Yosef dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers... this brothers said to him, “Will you indeed reign over us, will you indeed rule over us?” (Bereishis 37:5-7)
Our parshah describes the ongoing struggle between Yosef and Yehudah. It begins with Yosef ’s dreams and his negative reports to his father about his brothers’ behavior. It continues with Yehudah and his brothers judging Yosef as a rebel against the kingdom and passing on him a death sentence. This results in a full- fledged struggle that climaxes in next week’s parshah.
And it didn’t end even then. This machlokes accompanies the whole history of the Jewish people. For instance, the split in early times between the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom was actually a split between Yosef and Yehudah. They represent two aspects of Divine Providence and two paths in avodas Hashem. This expresses itself also in Mashiach ben Yosef and Mashiach ben David.
There is a rift between Yosef and Yehudah. When this rift is healed and they unite, the result is Geulah.
It is very important to understand the differing approaches to avodas Hashem represented by Yosef and Yehudah. We should know what they were fighting about and what needs to be unified. And most important of all, what it has to do with us. Because unifying these two aspects brings perfection to the Jewish soul.
The Jewish people consists of two parts: simple Jews and special Jews. The former are called “Yosef,” and are often termed “Efraim,” who was Yosef ’s son. The latter are called “Yehudah.”
Yosef was the one who supplied food to the world in general (Bereishis 42:6) and to the Jewish people in particular. Thus, all Jews are called after him, because their lives were sustained by him.
The tribe of Yehudah produced the kings David and Shlomo, who were not simple Jews. They were special and unique individuals. Neither is Mashiach ben David a simple person.
The Jewish people’s first king was Shaul. He was not from the House of David, he was not from the tribe of Yehudah; he represented the Kingdom of Yosef. Whereas David was the first king who came from Yehudah.
The Gemara says in Yoma 22b that Shaul committed one sin and thereby lost kingship, whereas David committed two sins yet did not lose kingship. Shaul was commanded to wipe out Amalek, but he kept Agag alive, and this sin resulted in kingship being taken away from him. David committed two sins, yet continued serving as king. This shows the basic difference between them.
The avodah of every Jew is to be a tzaddik. If he commits sins, he is not a tzaddik, and thus not living up to his name of Jew. Yosef is called Yosef Hatzaddik, and this quality of tzidkus is all his power and beauty. He became what he was, he attained kingship, because he withstood all nisyonos, especially that of Eishes Potifar. If he had slipped even that one time, he would have lost his status and would not even have had his own stone on the choshen along with the other tribes. Yosef is great because he is a tzaddik. And so it is with every Jew.
Thus Shaul was chosen to be king. He was clean from sin like a one-year-old child (Pesikta Rabasi, Hosafah 1:1). He was also the greatest talmid chacham. But the moment he committed a sin, Hashem ripped the kingship away from him.
This is a certain type of avodas Hashem. This is how every Jew should conduct himself. We must fulfill the mitzvos, guard our eyes, and our thoughts, and everything else. If we do this, it will be good for us. If we do aveiros, if we start looking where we shouldn’t, we will lose it all. This is the message of the “Kingship of Yosef.”
Parsha Topic
The Opposing Outlooks of Yehudah and Yosef
However, the kingship of Yehudah is not built on being a tzaddik. Yehudah is something else altogether. The Torah speaks nowhere about Yehudah’s outstanding righteousness. On the contrary, he attained kingship because his past was not impeccable. Chazal say (Yalkut Shimoni 1:117) that a leader with a less-than-perfect past is preferable, because this will help save him from becoming arrogant. This was David. He was chosen to be king in spite of, or rather because of, his marred record as a tzaddik.
Who was greater, David or Shaul?
Shaul was much greater. Nevertheless, when he sinned, he lost everything, whereas David sinned twice, and retained his greatness. He was the same David Hamelech. Also Shlomo committed several aveiros but remained Shlomo Hamelech. The dynasty of David will last forever, because if David’s descendants sin, Hashem will punish them, but not cast them away.
Hashem relates to the Jewish people in two basic ways. The first is the trait of judgment. If a person is a tzaddik, he has everything, and if he is a rasha , he loses everything. This is the way of Yosef and the Northern Kingdom. Midas Hamishpat.
The second way in which Hashem relates to us does not depend on our tzidkus alone. There is siyata d’Shmaya, Divine love, as a father relates to his child. This is the way of Yehudah, David and Shlomo. This is the way of the Southern Kingdom. Although many of their kings were wicked, the dynasty of David lives on. Hashem relates to the House of David with the trait of mercy. He goes beyond the letter of the law with them, lifnim mishuras hadin.
There are two aspects also to the avodas Hashem of individual Jews. Some follow the path of tzidkus and some follow the path of lifnim mishuras hadin. The latter is the path of Malchus Yehudah. There are many instances in which they went beyond the letter of the law to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Hashem.
In the story of Yehudah and Tamar, Yehudah stood up before the greatest tzaddikim of his generation, who were then sitting in the beis din that judged Tamar – he stood up before Yitzchak Avinu and Levi and Yissachar – and admitted publicly to the very embarrassing incident in which he was involved. He didn’t have to make his admission publicly. He could have saved face and found a more diplomatic way to handle the situation. He acted lifnim mishuras hadin. When he confessed that Tamar was pregnant from him, and acknowledged that she was more righteous than he, a Heavenly voice came out and declared that Mashiach will descend from Yehudah.
This is a type of avodah that goes far beyond tzidkus, beyond merely doing what is right. It is an avodah that entails superhuman efforts. Such was the avodah of Yehudah and David from beginning to end. Hashem consequently dealt with them differently. Yehudah and David, despite their temporary shortcomings, served Hashem with a superhuman greatness, above derech hateva. This is why Hashem treated them with great mercy, beyond the letter of the law.
The dispute between Yosef and Yehudah was about these two paths in avodas Hashem. Yosef held that Jews need to focus on tzikdus, while Yehudah argued that the main strength of Jews is not tzikdus but the siyata d’Shamaya that comes as a reward for their supernatural sacrifice and self-dedication.
Yehudah held that Yosef is rebelling against the Kingdom of Yehudah. He argued as follows: according to your approach, that everything depends on tzidkus, albeit you are the tzaddik and foundation of the world, but can we rely on tzidkus alone to bring the end of galus and the coming of Mashiach? This needs to be built on siyata d’Shamaya. Your approach prevents the Kingdom of Yehudah from being ultimately established.
The Torah teaches us that as long as these two approaches – building on tzidkus versus building on siyata d’Shmaya and mesirus nefesh – are separated from one another, we can’t move forward. Because we need both. We need tzikdus as well as mesirus nefesh. This is the only way to build the Jewish people. Combining these two approaches and living according to them brings the Geulah Sheleimah.
