Parashat Vayigash: The First Jewish Lawyer

 The Defence Lawyer in full flow is in the process of delivering their closing argument which they hope will convince the jury of their client’s innocence.  We’ve sat there for two hours, in the dark, on tenterhooks, waiting for this very moment.  Will they succeed?

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’, ‘The Verdict’, ‘Denial’, ‘A Few Good Men’, ‘Witness for the Prosecution’ along with some fine John Grisham adaptations such as ‘A Time to Kill’ and ‘The Rainmaker’ are examples of some gripping courtroom dramas that leave us sitting on the edge of our seats.  That is, unless we’ve been in that situation ourselves and are averse to watching them in the first place!

Around thirty years ago, my father was part of a group of Jewish retirees who acted in ‘Am Dram’ productions which were written and produced by a very talented lady who had been an actress in her youth.  Being a fellow American, she took a shine to my dad and liked to give him the juiciest roles in her murder-mysteries.  He was usually cast as a razor-sharp lawyer (prosecution or defence depending on the storyline), detective inspector or even on one occasion, the actual murderer!  I went to see him in some of the plays and was impressed as to how seriously he took his roles and delivered some sterling performances.  I wouldn’t call them Oscar-worthy, but they were certainly memorable.  Who knows, perhaps in another life, my father might have been a lawyer (or an actor) instead of an architect!

I don’t think that it is a coincidence that so many Jews have found their calling in the legal profession (or alternatively in acting).  After all, we learn how to debate and argue with our elders and peers from a very young age, hone our analytical skills poring over pages of Gemara and generally love to put on a performance whenever we can find a suitable audience.  I flirted with studying Law many years ago but decided against this, to focus on education instead.  Sometimes, standing at the front of a classroom and delivering a lesson to a challenging class makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to argue my case before a short-tempered Judge!

It appears that we have a natural talent in this field and if you wonder where we inherited it from, look no further than this week’s Parasha.  The man from whom we derive our name of ‘Yehudim’ (Jews), Yehuda aka Judah delivers a heart-wrenching defence of his youngest brother, Benjamin in the presence of Tzafnat Pane’ach, the Grand Vizier of Egypt who has accused him of the theft of his prized silver goblet.

Picture the scene:

Benjamin has been caught red-handed by Menashe, Joseph’s eldest son.  The brothers, shaken to the core have returned to Egypt, having ripped their clothes in desperation at their dire situation.  They have offered themselves as slaves in exchange for the return of Benjamin to his grieving father.  Tzafnat Pane’ach, whom we know to be Joseph has told them to return to Canaan and leave Benjamin in situ to become this man’s slave.  What can be done to remedy the situation?

Let us recap Judah’s record to date.

1.    He originated the idea of selling Joseph.

2.    He left his siblings due to the disgrace he brought upon himself when they realised the gravity of the situation following Jacob’s reaction to the ‘violent death’ of his favourite child.

3.    He called for Tamar, his daughter-in-law to be burned for the sin of harlotry, when in fact she had justifiably performed the mitzvah of Yibum (Levirate Marriage) by posing as said prostitute thus ensuring that through their having relations, his bloodline would continue following the deaths of his two wayward sons from which she had been widowed.

Judah set the bar (pun intended) for many future Jewish Lawyers to follow in delivering one of the finest legal defences in the whole of Tanach.

In his impassioned speech he begins by relating one of the brothers’ first conversations at the time of their initial trip to Egypt:

“My lord asked his servants, “Do you have a father or brother?” and we told my lord that we have an elderly father and there is a young son, a child of his old age.  When his brother died, he was the only one of our mother’s sons left and his father loves him.” [Bereishit 44:19-21]

He recounts their conversation word for word, explaining what happened and why Jacob was so reticent in permitting Benjamin to return with them, until he had no choice but to agree to their behest once the original grain had been exhausted and the family was low on food.

He describes Jacob’s anguish:

Then your servant, my father, said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two sons.  One is gone from me, and I said, He must have been torn to pieces.  I have not seen him since.  If you take this one from me and harm befalls him, you will bring down my grey head in grief to Sheol” (the place where the dead lie)…

When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die.  [27-31]

He restates his promise to Jacob that if he didn’t return with Benjamin, he would have sinned against his father ‘for all time’.

He concludes his argument with the ‘killer line’, offering himself up in lieu of Benjamin:

“So please let your servant stay as my lord’s slave in place of the boy and let the boy go back with his brothers.  For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm my father!”

In a masterstroke, Judah has introduced the art of delivering guilt in a continent-sized portion onto another Jew.  How can Tzaphnat Pane’ach not drop his guard, tell the others to leave the room and weep ‘so loudly that the Egyptians could hear him and the news reached Pharaoh’s palace.’

He reveals himself as Joseph leaving the brothers ‘so bewildered at his presence that they could not answer him.

I admit that this is not how most courtroom dramas end.  Usually, the Judge asks the Jury to retire to consider the evidence and come to a unified conclusion (at which point, it would be remiss of me not to mention ‘Twelve Angry Men’).  The tension is increased for a few more agonising minutes before the verdict is delivered, which is inevitably followed by jubilant scenes accompanied by schmaltzy music, picturing the victorious defendants and defeated prosecutors.  You get a freeze frame, an after-scene if you’re lucky and then the credits.

The narrative that introduced this week’s Parasha is however more than just a courtroom drama.  It is the culmination of a saga that began with the story of sibling rivalry dating back to the violent relationship between Cain and Abel and later, Yaakov and Eisav.  We know who Tzafnat Pane’ach is and the journey that he has taken.  He used to be a spoiled and arrogant teenager but now, Joseph is the wise man behind the mask.  Judah similarly has grown up and developed into the man who wants to ensure that he won’t repeat the mistakes of his youth.  It has taken over two decades for these two to be reconciled to a certain degree and it is telling that in the future, the descendants of Judah and Joseph would establish rival kingdoms in a split country.  Tensions though mended were never fully healed.

It is a fissure that will only be rectified when the two Moshiachs grace us, first ‘ben Yoseph’ and finally ‘ben David’ our most famous king who was the direct descendent of Judah.  In our ‘court case’, the resultant verdict was not only the salvation of Benjamin and the revelation of Joseph, but the healing of a fraternal relationship that had been fractured by pettiness, tale bearing and envy which are all very human traits.  They demonstrate how fragile families are and how much damage can be caused if we don’t value or respect them.

Judah, whom I am describing as the world’s ‘first Jewish Lawyer’ teaches us how important it is to stand up for those who need protection and to do everything we can to defend those we love and cherish.  This lies at the heart of what it means to be a Jew. We support each other against odds that sometimes seem unsurmountable.  Our annual reconnection with this story serves to remind us of what really matters, which remains in our collective memory long after the ‘credits of Bereishit have faded’ and we’ve continued following the Torah’s path through the Book of Shemot and beyond.

Whilst the Israelites were readying themselves to leave Egypt, Moshe’s focus was on locating the bones of Joseph. These would be carried throughout the forty years until they were eventually buried in Shechem where they lie to this day. They are awaiting their resurrection through the arrival of Judah’s descendent to bring about the final chapter in reuniting the descendants of Judah with those of his brothers (as described in the Haftorah).

This will signify the end of the court-case that was begun in Egypt so many years ago and may we all be worthy to witness this event, speedily in our days!

Shavuah Tov.