The opening words of the Parshah are generally translated in the manner indicated in the title, or by using “came near to” as an alternative to “approached.” Neither conveys the power of the Hebrew “Vayigash.” The Hebrew contains, in addition to the connotation of physical proximity, also the element of threat and controlled, overwhelming might, that Yehudah presented to Yoseph, forcing him to respond by introducing Menasheh, and by revealing some of his own great strength, as a son of Yaakov, to give Yehudah pause. When one thinks of the name “Yehudah,” several images and ideas come to mind. One is “malchut,” kingship, for Yaakov will say, in “Birchot Yaakov,” the deathbed blessings of Yaakov to his sons (Bereshit 49:10), “The scepter will not depart from Yehudah...” Another is the primary reason that Yehudah rose to that level; namely, great moral strength. According to Targum Yonatan Bereshit 38:26, at the trial of Tamar, when she produced the signs that Yehudah had left with her, and Yehudah said (Bereshit 38:26), “She is more righteous than I,” he thought, “It is better that I be humiliated in “This World” than that I be humiliated before my righteous ancestors in the “Next World.” One also thinks of the great attribute of gratitude, that is a sign of the Jewish People, from the time that his mother, Leah, said at his birth (Bereshit 29:35), “ ‘Now I will give thanks to HaShem;’ therefore she called her son Yehudah...” And this name became attached to and embedded in the character of the Jewish People, who were henceforth called “Yehudim.” Another great concept that Yehudah demonstrated was the ability to do “Teshuvah,” to repent, to rise to the challenge where once before he had failed, as he did before Yoseph by offering to sacrifice his freedom for the sake of Binyamin’s. As he says in Bereshit 44:33, “And now, I pray you, let your servant remain instead of the lad, as a servant to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.” And the great moral responsibility that he had undertaken that he refers to in Bereshit 44:32, “For your servant became responsible for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I fail to bring him back to you, I will have sinned to my father forever.’ ” And Chazal understand that when Yehudah says “forever,” he means in both worlds, in “This World” and “The Next.” The traits of faith and courage were revealed by his descendant “Nachshon ben Aminadav, of the Tribe of Yehudah,” when the People of Israel was trapped between the Egyptian Army and the waters of the Red Sea. At that time, HaShem said to Moshe, (Shemot 14:15), “Speak to the Children of Israel, and let them go forward.” Hearing this, Nachshon plunged into the waters until they reached his neck, and only then did G-d cause them to split. This is memorialized in Psalms 114:2, dedicated to the Exodus, “Yehudah made His Name Holy...” The great hero of Israel, King David, in whom were combined the traits of his ancestor, Yehudah, with those of his great-grandmother Ruth, together with his own great spirituality, was anointed King by Shmuel HaNavi, Samuel the Prophet, inaugurating “Malchut Beit David,” the Eternal Dynasty of David. The expression “David King of Israel lives and exists eternally” has sustained us for two thousand years, and now, amid the cacophony of terror and approaching war, we hear in the background the sound of the approaching footsteps of Mashiach ben David, getting louder and louder. We pray that Klal Yisrael, as well as each of us individually, will have the merit to greet our great Redeemer soon and in our days, in the Holy City of Yerushalayim. Rabbi Pinchas Frankel |
