There are two types of tzadikim- righteous people. One is represented by Yosef and the other by Yehuda. Yosef is the tzadik who remains strong and steadfast no matter what situation presents itself. His challenge will be to maintain a clear realization that everything, but everything, is the hand of Hashem. Taking revenge against the brothers would have been a contradiction to the lesson he was supposed to have learned. Yehuda is the tzadik who falls, who has to agonize over the mistakes he has made, specifically the selling of Yosef. His task is to pick himself up, to be honest with mistakes he has made and doing everything in his ability to rectify the errors of the past. Part of the honesty will be that he will need to admit that Yosef was correct in his assertion that he, Yosef, should be the leader of the brothers. We are called Yehudim, Jews (from Judah). Our challenge is to listen to our tzadikim (the Yosefs of the Jewish people) and to use all of our strength and ability to fix up our shortcomings. And if we think this is not so important, we only need to look in this Parsha and realize that the final conflict between Yosef and Yehuda is that which finally reconnects of the brothers and Yaakov together. And all of this hints to the final unity of Meshiach, soon in our days. Have a wonderful Shabbos. Source: R Dovid Charlop
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 14:31:14 +0000