EXTRA · Parashas Vayeishev · Passuk 38:16 · not a Torah Temimah citation on this passuk
So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here, let me sleep with you”—for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. “What,” she asked, “will you pay for sleeping with me?”
Classical source (EXTRA side-ring): Sotah 10a.
English: “And he turned to her by the way” — he sought to pass by, and the Holy One stood before him in the path.
Derash on the verse (Bavli) — not a formal named middah of the 13. “Turned aside” is read as divinely redirected.
Yehudah’s turning toward Tamar is not only impulse; midrash sees Providence steering the path of Moshiach’s lineage.