The six ‘individual’ crises of the six kings of the World of Chaos can be identified in the lives of Leah’s six sons.
The crisis of love is expressed in Reuben, who suffers from a sense of alienation from his family, including his father, who calls him “a foolish firstborn.” This crisis is also the transformation of the gift of wisdom, life-wisdom, associated with the sefirah of loving-kindness. In fact, the lack of love is already expressed in his name, in which Leah, his mother, expressed the feeling that she was unloved: “She called his name Reuven, for she said, ‘God has looked upon my affliction; now my husband will love me.’” After Rachel’s passing, Reuben becomes even more jealous of the lack of love shown to his mother.
From this crisis of love, Reuben grows to become a devoted and loving brother expressing and exercising love that is not dependent on anything, towards his brother Joseph, Rachel’s son. The sages express this in their commentary on why Leah chose to call him Reuben.
She said, “See (רְ או ּ ) the difference between (בֵּ ין ) my son and my father-in-law’s son [Esau] who himself sold the birthright to Jacob and yet wished to kill him afterwards. My son did not sell his birthright to Joseph, yet he did not raise any protest to him being regarded as the first-born and not only did he not raise a protest but he even wished to save him from the pit and to rescue him from death.”
The crisis of injury appears in Shimon, who injures both Shechem and Yosef, and consequently is also harmed himself. There, too, the feeling of hatred is already expressed in his name, in which Leah, his mother, expressed the feeling that she was hated – “And she said, ‘God has heard that I am hated, and He has given me this one also,’ and she called his name Shimon.” Out of this, Shimon grows to develop a sensitivity to harm, and after the revenge on Shechem, the one who hurt him, and on the men of his city, he spreads his wings over his sister Dinah, who was raped.
(Of course, Leah too feels that it is out of the traumas—the lack of love she feels from Jacob, and even hatred—she grew to merit sons, as she emphasizes in naming them, and her true intent is to aim for the truth that, “God saw that Leah was hated, and He opened her womb”).
Levi, whose name expresses a desire to join and connect—“This time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons”—suffers from the social crisis within beauty (tiferet), and does not blend with his brothers, except for Shimon, his older brother, with whom he joins illustrating that those who cannot find their place in society often choose to join specifically with those who harm and are harmed. Ultimately, he grows from this to be one who is not influenced at all by social pressure: he is not part of the enslavement in Egypt, he circumcises his sons even when all of Israel refrain from circumcising their offspring in the wilderness, he does not participate in the Sin of the Golden Calf, and he remains faithful to God and Moses. When the time comes to inherit the Land of Canaan, he does not receive his own land (a tangible expression of the feeling of “I have no place in the world”), but he earns his portion honorably, by being scattered through the land, involved with all of Israel, and by receiving material goods from others and influencing them spiritually.
Zebulun, corresponding to the crisis of failure found in victory and acknowledgment, feels unlucky and unsuccessful. The sages relate: Zebulun complains about his lot... Zevulun said before the Holy Blessed One, “Master of the World, to my brothers You gave fields and vineyards, and to me You gave mountains and hills. To my brothers You gave lands, and to me You gave seas and rivers.’” And when God answers him that in his portion there is the purple dye, tripe, and white glass (he does indeed have good fortune), he fears that he will not succeed and that it will be taken from him, “He said before Him, ‘Master of the World, who will guarantee me [my success]?’” And on this, God answers him that success is assured, and failure will come to the one who does not pay him, “This will be your sign: anyone who takes from you without paying will not succeed in his business.” Indeed, in the end, Zebulun grows to be the most successful merchant, with his net spread across the world, and beyond the material profits, which allow him to sustain his brother Yissachar and also to engage in Torah himself, he is also a successful merchant who gathers sparks of converts from all over the world.
Yissachar, who was born from his father’s coaxing of his mother (apparently not with the conventional modesty), reflects a crisis in the peace between his parents. He inherits the feelings of lack of love and hatred between them. Indeed, from this, he grows to be a Torah scholar, as it is said, “And from the children of Yissachar, men who understood understanding [the secret of his mother Leah] the times, knowing what Israel [Yaakov-Israel, his father] should do.” He becomes a Torah scholar who knows how to rectify all 28 “times” appearing in the Book of Ecclesiastes and bring balance to the Jewish home through different seasons. Sometimes it is “a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,” and he dedicates himself to bringing peace between a husband and wife.
In Judah we find the existential emptiness felt when, after the sale of Yosef, he separates from his brothers. He feels that he no longer has anything to do with his life and he leaves to find his fortune with an Adulamite man. While still in his crisis of emptiness, he fathers Er and Onan (whose names are related to destruction and mourning) who sin by blemishing their covenant and died (reflecting his crisis, the feeling of lack of meaning in life). But God Himself arranges that Judah will perform levirate marriage with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, to provide continuity for Er and Onan and to resurrect them through Peretz and Zerach, his sons from Tamar and from whom true and complete redemption will emerge. His journey is one of a clear post-traumatic growth.
