“And Judah approached him (Joseph) and said, please my lord, may I speak with you without your anger flaring…..?” (44:18). This dialog between Judah and Joseph is one of the most poignant moments in the book of Genesis.
Yehuda is the Hebrew for Judah and comes from the verb-root yod-dalet-hey.This word teaches us a fascinating lesson.As many words in Hebrew, it has two meanings.Most commonly I think of hodayaas thankfulness or gratitude.We say upon arising “Modeh ani lifanekka… I am grateful to you….”The second meaning of hodaya is that of confession.
What is the relationship between gratitude and confession?How does acknowledgment of life’s gifts relate to acknowledgment of mistakes? Perhaps through confronting our fallibility and error, we reach a deeper level of gratitude.Perhaps Judah’s life experience has taught him appreciation for the complexity and preciousness of family relationships; thus, he moved toward leadership and responsibility.
The depth of the Genesis familial stories lies in their complexity and in the deep lessons we can glean from the faults, blunders and heroic actions of the characters.
May our wise hearts help us as we engage with the path of Yehudim – spiritual descendants of Yehuda – a path of hodaya – of both gratitude and teshuva,
In Parsha Va-Yetse, Jacob goes out into the world in a way that neither Avram nor Yitzakh could.He is the first person we see in Torah who actually works for a living, and it is in his struggle to balance the needs of him and his family in the material world with his spiritual endeavor of uncovering G-d consciousness, that Jacob fully comes into his power.
The parsha opens with Jacob leaving for Beersheva to fulfill his fathers’ wish that he finds a wife back in his mother Rebecca’s home of Haran.Like Isaac’s prayer in the fields that opened him to his love for Rebecca, Jacob discovers the key to striking his balance while alone in the desert alone, before encounters true love with Rachel.
On the way to Haran, Jacob lies down, his head on a stone, and dreams of a ladder set upon the earth with its top touching heaven.Angels are ascending and descending before him as G-d appears to Jacob and promises that the land upon which he sleeps will be for him and his offspring.Rambam teaches that Jacob’s dream is one of ultimate security – G-d promises: “I am with you, and will guard you wherever you go.”Yet Jacob is afraid.As the Midrash teaches, G-d asks Jacob “Why don’t you go up the ladder?”The Midrash explains that Jacob feared that if he ascended, he would also have to descend.However, G-d promises Jacob that if he climbs the ladder to heaven, he will not have to descend, yet he still refuses to climb.Why?
When Jacob returns from his dream, he proclaims “Surely G-d is in this place, and I did not know it!”“How awesome is this place! This is none other that the home of G-d, and that is the gateway to heaven.”Jacob understands from his dream that the holiness of G-d in heaven is found equally on earth – that earth is equally the home of G-d.Indeed, the Hebrew word Makom, or “place,” is one of the many names for G-d.
Jacob’s encounter with the ladder, connecting heaven and earth, is Jacob’s ultimate teacher on how to balance his life in the material and spiritual worlds.The ladder teaches him that the holiness found in heaven is equally found here on earth.Thus Jacob occupies the seat of balance in our tradition by living in direct communication with G-d as he lives, works, and loves right here on Earth.
