January 8, 2023|ט"ו טבת ה' אלפים תשפ"ג We can all be Yehuda By Rabbi Jonathan Muskat

A priest and a pastor from the local churches are standing by the road, pounding a sign into the ground, that reads: The End is Near! Turn Yourself Around Now Before it's Too Late! As a car sped past them, the driver yelled, "Leave us alone, you religious nuts!" From the curve they heard screeching tires and a big splash. The priest turns to the pastor and asks, "Do you think the sign should just say 'Bridge Out'?"

The end is near for the dad in our story. Dad is about to pass from the scene and it’s time to pick a successor and he seems to go in one direction. Then, all of a sudden, he switches gears and goes in a different direction. He starts off in one direction and we think we know who he is going to pick because he takes one son and effectively tells him, “You are my bechor. You are my firstborn.” But then something happens. He blesses all the children and when he does that, he takes another son and tells him, “You are the leader.” And now everyone is confused.

But that’s what Yaakov does. He calls for his son Yosef and tells him that “Ephraim U-Menashe k’Reuven v’Shimon yihyu li.” He says that Ephraim and Menashe are like Reuven and Shimon, meaning that Yosef becomes the bechor because he gets a double portion. And it makes sense for Yaakov to select Yosef as his successor, as the firstborn. After all, Yosef is the provider. Yosef has financially taken care of his father and his brothers and their families during the famine and beyond. If the role of the bechor is to provide for the family, then Yosef is the most logical choice. But Yosef is more than that. Yaakov needs more than a material provider. Yaakov has a spiritual legacy and needs a spiritual successor for that legacy. And Yosef seems to be the perfect candidate for that. After all, not only has Yosef remained frum and committed to his father’s spiritual mission while being absent for 22 years, his children are also committed to this vision. In fact, when Yaakov decides to bless grandchildren to perpetuate his spiritual legacy, he specifically blesses Yosef’s children. If you want to find someone to help continue your spiritual legacy, what better candidate than someone who is committed to your values and has transmitted these values to his children in an alien environment!

But then Yaakov blesses his children and he says “lo yasur shevet Yehuda u’mechokek mi’bein raglav.” He selects Yehuda to be king, not Yosef. Why does Yaakov divert from the Yosef plan? I think the answer is that Yaakov is concerned. The midrash tells of a strange story that happened at Yaakov’s deathbed. Yaakov wants to tell his children what will happen “b’acharit ha-yamim,” literally the end of days, not just the future, but the end of days, the messianic times. But then we don’t find Yaakov speaking to his children about the messianic era. That is what leads Raish Lakish in Masechet Pesachim (56a) to suggest that Yaakov lost his prophetic powers at that moment. Yaakov was nervous about why this happened so he thought that maybe he lost it because one of his children isn’t worthy. After all, in previous generations, someone, whether it’s Yishmael or Esav, wasn’t worthy. Maybe one of his children isn’t worthy and that’s why he lost his prophetic powers. And that is when they all told their father, “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem echad,” or, “Listen Yisrael, Daddy, we all believe in one God.” And Yaakov blesses them with different types of blessings. Yaakov realizes that each of his children has strengths and weaknesses and different qualities and different futures and different blessings, but he hears them all say, “Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokeinu Hashem echad.” They are diverse and yet they remain unified in their commitment to ethical monotheism.

Maybe, at that moment, Yaakov realizes that Yehuda is the one who should be the leader. Because it is true that Yosef is the tzaddik, the righteous one. Additionally, Yosef is the provider. But Yehuda has one particular characteristic that Yosef does not have which is critical for kingship.

Rav Yitzchak Hutner explains that there is a difference between a moshel and a melech, a ruler and a king. A moshel, a ruler, is someone who rules against the will of his subjects, and a melech, a king, is someone who rules with their consent. Each day we say in the davening, “ki la-Hashem ha-melucha u-moshel bagoyim,” that we believe that God is our melech, our king, but right now He is a “moshel,” or a ruler, among the nations, because the non-Jews don’t accept Him as king. A melech, though, is someone who is accepted by all and if you are accepted by all, then you can unify your nation.

Yes, Yosef was the great provider, but Yehuda was the great unifier. And what makes Yehuda a unifier is probably in large part because he’s not as great as Yosef. He has made mistakes in his life, but he is willing to learn from those mistakes. The Tosefta in Brachot states, ‘mipnei mah zachah la-malchut?” Why did Yehuda merit the kingship? “Mipnei she’hodah b’Tamar” – because he had the humility to recognize that he was wrong in the Tamar story and that he could be better. He sinned by selling Yosef and he acted improperly in the Tamar story, but he knows he can improve. He demonstrates his new and improved character of loyalty and devotion and care and compassion when he is unwilling to leave Binyamin’s side when the latter is accused of stealing Yosef’s goblet. If someone like Yehuda has the humility to admit that he was wrong and chart a new path forward, then so we can we. Yehuda has the ability to inspire his brethren specifically because he is flawed like each one of them and yet he pushes forward. If he can do it, then so can they. That’s why he is selected to be the melech. That is why he can unite a diverse group to follow in his father’s spiritual mission.

Yosef was a tzaddik, but he was detached from his brothers. The brothers are afraid of him after Yaakov dies and Yaakov may have sensed the fear while he was alive. There’s a great midrash found in Midrash Tanchuma that plays off the language of the Torah of “vayir’u achei Yosef ki met avihem” – the brothers of Yosef saw that Yaakov died, immediately before they are concerned that Yosef will take revenge on them now that their father is dead. The midrash asks what does the midrash mean when it states that they saw now that Yaakov died? What did they specifically see now after Yaakov’s burial that they didn’t see beforehand? The midrash states that they saw how Yosef visited the pit in which he was thrown by the brothers decades ago and he recited a blessing: “Baruch she’asah li nes bamakom hazeh” – “blessed is God who performed a miracle for me in this place!” Sounds like a beautiful bracha, right? Can you imagine, though, how the brothers must have felt when they heard Yosef make a bracha? Thank you, God, for saving me from this place! Do you think that they answered amen? Do you think they even said Baruch hu u’m’vorach shmo? There is no way that they can have a real meaningful relationship with him when he is reciting brachot that remind them of their sin. They are too scared of him. Yehuda is a holy, flawed individual, but Yosef is too holy for them, too holy to realize that his brothers may not relate to him and too holy to be appointed the king. Yosef will be acknowledged as the provider of the family as the bechor with the double portion, but Yaakov conveys to his entire family what it takes to be king.

Who are the leaders in our shul? Are they the Yosef’s or the Yehuda’s? Sometimes we may think that we are not good enough or holy enough to be a leader. We look at the person who is such an unbelievable ba-al chesed, or the person who gives shiurim or goes to all the shiurim in shul or the person who doesn’t even talk during kaddish, forget about chazarat hashatz – he or she doesn’t even talk during kaddish! We look at these people and we say, “These are the leaders of our community!” I think these people, whoever they are, happen to be amazing and holy people. But do you know who the leaders are? The leaders are the flawed people in shul. The people who may to come to shul a little late, who may talk a little too much in shul, who may miss a shiur here or there. Now just to be clear, I am not excusing those who miss a shiur or come late to or talk during davening, but some of you who may do these things are leaders. Because if you inspire others around you to strive for greatness, and if you convey the message to others that, yes, you may have some deficiencies but you are always trying to grow in your avodat Hashem, in your learning, in your davening, in your midot and in your acts of chesed, and if you express love for others such that they feel connected to you and are inspired by who you are and by your struggle, then you are a leader, as well. I’m not sure if each person in this room can be a Yosef. That’s very difficult. But each person in this room can be a Yehuda.