"Judah went down....Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up"
Rabbi Dr. Amir Mashiach was a Torah Mitzion avrech in Chicago (1999-2002) and today is Rabbi of the “Heichal Gavriel” community in Petach Tikva and a lecturer at Ariel University.
The brothers hate Joseph. It begins with a childish ‘feud’-“and they could not speak to him peacefully,” but very quickly matters deteriorate to the point of deciding to eliminate him: “And now come and let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits and we will say a wild animal has devoured him.”
Although in the end they decide to sell him to Egypt, this does not lessen the severity of the act nor the terrible thought behind it. (In parentheses: It is not at all certain that being sold into slavery is a mitigation of the sentence, for Elazar ben Yair, the leader of Masada for example, believed that it is better to die a free man than to live as a slave: “We chose death over lives of slavery.” And see also Socrates’ speech, “Apology,” in Plato’s writings I, for similar words. So perhaps the sale into slavery was nothing but an additional cruelty by the brothers toward Joseph.)
In the parasha we encounter for the first time the character of Judah as the leader of the brothers. Indeed, from Judah will come David and Solomon and the entire royal line, until King Messiah, son of David. But why did Judah merit this? What is so special in his personality? After all, Reuben also tried to save Joseph, and his words were heard and accepted.
It seems to me that Judah’s advantage and leadership were revealed through his actions, immediately after the difficult event. The structure of the parasha is somewhat strange, for suddenly the Torah shifts to tell about Judah, his wife, his sons, and Tamar his daughter-in-law. Is there a hint here about Judah’s personality? It seems to me that indeed there is.
The Midrash says:
“The tribes were occupied with selling Joseph, and Joseph was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting, Reuben was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting, and Jacob was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting, but Judah was occupied with taking a wife for himself, and the Holy One, blessed be He, was occupied with creating the light of the King Messiah” (Bereishit Rabbah Vayeshev 85:1).
And this is exactly the difference-everyone is occupied with their sackcloth and fasting, everyone laments the past, but Judah goes and acts for the future. He takes a wife and begins to build the House of Israel. He goes to Adullam, a place that reminds us of the words “forever.” Judah thinks long-term; Judah thinks how to rebuild the House of Israel in order to connect to eternity.
He fathers three sons, whose names themselves hint at what he is experiencing and the hope within him: Er-one must always be awake and active, not fall asleep nor rest on the achievements or failures of the past; Onan-there are many crises in life, some of which relate also to the laws of mourning, Heaven forbid, just as befell the house of Jacob at that time; Shelah-this is the hope for the days in which “Shiloh will come,” meaning the Messiah. Thus the names of the children express the present, action, and hope for the future.
Judah marries his sons to a woman named Tamar. What is so special about Tamar? Why is she important to him, to the point that in the end he himself marries her? Because “Tamar was the daughter of Shem” (Bereishit Rabbah 85:10). This is also an act of a leader who thinks far ahead.
Judah knows that Joseph was the beloved youngest son, but this was not expressed only in the multicolored coat, rather in the transmission of different kinds of wisdom. Rashi says: “Everything he (Jacob) learned from Shem and Ever he passed on to him (Joseph).” Therefore, with the loss of Joseph, the wisdom of Shem was lost, which is the wisdom connecting Israel to the nations of the world, the universal wisdom necessary as a bridge that will bring influence, a bridge enabling the fulfillment of the mission of being a light unto the nations.
Now, the wisdom of Shem is gone. Judah, as a leader who thinks “forever,” understands that this is not the time to engage in sackcloth and fasting, but to repair the damage. He immediately connects with the daughter of Shem, in order to save as much as possible the wisdom of Shem.
At first he marries Tamar to his sons. Yet they were not worthy of bearing the heavy burden. They die for their sins, and now Judah finds himself drawn to a mysterious woman by the roadside. The Midrash says: “He sought to pass by, and the Holy One, blessed be He, appointed an angel in charge of desire. He said to him: Judah, where are you going? From where do kings arise? From where do great ones arise? And he turned aside to her by the road-against his will and not by his choice.”
Thus God, the “Creator of the light of King Messiah,” orchestrates matters, for He knows that Judah must bond with Tamar himself, and therefore: “The Holy One, blessed be He, said: The Messiah is destined to arise from Judah, and he went and took a Canaanite woman. What shall I do? I will bring pretexts… let the Canaanite woman die… so that Judah will cleave to Tamar” (Midrash Aggadat Bereishit 64).
Through his actions and his hopes, Judah merited to rise and establish the dynasty of the kings of Israel. “And Judah went down… and it was told to Tamar, saying: behold, your father-in-law is going up.”
For comments: a.mashiach@gmail.com