Weekly Torah Portion

The important Talmudic dictum that “the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children” manifests in many ways throughout the Torah and our own lives. In this week’s portion we see in the actions and words of Judah the cardinal teaching of teshuvah, sincere repentance, and it’s ripple effect throughout the generations.

Subsequent to Joseph being sold as a slave on the advice of Judah, his brothers came to realize their mistake and they blamed Judah. Since he was the natural leader they confronted him saying: if you would have advised differently we would never have sold Joseph. Judah was so upset at the turn of events and his part in selling his brother he leaves his family altogether: “And it came to pass at that time that Judah went down from his brothers” (Genesis 38:1).

Judah married and had three sons. His first son married Tamar but dies as a result of withholding seed from Tamar. She is then married to the next son in a leverite marriage, but he too dies when withholding seed from Tamar. Judah then promises she can marry the third and last son but does not fulfill his promise

Tamar, a righteous and holy woman, is driven by a prophetic sense that she is destined to have children from the family of Judah; that from her children would come kings and redeemers. She then conceals her self and entices Judah, her father-in-law, to sleep with her. Judah has relations with Tamar without knowing her identity and she becomes pregnant. Only Tamar knows that it was from Yehuda that she is pregnant and when she is threatened with punishment she sends him a sign that only he would recognize. At that point it is clear she will not reveal to others that it was he who is responsible and thus Judah could have hid his involvement. Instead he publicly exclaims “she is more righteous than I” (Genesis 38:26). He proclaims regretfully that it was his fault in that he withheld his other son from marrying her. The Torah then states that “he did not know her [intimately] further.”

Maimonides, in his classic work the Mishneh Torah, in the section pertaining to the laws of repentance, lists three prerequisites for true repentance: confession, regret, and a pledge not to repeat the action in the future. In the words and actions of Judah we see all three principles, a beautiful allusion to “the actions of the fathers are a sign for the children.”

Another manifestation of Judah’s actions is found in an incident in the life of his progeny, King David. After King David has relations with Bat Sheva he tries to cover up his deed by sending her husband to the war front where he is killed. The prophet Gad comes to him and relates a story of a rich man who oppresses a poor man by taking his only sheep from him. David is outraged and exclaims that the rich man should be severely punished. The prophet reveals to King David that his words were a parable and that he is actually the guilty one. David immediately confesses “I have sinned.” As a result of this incident he spent the rest of his life in a constant state of teshuvah. There are scores of references to his ongoing process of regret in the Psalms and he never again repeated such actions.

The sages state that the story of David and Bat Sheva is not as simple as meets the eye, that he was not in fact technically guilty of adultery nor murder (

). There is though much debate as to what exactly he did wrong. In all cases David himself felt he had done something wrong and repents his entire life for it. The sages further state that according to a natural state of affairs it was not within David to do what he did. Then how did it happen they ask? Their answer is “in order to teach the individual how to do teshuvah” ( ). Many commentaries explain that in some mysterious way God “arranged” the entire incident as not only a way to test David but to purposely put him in a situation where his lifelong process of doing teshuvah, especially as expressed in the Psalms, would pave the way for every individual in the future to know how to repent and return to God’s good graces.

The idea that somehow his whole predicament was somehow “orchestrated” from above is alluded to in an explanation of Judah’s words “She is more righteous than I.” Rashi explains that the two words can be read separately: “She is more righteous” is spoken by Judah and refers to the truth of her words; “than I” can also be read” “from me [she is pregnant.]” Rashi then brings a statement from the sages that in fact Judah only said “She is more righteous” and a voice from heaven declared separately: “[it is] from Me (God) [that this whole affair came about in order that from their union would come future kings in Israel].”

Another midrash explains the words that begin the narrative of Judah departing from his brothers - “It came to pass at that time” - in the following manner: at that time the brothers were busy selling Joseph; Joseph, Jacob, and Reuban were all occupied in sackcloth and fasting for the turn of events surrounding the sale of Joseph to Egypt; Judah was busy finding a wife, and at the very same time God was busy preparing the light of the Mashiach (Bereishit Rabba 85:1). Similarly in the case of David it is alluded that David’s sin ultimately came about in order to teach him and all future generations how to do teshuvah.

It is interesting to note that in Hebrew Judah’s confession consists of two words, while his descendent David, who came directly from the union of Judah and Tamar, confessed with just one word. We see how much Judah’s confession influenced David, either consciously or unconsciously. In fact, Judah’s confession is the first time the Torah states that anyone admitted a mistake and confessed. This then is truly a case of “the actions of the fathers are a sign to the children.”

The root of the word to confess also means to praise. Both of these meanings were united in David, “the sweet singer of Israel” and the composer of the Psalms. In these eternal expressions of the full gamut of human emotions David continually weaves together his deep faith in God being close at hand with his exalted praises of his Creator. Both Judah and David clung to God even when everything seemed to be going wrong, even when they felt they stood alone.

The name Judah in Hebrew consists of the four letters of God’s name with an additional letter, a dalet. It is as if the soul of David, whose name begins and ends with the letter dalet is enwedged into the soul of Judah, who paves the way for him and all future generations to know how to do teshuvah. The middle letter of David’s name is a vav, which in shape and meaning represents connection and the soul’s eternal bond to its Creator.

In addition to containing the four letters of God’s essential name, the name Judah significantly comes from the root hod, which means confession, praise, thanksgiving and glory. More than anyone else in Jewish history King David encompassed all these meanings of hod. The letter dalet in general represents great humbleness and self nullification. Through David’s deep sense of inner lowliness he was paradoxically able to express God’s glory through his own kingship.

It is also noteworthy that the word “Jew” comes from the name Judah, who was not only paving a way of teshuvah and future kings but for every Jew through the ages. Similarly, David was not only doing teshuvah for himself but was teaching all subsequent generations how to do teshuvah, praising God all the while.

It is interesting to note as well that these teachings about teshuvah and its connection to Judah comes in the portion of Vayeshev, as the words teshuvah and vayeshev both have a common two letter root, shev, which means “to return.”

The Mashiach comes from the kingly line of Judah and David. He will teach the entire world the true meaning of teshuvah, how to completely return to God. This type of sincere teshuvah will be accompanied by true praises and song, exalting God and filling the heart with the love of the Creator.