God's plotting
to a husband who wants to divorce his wife. He comes home and tells
her: "Serve me some tea." She serves the tea. But, before even sipping it,
the husband shouts: "This tea is lukewarm! How dare you serve me
lukewarm tea. I'm going to divorce you." And the wife argues: "You
came home with a written divorce in your hands. So, why did you taunt
me with this tea business?" joseph's prearranged exile is further com–
pared in the Midrash to a farmer who wants his cow to plow a faraway
field, but the cow doesn 't want to go out there. The farmer takes her calf
and puts it in that distant field. The calf starts
to
cry, calling his mother.
And, sure enough, the cow, hearing her calf, rushes to calm and feed
him. Once the cow is there, she'll plow that part of the field, as the
farmer wished.
In a later part of the same section, the Midrash Tanchuma reminds us
how strict the boundaries of the plotted story are. One step out of them
and you are out of the story altogether. joseph himself was at risk when
his descent into Egypt went too far, according to the following
Midrashic scene. At the moment he was being seduced by Potiphar's
wife, his father jacob appeared before his eyes. Jacob showed him the
twelve shining stones on the High Priest's breastplate and said: "Do you
see these twelve stones? They are for you and your brothers, and they
are plated on the holiest of objects. If you are going to sleep with this
woman, you are not going to have your stone among the twelve. You'll
be out of the story!" And the Midrash tells how, in fear of being left out
of the story's future boundaries, joseph, who already had an erection,
was poking his fingers into the ground, trying with all his might to hold
himself back, to overcome his desire-an emblematic junction, charac–
terizing both the imposing power of the story, and the power of its pro–
tagonist to choose to stay on within the promised Biography. Stepping
