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].