Vayeshev 1997

In the Torah portion Vayeshev we have contrasted the behavior of Yehuda and Yosef. Throughout Jewish history the descendants of Judah and Joseph vied for leadership of the Jewish people for almost a thousand years.  It is strange that Yehuda eventually won out and was declared the leader of the Jewish people.  After all, if we look at the events of this Torah portion, we can see that the acts and deeds of Joseph seem to be far superior to those of Joseph.  After all, it was Joseph who refused the importuning of his master*s wife when she wanted him to sleep with her, who could have been killed by not listening to his master's wife, and, in fact, was sent to prison.  The only thing that really saved his life was that she was holding his cloak instead of he holding her cloak.  If it would have been the other way around, most assuredly he would have been killed.
On the other hand, Judah, in this particular portion, consorts with who he thinks is a prostitute but who turns out to be his daughter-in-law.  His wife had died and he was lonely and he wanted the companionship of a woman, so she consorted with who he thought was a prostitute.  He had failed to give his daughter-in-law his third son as a husband.  As was the custom in those days, when the first son died without having a child, he gave her the second son, and when the second son died without having children, he was supposed to give her the third son, but he hesitated to do so.  She turned out to be more righteous than he, but here we have a contrasting element. We see that Joseph acted in a moral fashion, while Judah did not.
Also in this Torah portion, we see how when Judah stepped forward and although he saved

Joseph's life, he caused him to be sold as a slave into Egypt.  How can we reconcile this behavior with the behavior of a righteous and good man? Joseph, on the other hand, helped even the butler and baker, Egyptian officials, who had, in effect, persecuted him by supporting this whole system of slavery, and, yet, he helped them.  Joseph was a brilliant man, a man of dreams.  In fact, if we contrast him with others, we would say that he was a man who had a vision of the future.  He knew how things were going to be.  He was goal oriented.  It is like the story they tell about two explorers who were caught in the middle of the Asian continent.  A huge typhoon came up and they just managed to make it into a cave. When they came out, the noticed all the landmarks were completely different.  One of the explorers said, "We are completely lost.  We will never get out of here."  The other said, "Yes, we will because the stars always stay the same." Joseph was a man who dreamed of the moon and stars and sun.  He was a man who had a vision of the future and could work toward it.  He also dreamed about real life, about sheaves, but mainly he was a person who set himself a goal and was willing to work for it.  In fact, as all teachers know, there are two different types of students. There is one student who is interested in accomplishing a certain goal.  This student is goal oriented, project oriented, not really people oriented.  On the other hand, there are certain students who are people oriented.  They really do not care whether they achieve a goal or not.  They are interested in the people they are working with.  They are interested in getting grades to please their parents or peers.  These are people oriented people.  Joseph was actually a goal directed person.  Judah, on the other hand, was a people directed person.  Joseph was really insensitive to other people.  He knew he had to achieve a

certain goal.  In fact, according to Rabbi Soloveitchik, one of the reasons why the brothers hated him so much was because he knew that the Jewish people had to change occupations. That's why he dreamed about sheaves.  They had to change to be a people rooted on the land.  They had to learn agriculture, and he knew times were changing.  He had a goal, and he was insensitive to the way the brothers thought.  He was going to push to achieve his goal.
Judah, on the other hand, was really people oriented.  He was concerned about the family and the family unit.  That is why he went along with the brothers in selling Joseph because he thought Joseph was a disruptive element in the family.  He wanted to bring the family along.  He was not goal oriented so much as people oriented.  Joseph may have the dreams, but Judah knew that to implement dreams, you have to work with people.  You have to prepare people to come up to these particular dreams.
Joseph, on the other hand, was a person who really was not very much sensitive to other people.  He was only sensitive to his own needs.  He knew he was a brilliant man and knew that he, himself, had great insight.  Even when Potifar's wife tried to seduce him, he sort of boasted by saying, "Look, your husband has given everything in my hands.  Only his wife he has denied me." Why did he have to say that? So Joseph was as person who really was not too sensitive to other people.

At the end of the Torah portion we learn how he began to listen to the butler and baker and hear their dreams.  His own dreams could only be fulfilled when he started to listen to other people's dreams.  Judah, on the other hand, was a people oriented man, a man who was sensitive to other people, and he demonstrated that decisively when Tamar, his daughter-in-law, was brought before him after she was pregnant for three months.  He judged on her that she be burned, whether it meant according to some commentaries with a mark on her face to show she had acted immorally, or whether it actually meant she was to be burned at the stake. What Tamar did was to present him with a signet ring and staff and said, "The man who owns these things, this is the man who got me pregnant."  He could have just let his judgment stand and not admit that he was he, but immediately he said, "I am the man.  She is more righteous than I am."  Judah had the ability to accept complete responsibility for what he did.  Judah was, therefore, a great leader.
The rabbis ask the question, why is it that King Sol committed one sin and the kingship was stripped from him, while David committed a sin and nothing happened to him? What was King Sol's sin? That he allowed the sheep and cattle of the Amalekites to remain alive and did not put to death the king of the Amalekites.  He also started a particular ceremony before Samuel came.  This is why he was stripped of his kingship.  David, on the other hand, committed adultery, whether you think he technically committed adultery or not, at the time he slept with her he knew she had not gotten a divorce yet.  He knew he had sinned.  David immediately, when confronted with the sin, admitted the sin.  Why was King Sol’s kingship

stripped by King David's was not?
The rabbis say the reason was twofold.  One was that King Sol committed a sin as a king in an official capacity.  David sinned as an individual.  There is a difference between a person's private life and public life.  David sinned as a private person.  He did not force Bathsheba to sleep with him.  He did not use his kingly powers to commit adultery with her.  King Sol sinned in the performance of his public duties.  He did not do what a king is supposed to do. Judah, too, sinned as an individual by acting in an immoral fashion with a prostitute, but, on the other hand, when he was acting in his official capacity as a judge, he took upon himself complete responsibility.  He did not sin in his official capacity.
The second reason the rabbis give is that King Sol did not take responsibility for his actions. When Samuel reprimanded him, he said, "But I had to do it. The people wanted me to do it."  David, on the other hand, when he was reprimanded by the Prophet Nathan, said, "I sinned."  There were no ifs, ands, or buts.  He did not try to give any excuses.  This is the same thing Judah did.  So we see that leadership has to do with being a people person and being able to admit responsibility for any acts that occur, to take full responsibility for the evil acts that you do and committing yourself to try to do better in the future.  This, of course, is the requisite of a leader.  In fact, the rabbis say that there were four people that would not have died if it would not have been for the serpent tempting Eve and having her and Adam eat from the forbidden fruit.  The rabbis say death was really ordained as part of

the world anyway.  They say that the only four people who might have escaped death because they were such good people were Benjamin, Amron (Moshe’s father), Eeshai (David's father), and Calai Ben Yefunan.  The rest would have died anyway. Why then wasn’t Benjamin given the leadership of the Jewish people? Benjamin, too, was in a certain sense too perfect.  He was not involved in selling Joseph, but he also did not relate to his brothers. Judah knew how to relate to his brothers.  He knew that if you are going to be a leader, you have to listen to everybody, even to those people with whom you disagree. When the brothers were ready to kill Joseph, they listened to Judah because they knew he understood their problem with Joseph.  Although the decision he came to sell him was actually reprehensible, but he still was there.  He was willing to listen.  Joseph, on the other hand, was not willing to listen.  He did not hear his brother's anger.  He did not know how dissatisfied they were with him.  He was a naive person who was only interested in his goal without being sensitive and alert to others.  Also, Joseph never really forgave his brothers. He never accepted at all any type of responsibility for vexing them and causing them to want to hate him.
We also know that it is very important that even if you have a dream and the dream is good and right, you should consult with people who disagree with you on this dream.  That was one of the errors of the previous government in Israel.  Maybe their dream of peace with Arafat and the Arabs is a wonderful dream and will be realized, but they refused to talk to their opponents.  They even called them names.  They refused to listen to their arguments.

You have to work with the people.  That is what Judah knew.  That is one of the problems we discussed at the UJA Rabbinic Cabinet last week.  The whole issue of pluralism is, are you willing to listen to other people even with whom you disagree? Of course, pluralism does not mean you have to agree the other person is right, but means that if the other person sincerely holds his view, you have to honor and respect him because this is his view.  It may be a wrong view, but as long as a view is not intrinsically evil, you have to respect and honor him.  Judah knew that but Joseph did not.  It is important that we have leaders that are people oriented people, people who understand people, who respect and honor their opinions even if they disagree with them, and who are willing to take absolute responsibility for their actions.  If we have these types of leaders, rest assured we will have a good society.  That's why Judah and his descendants were chosen to be the leaders over the Jewish people.  Let us all hope and pray that we will have such leaders in the future.
I am reminded of the story they tell about Gromeko in the time of the Cold War.  He went to Luxemburg and was introduced to all the cabinet officials.  The last one introduced as the Minister of Defense.  Gromeko started to laugh and laugh.  He said, "You are such a small country.  Why do you need a Minister of Defense?"  The Minister of Defense started to laugh and laugh.  Gromeko asked him why he was laughing.  He replied, "Well, last week I was I was in Moscow and they introduced me to the Minister of Justice." We all know that we have to have a just society, that our elected officials must take complete responsibility for their acts, and they must be people oriented people.  Let us all hope that we will have such people so the Mashiach will come quickly in our day. Amen.