ספר בראשית

Another explanation of the tone sign shalshelet over ‎the word ‎וימאן‎ is based on its shape, which resembles the letter ‎ל‎, ‎according to Zohar I 168. where it discusses how David, who ‎originally was meant to die at birth, was kept alive when the ‎patriarchs heard about this, each one “donating” part of their ‎lives to make up the seventy years that David lived. According to ‎the Zohar, Joseph donated 37 years of his life (he died at ‎‎110 whereas his father had lived to be 147 years) so that he had ‎contributed the lion’s share of David’s life. The letter ‎ל‎ is an ‎allusion to David as our sages say when stating in kallah ‎rabbati 8 that the attribute of ‎מלכות‎, Royalty, can be acquired ‎by 30 different virtues. The word ‎שלשה‎ is also an allusion to ‎David, and by Joseph raising his voice when rejecting the demand ‎by Potiphar’s wife that he sleep with her, he managed to invoke ‎the combined merits of the three patriarchs who helped him to ‎remain steadfast in his refusal.‎