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Biography of Yehuda Katz | Archives | Parsha Homepage
VAYIGASH
"“Then Judah approached him (Yosef) and said,………………………………”(44:18) At this point, the Viceroy of Egypt (Yosef) is accusing Benjamin of stealing his goblet, and wants to imprison him as a result. Judah is defiant and outraged by such an ominous prospect. Judah had taken full responsibility for Benjamin’s safe return to Jacob. The language of “approaching” used in the verse is one that indicates a conflict. In Midrash Tanchuma, Lech Lecha 9, the following concept is brought forth as follows:“The deeds of the patriarchs are a sign for the children.” This means simply that whatever occurred to our forefathers is a lesson for us to know and to study for future references. There is something that we need to derive from this incident that is vitally significant in our daily lives. But what? I would like to propose the following original answer, Bezrat Hashem. Judah was entrusted by Jacob to protect Benjamin from all harm. This can also be learned in a metaphorical manner that specifically can be applied to every Jew. When a person is given something precious that needs to be watched and cared for, it is incumbent upon the watcher to be exceeding careful with its welfare. G-d placed under our protection something that is uniquely ours and exceedingly precious, namely the soul. It is our duty to protect it from any and all harm. This is our task .The characters of our biblical encounter can be changed to resemble the following: (1) Jacob represents G-d, (2) Benjamin represents the soul, and (3) Judah represents “ourselves”as guardians to the soul |
