Judah — The Man Who Changed, and What It Takes

A Common Myth Shattered

It is a common myth that people don't change their character. This Torah reading starts with one of the great stories of character change. Judah, Joseph's brother, was one of those who suggested to his brothers to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. It was Judah who later on had the selfish attitude that refused to give his young son to perform a levirate marriage for his brother's wife Tamar. It was then Judah who fell into Tamar's entrapment and tried to lie about it. Now, in this week's parasha, Judah comes forward. And it is clear that he had changed his character and learned some important principles of what it means to be a brother.

You see the important part of this encounter between Joseph and Judah in Parashat Vayigash teaches me that people can change. It teaches me that just because a person made some big mistakes it does not mean that he doesn't have a conscience. It teaches me that in every one who walks on two legs, and can talk and think and imagine, there is the bad inclination and also there is a good inclination. The challenge that we all have is the same challenge that Judah had. It is the challenge to own up to our mistakes and evil deeds and reverse the evil by doing good, owning up to our mistakes and evil inclinations and doing good.

What Happened in Judah's Heart

These words of Judah to Joseph are an indication of the following developments that have taken place in Judah's heart after the incident of Joseph disappearing from the well. Judah understood the seriousness of that vain hate that he and the other brothers had against their younger brother Joseph. He understood that it was wrong. Judah knows how important Joseph and Benjamin are to Jacob who loved these two children from Rachel more than the other children, because Jacob loved Rachel more and because Rachel's two boys came after a miraculous response from God to Rachel's prayers for sons. Judah loved Jacob his father very deeply and didn't want to cause Jacob more grief, like he and his brothers did after Joseph disappeared. Judah now was willing to be responsible and a grantor for his brother Benjamin and take his place in the Egyptian prison. Judah was willing to sacrifice his own freedom and guarantee Benjamin's safe return home to Jacob's house. Judah now understands what it means to be a true brother!

Judah was not the firstborn of Jacob. You would think that Reuben, who was Jacob's firstborn, would take the initiative and offer himself in place of his youngest brother, but no, it is Judah who is up to the task.

This action of Judah, which is out of Judah's normal character, is shaking Joseph's soul, and now he can't play that game with his brothers any longer. Joseph is moved to the depth of his soul by Judah's action and willingness to suffer in order to save the suffering of Benjamin and also the grief of his father Jacob, which causes him to reveal himself.

What Makes Change Possible

People do change if there are the following ingredients in their character, and I believe that most people have the following ingredient in their personality. It just needs to be awakened and activated. This ingredient that is necessary for such a change is love. You have to love someone that is more important to you than yourself. If you love someone, you also need that someone. You normally love someone if you need that someone. Needing someone does not always mean that you need them for gain or personal satisfaction. Most of the time people need someone because they are interested in helping or caring, or out of sense of deep obligation or attachment. Like Barbara Streisand's song says, "people who need people are the luckiest people in the world." There are few people that do good and are willing to sacrifice out of pure altruism. Most of us do good because we need to do good.

Rabbinical Jewish commentaries take a dual approach to this story. Some say that Judah had a good heart and wanted to save his brother Joseph from sure death, and that is why he suggested to sell him to Egypt. Other Rabbis say that Judah was greedy, and that his real intent was to make profit from his brother Joseph. It is my opinion that both things could be right at the same time.

This deed of Judah shows that Judah's advice to his brothers not to kill Joseph was not only a matter of greed but could have also been a matter of an internal sense of justice. We must always look at the positive side of things and to not think the worst of people before we have fully examined the facts, and sometimes the answer is somewhere in the middle.

The Torah commands the judges:

Jacob's Blessing of Judah — A Messianic Prophecy

Judah changed, and I believe that because he had changed that Jacob blessed him with one of the best blessings that he gave to any of his other sons:

Jacob's blessing of Judah is clearly a messianic prophecy for the fact that the Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah, just as Yeshua is from the tribe of Judah.

Here we learn, that when a man is willing to take responsibility, face his past, and act in love, God can turn even his failures into the path of redemption.