And it came to pass, as she spoke to Joseph day by day, that he did not listen to her, to lie with her, or to be with her. And it came to pass, about this time, that Joseph went into the house to do his work, and there was none of the men in the house within. And she caught him by his garment and said, Like with me; and he left his garment in her hand, and fled and went outside. (39:10-12) Our Sages have explained that when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph, he saw an image of his father, Jacob.¹² It is known that Potiphar’s wife would make herself look extremely beautiful to Joseph.¹³, Vayeshev 5. “The clothing she wore in the morning, she would not wear in the afternoon, and that what she wore in the afternoon, she would change in the evening” – all in order to seduce him. Joseph did not want this beauty; however, by means of this beauty, he desired and was burned for the Supernal Beauty, which was [represented by] the image of his father – Tiferet Yisroel.¹⁴ This is what it means, “he fled and went outside.” He fled from the physical beauty and was inspired to run out beyond this world, to cleave to the Supernal Beauty. Ohr Torah, VaYetze

footnotes: ¹² Sotah 36b. ¹³ Midrash Tanchuma ¹⁴ A phrase meaning the beauty, or glory, of Israel. Here, the Baal Shem Tov applies it to Jacob-Israel. According to Kabbalah, Jacob corresponds to the sefirah of Tiferet, which means beauty or resplendence. Joseph was not satisfied by physical beauty, for he saw it as only a lower manifestation, of spiritual beauty. This principle can be applied to all things in the world. (See footnote 2, above.) Although the wife of Potiphar tried to seduce him with physical beauty, he saw in it a reflection of Tiferet, the supernal source of beauty, represented by his father Jacob.