Looking Forward and Looking Back

At that time that Judah went down from his brothers, and he turned away to an Adullamite man, named Ḥirah. Genesis 38:1

            Our Sages noted that the story of Judah and Tamar connects to the previous and subsequent parashot.

            Thus states Midrash Lekaḥ Tov:

(Rabbi Eliezer) says the verse connects between going down and going down; Rabbi Yoḥanan says it connects “please recognize” and “please recognize;” Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says it connects the matter of Tamar and the matter of the wife of Potiphar.

            The description of Judah as “going down from his brothers” can be understood simply in a geographic sense, but Rabbi Eliezer turns our attention to the words as meaning Judah’s status within his family was diminished as the result of the sale of Joseph, as Rashi comments:

This teaches that Judah’s brothers demoted him from his lofty position when they saw their father’s distress. They said “You told us to sell him; had you told us to return him, we would have obeyed you.”

            Rabbi Yoḥanan notes the use by both parashot of the words “please recognize.” Joseph’s brothers said to their father: “Please recognize whether it is your son's coat or not." [37:32] It is not by chance that Tamar addresses the same words to Judah: “"Please recognize whose signet ring, cloak, and staff are these?" [38:25]

            Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yoḥanan see the connection between the two parashot as looking back to the sale of Joseph, while Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani sees the connection looking forward to what will happen when Joseph is enslaved in Egypt, to the matter of the wife of Potiphar. [39:7ff.]

             Lekaḥ Tov notes an additional connection between Judah and Tamar and the sale of Joseph. Joseph’s brothers slaughtered a kid and dipped Joseph’s coat into its blood [37:31], while Judah promised to send Tamar (whom he did not know to be his daughter-in-law, but thought to be a prostitute) a kid as payment for her services. [38:17] Lekaḥ Tov comments:

Judah distressed his father with a kid, and Tamar distressed Judah with a kid.

            Quite clearly, Lekaḥ Tov saw great significance in the common usage of words and phrases in the stories of Joseph’s sale as a slave and Judah and Tamar. It seems that the message is that both parashot are parts of the same spectrum which is guided by He Who foresees history from the onset towards achieving redemption. Both instances involve a situation which is apparently not at all positive, and yet through this problematic situation, the process blossoms. This concept is clearly expressed in the words of Breishit Rabba [85:5]:

“At that time” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman expounded “For I know the thoughts:” [Jeremiah 29:11] – the tribes (i.e., Jacob’s sons) were occupied with the sale of Joseph, Joseph was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting (due to his situation), Reuven was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting (in repentance for the matter of Bilha [Genesis 35:22]), Jacob was occupied with his sackcloth and fasting (mourning the presumed death of Joseph), Judah was occupied with taking a wife; while the Holy One, blessed be He, was occupied with creating the illumination of the Messiah.

“At that time:” “Before she labored she gave birth,” [Isaiah 66:7] prior to the birth of the first subjugator, the ultimate redeemer was born. “At that time,” what is written above? “And the Midianites sold him to Egypt.” [Genesis 37:36, the verse immediately preceding ours].

 

 

Names and Anonymity

A man of the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.         Exodus 2:1

            It is interesting to note that the participants in the story of the birth of Moses and his salvation as an infant are not named: a man of the house of Levi, a daughter of Levi, his sister [v. 4], the daughter of Pharaoh [v. 5], despite the fact that all their names are known. Perhaps it is ironic that this appears in the second chapter of the Book of Shemot (the literal meaning is “names”).

            Indeed, Rabbi Ḥayyim Paltiel (one of the later Tosafists, mid-13^th – early 14^th centuries) expresses his astonishment over this point and leaves the question with the comment “It requires reflection.”

            We may suggest that the anonymity of the participants in the story is intended to convey the message that they are not the true doers, rather everything is in the hands of God’s providence, and the participants are merely His means for realizing the Divine plan of the birth of the savior of Israel.

Indeed, Zohar [Shemot 11b] writes;

“And a man went” – this is Amram, “And married a daughter of Levi” – this is Yocheved; the Divine voice descended and instructed Amram to mate with Yocheved, since the time for the salvation of Israel by the son they would bear approached.

In a bolder comment, Zohar elucidates:  “Another thing, ‘And a man went’ – this is the Holy One, blessed be He.”

            Certainly according to Zohar’s latter statement, Amram and Yocheved are merely God’s tools to bring the savior of Israel into the world.

            This suggestion highlights the contrast between the description of Moses’ birth and his conversation with God at the burning bush. After asking God “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should take the children of Israel out of Egypt?” [Exodus 3:11], the second question the Master of all Prophets, was “(When) they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?” [ibid. v. 13] God’s answer to Moses was “Say to the children of Israel, 'Ehyeh (I will be) has sent me to you' … This is My name forever, and this is how I should be mentioned in every generation." [ibid. vs. 14-15]

            The names of the human actors who carry out the Divine program are not important; the only significant name is that of He Who plans and executes the program.

Nursing the World

And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, for I have borne a son to his old age!"

                                                                                   Genesis 21:7

            Our Sages raised the question which begs asking: since Sarah gave birth to one son only, why does she speak of nursing children?

            Thus the Babylonian Talmud presents its answer:

“Nurse children” - How many children then did Sarah nurse?  Rabbi Levi said: “On the day that Abraham weaned his son Isaac, he made a great banquet, and all the peoples of the world derided him, saying, 'Have you seen that old man and woman, who brought a foundling from the street, and now claim him as their son! And what is more, they make a great banquet to establish their claim!' What did our father Abraham do? He went and invited all the great men of the age, and our mother Sarah invited their wives. Each one brought her child with her, but not the wet nurse, and a miracle happened with our mother Sarah, her breasts opened like two fountains, and she nursed them all.” [Bava Metzia, 87a]

            Pesikta Rabbati [43] (edited during the Gaonic period) presents the result of Sarah having nursed all the children:

All those who convert to Judaism throughout the world and all God-fearing people within the world are the descendants of those who nursed the milk of Sarah.

            It seems that the comment of Pesikta is connected to the significance of the change of name from Sarai to Sarah [Genesis 17:15], as Midrash Agadda explains:

“You shall not call her name Sarai” – Sarai implies (that she is the mistress) of her nation only, "for Sarah is her name” indicating that (she is mistress) of the entire world.

That is, the name change indicates that our first matriarch will have universal influence. Indeed, according to Pesikta’s comment, Sarah influenced “all those who convert and all God-fearing people,” influence which encompasses the entire world and all of time.

The Darkness of Hell

The Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that can be felt."                                                 Exodus 10:21

Where did this darkness come from? Rabbi Neḥemiah says it was the darkness of hell, as the verse states: “A land of darkness like darkness itself; the shadow of death without orders, and where the light is as darkness.” [Job 10:22]                             Shemot Rabba 14:2

            One of the Ḥassidic Masters commented that the greatest hell is the gap between what a person can be and that which he is in fact. Perhaps this is related to the Egyptian’s inability to arise from their places during the days of darkness, as the verse states:

And for three days they did not move from where they were. [v. 23]

            During three days of the darkness, the Egyptians were unable to move, as Rashi comments:

One who sat could not arise and one who stood could not sit.

            The darkness of hell which descended upon Egypt and the Egyptians did not allow the Egyptian to change himself at all and indeed highlighted the chasm between his moral and ethical potential and what he was in practice.