Parshat Vayigash: Yehudah

Last Monday, on the last day of Chanukah, my friend Lenny passed away before he’d reached his fifth decade.

Whilst I refer to him as a friend, I didn't really know him that well but one thing I can say unequivocally is that I loved him and what's more, I know that Lenny loved me.

Lenny loved everyone.

Yehudah Leib ben Shlomo zl was a very special individual. His second name of 'Leib' is Yiddish for 'Lion'. He was literally named the 'Lion of Judah'. Taking this one step further, the word 'Lev' in Hebrew means 'heart' and I couldn't think of a more appropriate moniker to describe him.

However, on Shabbat, we are not allowed to give hespedim, eulogies and so in his blessed memory, I would like to respectfully dedicate the following:

Genesis 44:

בראשית מ״ד:י״

(יח) וַיִּגַּ֨שׁ אֵלָ֜יו יְהוּדָ֗ה...

(18) Then Yehudah approached him...

These words appear at the very beginning of the Parsha and they are informing us that something extraordinary is going to take place. What makes the speech that he is about to give all the more remarkable lies in the journey that Yaakov's fourth son has taken to reach this point in his life.

Before we can understand its impact, let me quote some earlier verses regarding Yehudah's behaviour and personality.

Firstly, regarding the sale of Joseph (from Parshat Miketz):

(26) Then Yehudah said to his brothers, “What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? (27) Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let our hand not be upon him. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed.

Yehudah saved Joseph's life and that is commendable, but the Ramban adds the comment that in selling him to the Ishmaelites, “Who would take him off to a distant country, their deed could not be discovered,” his motives weren’t as pure as they seemed at first.

Genesis 38:

(1) About that time Yehudah left his brothers and camped near a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah.

Rashi explains that when the brothers returned to their father and saw the grief they had caused, they repented for their sins and blamed Yehudah for having suggested the idea of the sale. As a result, they removed his leadership position from within the brotherhood.

A few years later, Yehudah is tricked by the righteous Tamar and upon realising her ruse, the Torah informs us:

(24) About three months later, Yehudah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot; in fact, she is with child by harlotry.” “Bring her out,” said Judah, “and let her be burned.”

When she produces his signet ring, cloak and staff, he learned that:

(26) Yehudah recognized them, and said, “She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he was not intimate with her again.

Keeping in mind these verses, let us look at some of Yehudah's speech to Joseph.

Genesis 44:

(19) My lord asked his servants, “Have you a father or another brother?” (20) We told my lord, “We have an old father, and there is a child of his old age, the youngest; his full brother is dead, so that he alone is left of his mother, and his father dotes on him.”

Note the language that Yehudah uses to describe the relationship between his father and brother.

Let us continue....

(21) Then you said to your servants, “Bring him down to me, that I may set eyes on him.” (22) We said to my lord, “The boy cannot leave his father; if he were to leave him, his father would die.” (23) But you said to your servants, “Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, do not let me see your faces.”

Further on, he concludes with the plea:

(33) “Therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers. (34) For how can I go back to my father unless the boy is with me? Let me not be witness to the woe that would overtake my father!”

We are witnessing a complete volte-face on the part of Yehudah. The same man profited from Joseph's sale, having recently eaten bread with the others whilst their 17-year-old brother languished in a pit. This individual lost his revered place in the pecking order and faced humiliation at the hands of Tamar. He is now offering himself in lieu of their youngest brother.

One can understand the next verse clearly:

Genesis 45:

(1) Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!” so there was no one else about when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

Yehudah, the predecessor of King David and the Davidic Line, the man whose descendant would be the Messiah, demonstrated why he deserved this honour. It is not easy to admit your mistakes and to learn the hard lessons that life throws at you, sometimes ceaselessly. It takes someone of a unique character to effect such a change in his personality. This week's hero, Yehudah Leib, Judah the Lionheart was such a man.

His namesake, my friend Lenny, Yehudah Leib would have done anything to help and protect other people in the same way that Yehudah stepped forward to shield young Benjamin and by extension, his elderly father back in Canaan.

May we all be blessed with the memories of both men, and may we be witness to the coming of the Messiah, may he arrive bimhera beyameinu - speedily in our days.

This is for you, Lenny - with all my love.

Shabbat Shalom.