Why does Yosef keep losing his clothing?
The Tiferes Shlomo, Vayeshev 4, develops a remarkable way of understanding the garments in Yosef's story. The Torah begins:
אֵלֶּה ׀ תֹּלְדוֹת יַעֲקֹב יוֹסֵף בֶּן־שְׁבַֽע־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה הָיָה רֹעֶה אֶת־אֶחָיו בַּצֹּאן וְהוּא נַעַר אֶת־בְּנֵי בִלְהָה וְאֶת־בְּנֵי זִלְפָּה נְשֵׁי אָבִיו וַיָּבֵא יוֹסֵף אֶת־דִּבָּתָם רָעָה אֶל־אֲבִיהֶֽם׃
These are the generations of Yaakov: Yosef, at seventeen years old, was tending the flock with his brothers. He was a youth with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives; Yosef brought their father an unfavorable report about them. (Bereishis 37:2)
Yaakov has twelve sons, yet the account immediately focuses on Yosef. In the inward reading developed here, Yosef carries forward a particular part of Yaakov's work: the task of the tzaddik through whom blessing reaches others.
Then we read:
וְיִשְׂרָאֵל אָהַב אֶת־יוֹסֵף מִכׇּל־בָּנָיו כִּֽי־בֶן־זְקֻנִים הוּא לוֹ וְעָשָׂה לוֹ כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּֽים׃
Yisrael loved Yosef more than all his sons, because he was a son of his old age; he made him a kesones passim. (Bereishis 37:3)
The brothers later strip Yosef of the garment, dip it in blood and bring it to Yaakov. In Egypt, clothing becomes central again. Potiphar's wife uses changing garments in her attempts to attract him, as Chazal describe in Yoma 35b. Finally:
וַתִּתְפְּשֵׂהוּ בְּבִגְדוֹ לֵאמֹר שִׁכְבָה עִמִּי וַיַּעֲזֹב בִּגְדוֹ בְּיָדָהּ וַיָּנׇס וַיֵּצֵא הַחֽוּצָה׃
She seized him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” He left his garment in her hand, fled, and went outside. (Bereishis 39:12)
Years later, when he is brought out of prison:
וַיִּשְׁלַח פַּרְעֹה וַיִּקְרָא אֶת־יוֹסֵף וַיְרִיצֻהוּ מִן־הַבּוֹר וַיְגַלַּח וַיְחַלֵּף שִׂמְלֹתָיו וַיָּבֹא אֶל־פַּרְעֹֽה׃
Pharaoh sent and called Yosef; they hurried him out of the dungeon. He shaved, changed his garments, and came to Pharaoh. (Bereishis 41:14)
The repeated attention to clothing asks for explanation. Why does Yaakov make this garment? Why is removing it so central to the brothers' actions? Why does Yosef leave another garment behind, and why is changing his clothing mentioned at the moment he emerges from prison?
A covering makes room for a relationship
A garment conceals part of a person and makes ordinary interaction possible. It also gives him a way to express himself. The concealment helps create the conditions in which he can be present with others.
The Tiferes Shlomo understands a levush, a covering, as a form of tzimtzum: a limitation through which light can be received. An overwhelming brightness needs a screen or shade before it can be experienced in a suitable way. Within the spiritual comparison, the covering protects the recipient and gives the light a form in which it can reach him.
This is the language used to describe the worlds through which Hashem's infinite light reaches created beings. We speak of Atzilus, Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, and of levels beyond our understanding. The image is of coverings within coverings. What is beyond the capacity of a finite creature is made accessible through a measured revelation.
The same idea is applied to several familiar parts of avodah. The ordinary kohen serves in four garments, while the Kohen Gadol ordinarily serves in eight. In this reading, a greater revelation requires more coverings through which it can be expressed. The special four white garments worn for the inner service on Yom Kippur are a distinct part of the halachos; the general comparison should not erase that distinction.
Moshe's veil provides another example:
וַיְכַל מֹשֶׁה מִדַּבֵּר אִתָּם וַיִּתֵּן עַל־פָּנָיו מַסְוֶֽה׃
Moshe finished speaking with them and placed a veil over his face. (Shemos 34:33)
The surrounding verses describe the radiance of Moshe's face and the people's fear of approaching. The rav uses the veil as an image of great light requiring a fitting form of encounter. The Torah's actual sequence must be kept clear: Moshe speaks to Israel with his face uncovered, then replaces the veil. The next two verses say:
וּבְבֹא מֹשֶׁה לִפְנֵי ה׳ לְדַבֵּר אִתּוֹ יָסִיר אֶת־הַמַּסְוֶה עַד־צֵאתוֹ וְיָצָא וְדִבֶּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֵת אֲשֶׁר יְצֻוֶּֽה׃
When Moshe came before Hashem to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he went out. He would go out and speak to the children of Israel what he had been commanded. (Shemos 34:34)
וְרָאוּ בְנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת־פְּנֵי מֹשֶׁה כִּי קָרַן עוֹר פְּנֵי מֹשֶׁה וְהֵשִׁיב מֹשֶׁה אֶת־הַמַּסְוֶה עַל־פָּנָיו עַד־בֹּאוֹ לְדַבֵּר אִתּֽוֹ׃
The children of Israel would see Moshe's face, that the skin of his face shone. Moshe would replace the veil over his face until he came to speak with Him. (Shemos 34:35)
The covering in the rav's analogy therefore should not be turned into the claim that the people could hear Moshe only from behind a veil.
The curtain of the Mishkan also establishes a separation:
וְנָתַתָּה אֶת־הַפָּרֹכֶת תַּחַת הַקְּרָסִים וְהֵבֵאתָ שָׁמָּה מִבֵּית לַפָּרֹכֶת אֵת אֲרוֹן הָעֵדוּת וְהִבְדִּילָה הַפָּרֹכֶת לָכֶם בֵּין הַקֹּדֶשׁ וּבֵין קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִֽׁים׃
You shall place the curtain under the clasps and bring the Ark of the Testimony there, within the curtain. The curtain shall separate for you between the Holy and the Holy of Holies. (Shemos 26:33)
The Tiferes Shlomo asks why another separation is needed within a place already so holy. He reads the curtain as a boundary through which the light of the inner place can reach outward in a measured way.
When the Mishkan travels, the Aron is covered:
וְנָתְנוּ עָלָיו כְּסוּי עוֹר תַּחַשׁ וּפָרְשׂוּ בֶֽגֶד־כְּלִיל תְּכֵלֶת מִלְמָעְלָה וְשָׂמוּ בַּדָּֽיו׃
They shall place over it a covering of tachash hide, spread a cloth entirely of techeiles over it, and put its poles in place. (Bamidbar 4:6)
The Tiferes Shlomo includes this covering in the same explanation. The holiness is present as the Aron travels, and a covering accompanies its movement outside its usual place.
The tallis supplies a related image in the wording said with it:
מַה־יָּקָר חַסְדְּךָ אלוקים וּבְנֵי אָדָם בְּצֵל כְּנָפֶיךָ יֶחֱסָיֽוּן׃
How precious is Your kindness, Elokim; people take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. (Tehillim 36:8)
מְשֹׁךְ חַסְדְּךָ לְיֹדְעֶיךָ וְצִדְקָתְךָ לְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵֽב׃
Draw Your kindness to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright of heart. (Tehillim 36:11)
The Tiferes Shlomo connects the tallis as a covering with the request to draw down chesed. There is now a boundary through which the giving can be directed to its proper place. A concentrated beam gives another everyday image: light has to be directed if it is to illuminate a particular area.
The teacher and student bring the point close to our own experience. A teacher may understand an idea at a level the student cannot yet reach. He has to hold back much of what he knows and make a mashal, an example the student can understand. The student can then receive something real. Without that restraint, the teacher's abundance can leave the student with no clear understanding at all.
The garment Yaakov made
The Tiferes Shlomo reads Yosef's kesones passim in this way. Yaakov recognized Yosef's task as a tzaddik who would convey blessing. He made the garment as a levush through which that power could be expressed with proper limits. The text emphasizes that Yaakov made it for him; its connection with Yaakov is part of the explanation.
The brothers' jealousy is then understood as a dispute about spiritual standing. They did not accept that Yosef was the one who should carry this particular role. Removing the garment expresses their attempt to remove the levush attached to that role. The account is being read at the level of spiritual relationships, beyond a childhood picture of brothers wanting the same attractive coat.
In Egypt, Yosef tries to establish his own levush. The Tiferes Shlomo connects the garment left in Potiphar's wife's hand with the difficulty of doing this in exile. Yosef flees the transgression and is known as Yosef HaTzaddik. Chazal's account in Sotah 36b also speaks of seed issuing from his fingers during that struggle. The rav refers to ten drops, corresponding to the fingers; the cited Gemara says that seed came from between his fingernails, without giving that numerical phrase. Those two parts of the account have to remain together: his escape is real, and the source still describes an aspect requiring repair.
When Yosef emerges from prison and changes his garments, the Tiferes Shlomo reads this as a restoration of the levushim through which his light can be properly expressed. The changing garments belong to the development of his ability to give in a measured way.
Rivkah's treatment of Esav's garments is brought as a parallel. In the tradition quoted by the Tiferes Shlomo, these garments had come through Nimrod from Adam HaRishon. Rivkah understood that their proper place was with Yaakov. Esav, the man of the field, represents expression that spreads outward; Yaakov knows how to unite giving with an inward life and proper limits. Yaakov later prepares Yosef's garment with that same task in view.
Knowing what to keep within
There is a further possibility in the verse about Yosef's dreams:
וַיְקַנְאוּ־בוֹ אֶחָיו וְאָבִיו שָׁמַר אֶת־הַדָּבָֽר׃
His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter. (Bereishis 37:11)
Rashi explains that Yaakov waited in expectation for the dream's fulfillment. On the straightforward level, he discouraged Yosef's public telling so that it would not increase the brothers' jealousy, while privately taking the dream seriously.
The rav tentatively suggests another shade of meaning here. Shamar can suggest guarding something, keeping it within. Yaakov could believe that Yosef had received something important and still teach him that it did not need to be shared with everyone. The gift itself required a boundary.
That possibility extends the avodah beyond the particular physical struggle. A person may feel compelled to tell everyone about every attainment or every intimate part of his life. Social media and podcasts can make it possible to share something personal with tens of thousands of people. The fact that it can be shared does not settle whether it should be.
There is room to help others through what one has learned and experienced. There is also room to say: this part belongs within my own life. Choosing what to give, to whom, how much and at what time is itself part of the ability to give well. Yesod means a foundation, and the image of a foundation hidden beneath the ground suits this inward quality.
This further reading of shamar is the rav's suggestion. It is distinct from the plain translation and from the explanation we have established in the Tiferes Shlomo. He is extending that explanation to the avodah of choosing what to disclose.
The repair is meant to let a person continue
Near the end of Likutey Moharan 205, Rebbe Nachman brings the opening of Tehillim 32:
לְדָוִד מַשְׂכִּיל אַשְׁרֵי נְֽשׂוּי־פֶּשַׁע כְּסוּי חֲטָאָֽה׃
Of David, a maskil: Fortunate is one whose transgression is lifted, whose sin is covered. (Tehillim 32:1)
Rebbe Nachman associates the initials of Ashrei, nesui and pesha with the letters of נאף, the word for adultery. The initials are aleph, nun and peh; the teaching reads these letters in the rearranged order nun, aleph, peh. The harmful force is brought under the power of Tehillim, expressed here through LeDavid maskil. The pasuk speaks about the lifting of wrongdoing, and the teaching connects that possibility with the repair we have been learning.
An appended passage records the later disclosure of the specific ten chapters:16,32,41,42,59,77,90,105,137 and 150. The same list appears at the end of Likutey Moharan II:92. The order of the material matters. First comes the explanation of ten forms of song and their repair; afterward comes the identification of these particular chapters.
The rav distinguishes the early teaching in 5565, the first printing of Likutey Moharan in 5568, and the specific disclosure in 5570. These are different stages. Reb Noson's Yemei Moharnat I 9 places his hearing of the early teaching after Shavuos 5565, when he was arranging the binding of the manuscript. Sichos HaRan 141 places the later disclosure in the period of Shabbos Shekalim 5570. The list now appended to 205 should therefore be read as a later addition to the earlier teaching.
The passage speaks about saying them on the day of the impure occurrence and calls them a very great tikkun. It tells the person who has said them that he need no longer remain afraid of that particular harm. The related guidance in Sichos HaRan also discusses going to the mikveh. That source explicitly preserves the case in which illness or travel prevents immersion: saying the chapters remains a very great tikkun even then. The mikveh guidance must not become a reason to abandon the chapters when immersion is impossible. The point being stressed is that a person should take the steps of repair and trust that returning is possible, instead of letting fear of the fall keep producing more dejection.
Having taken the steps of tikkun, he can trust that the repair has meaning and continue serving Hashem. Remaining frightened of the fall would leave him exposed to the dejection that the teaching has been working to overcome.