More Thoughts About "Vayigash," Torah Portion of the Week

It's not that I write about the Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the Week every week, so it's a bit unusual that not only did I write before Shabbat, Judah's Eternal Message: Don't Cower! Torah Portion of the Week, but now I'm writing about another aspect of Vayigash.

Torah Tidbits OU

As I read the OU's Torah Tidbits and then the entire text of Vayigash, I became more and more annoyed at Joseph's words and behavior.

Genesis Chapter 45:8And now, you did not send me here, but God, and He made me a father to Pharaoh, a lord over all his household, and a ruler over the entire land of Egypt.		חוְעַתָּ֗ה לֹֽא־אַתֶּ֞ם שְׁלַחְתֶּ֤ם אֹתִי֙ הֵ֔נָּה כִּ֖י הָֽאֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיְשִׂימֵ֨נִי לְאָ֜ב לְפַרְעֹ֗ה וּלְאָדוֹן֙ לְכָל־בֵּית֔וֹ וּמשֵׁ֖ל בְּכָל־אֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם:
9Hasten and go up to my father, and say to him, 'So said your son, Joseph: "God has made me a lord over all the Egyptians. Come down to me, do not tarry.		טמַֽהֲרוּ֘ וַֽעֲל֣וּ אֶל־אָבִי֒ וַֽאֲמַרְתֶּ֣ם אֵלָ֗יו כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ בִּנְךָ֣ יוֹסֵ֔ף שָׂמַ֧נִי אֱלֹהִ֛ים לְאָד֖וֹן לְכָל־מִצְרָ֑יִם רְדָ֥ה אֵלַ֖י אַל־תַּֽעֲמֹֽד:

I kept comparing it to the Yehuda-David line of leaders who took responsibility, apologized, did Teshuva, repented. At no point, not in these lines, nor later does Joseph ever admit that his behavior and attitude towards his brothers may have played a large part in their putting him in the pit and their selling him to the traders. He's still bragging by instructing his brothers to tell their father about his great position in Egypt. And does he ever apologize for the awful practical jokes, the tricks he played on them by returning their money and putting his after through even more worry and pain by imprisoning Simon and demanding Benjamin? No, he doesn't.

Joesph just gives this ladidah self-centered response that "it's all Gd's will" and his success is proof of it.

At our Shabbat women's shiur I connected this contrast of Judah and Joseph with the David-Saul (Leah-Rachel) differences in personality, character and leadership. We can see that David inherited so much innate leadership and charisma from Judah. Maybe Leah's "soft eyes" were from her sensitivity to other people's problems. It's impossible to imagine Judah or David playing such hurtful tricks on others as Joseph did, or trying to kill a potential rival the way King Saul persecuted David.

May we be blessed in having a true leader of the Davidic Line, speedily in our days...

Shavua Tov
and Tzom Kal to those fasting on the 10th of Tevet

Judah's Eternal Message: Don't Cower! Torah Portion of the Week

This week's Torah Portion of the Week,  Vayigash, And he (Judah) approached..., is an eternal reminder for us:

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 44:1חוַיִּגַּשׁ אֵלָיו יְהוּדָה וַיֹּאמֶר 8 Then Judah approached him and said...

This act of Judah, Yehuda, showed his innate leadership quality. By following Judah's progression, the growth of his character from his public admission that he had impregnated his daughter-in-law Tamar and was the father of her twin sons, Peretz and Zerach. And then it was davka Judah's reassurance and pledge that his father Jacob accepted before sending Benjamen with the brothers to Egypt.

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 43:

8And Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the lad with me, and we will get up and go, and we will live and not die, both we and you and also our young children.		חוַיֹּאמֶר יְהוּדָה אֶל יִשְׂרָאֵל אָבִיו שִׁלְחָה הַנַּעַר אִתִּי וְנָקוּמָה וְנֵלֵכָה וְנִחְיֶה וְלֹא נָמוּת גַּם אֲנַחְנוּ גַם אַתָּה גַּם טַפֵּנוּ:
9I will guarantee him; from my hand you can demand him. If I do not bring him to you and stand him up before you, I will have sinned against you forever.		טאָנֹכִי אֶעֶרְבֶנּוּ מִיָּדִי תְּבַקְשֶׁנּוּ אִם לֹא הֲבִיאֹתִיו אֵלֶיךָ וְהִצַּגְתִּיו לְפָנֶיךָ וְחָטָאתִי לְךָ כָּל הַיָּמִים:

Judah took his pledge very seriously and understood that he had to take charge. And it was this action that finally broke Joseph's mask and made him admit his true identity.

I want to go back to the birth of Judah, Leah's fourth son.

Bereishit - Genesis - Chapter 29:35And she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, "This time, I will thank the Lord! Therefore, she named him Judah, and [then] she stopped bearing.

להוַתַּהַר עוֹד וַתֵּלֶד בֵּן וַתֹּאמֶר הַפַּעַם אוֹדֶה אֶת יְהֹוָה עַל כֵּן קָרְאָה שְׁמוֹ יְהוּדָה וַתַּעֲמֹד מִלֶּדֶת:

The Hebrew root of of Judah, Yehuda יהודה comes from "to thank." In the simple interpretation of the verse, it means that she thanked Gd that she had four sons, while at the same time, her sister didn't have any. Chazal, the wise men, say that she knew Jacob would have twelve sons, from four wives/women, and she now had more than a quarter of the sons.

But I'd like to go a bit further. If Leah knew that, then she also knew that the Kingship of the Jewish Nation would have to come from either her son or from one of Rachel's. And therefore when Judah was born, she knew that the kings would be descended from him, and that's why she thanked Gd and called her baby son  Judah, Yehuda יהודה, which also has the name of Gd.

And we do see how Judah did show a kingly confidence, which was trusted and recognized by his father Jacob. And then Judah had no problem confronting the Egyptian leader, Joseph, Rachel's son who buckled under Judah's words. And later on we see them sparring via their descendants, Saul and David.

A true leader doesn't cower.

Gd willing we will soon see one here in Israel, speedily in our day...

Lion of Judah

True Leadership, King David vs King Saul and More From The Bible

As many of you know, I study Tanach, Bible in Matan, an excellent Jewish learning center for women in Jerusalem.  Last week one of my classes celebrated a siyum completion of the Book of Samuel, Shmuel, which we learn with Dr. Yael Ziegler.  We were asked to volunteer to say a "few words" about our studies.  And, yes, I volunteered.

I decided to speak about King David as he prepared to fight Goliath.  At the time, nobody was aware that the young man who approached with supplies for his elder brothers was the "king in waiting," the person that Samuel The Prophet had already anointed to succeed King Saul.  And that included King Saul, himself. 

David, as he was known then, had chanced upon a terrible scene.  King Saul and his soldiers were standing around terrified by the taunts of the Philistine Goliath.  David listened, observed and then marched forward and announced that he was ready to slay Goliath.  King Saul gratefully offered him the best armour available, but David, after allowing himself to be dressed in it, refused. 1Samuel 17

כִּי לֹא נִסִּיתִי
ki lo nisiti
because I didn't try these...

I see the Hebrew word נִסִּיתִי as related to the root/word נס ness miracle.  When I write about miracles I don't mean that we're supposed to stand around passively, patiently waiting.  At the siyum I quickly told the joke:

... about the man who keeps waiting for G-d to save him as his house gets covered by flood waters.  He refuses to evacuate, get into the boat or climb the ladder from the helicopter telling everyone that G-d would save him.  Once dead, he met G-d and asked:
"Where were you?  I expected you to save me."
"I sent out evacuation orders, the boat and then the helicopter, but you stood there like an idiot."

King David didn't expect G-d to kill Goliath while he stood watching.  He picked up five smooth stones.  It only took one "shot" and Goliath was dead.  I had a question for Dr Ziegler:

"Why did David need to take five stones, if he could kill him with one?"

That question hasn't left my mind.  Just three days later on Shabbat as I was reading the Torah Portion of the Week,  Vayigash,  in the OU's Torah Tidbits, by Phil Chernofsky.  This includes the dramatic speech of Judah to the Viceroy of Egypt, when he stands up to him, man to man, which causes the viceroy to break down and admit that he is their missing brother, Josef.  At the reunion, Phil mentions, Josef cried five times.

Five?  My mind went into overtime.  There has to be a connection, because the difficult relationship between Joseph and his brothers precedes and predicts the later problems between King David and the King Saul.  King David was from the Trible of Judah, and you can see that in how he stood up to Goliath, King Saul and the entire Jewish Army. 

And could Joseph have cried, because he sensed that he wasn't the leader Judah was?

Maybe that's why Joseph and his only full-brother Benjamin cried so on each other's necks.  Their father had raised them to believe that they were the natural leaders, but they weren't.  True Jewish leadership comes from Judah and was inherited by David.