Menachem Schreiber Presents…Outburst or Breakout

Yaakov Avinu is nearing the end of his days. He gathers his sons and attempts to share with them the answer that we are all dying to know: When will the Messiah come? G-d has other plans and Yaakov’s Divine Inspiration is temporarily blocked…Realising that G-d has officially classified the information, Yaakov turns his attention to his gathered children…and BLASTS them! First, he rebukes Reuvain’s unabashed behavior in his parent’s intimate affairs. Then he lambasts Shimon and Levi, condemning their rash behavior in the extermination of the residents of the city of Shchem. Yehuda, bracing himself for the disapproval that is sure to come for his missteps in life is pleasantly surprised to be blessed! Yaakov then blesses his remaining children.

What is the meaning of this episode? It appears to one who doesn’t know our Patriarch Yaakov, that in his disappointment at being unable to share such incredible news with his children, he takes out his frustration at the first people that are present, eventually calming down when he gets to his 4th child. For those of us ‘who know’ who Yaakov was, we understand that such behavior would be ridiculous to ascribe to such a great man! What then is the connection between what Yaakov wanted to do and what he actually did?

Perhaps our clue lies in the fact that Yaakov stopped his rebuke when he got to his son Yehuda. Why didn’t he rebuke him? The Torah discusses in great detail Yehuda’s involvement in the sale of his brother Yosef as well as the well-known episode with Tamar. Was Yehuda truly infallible? Didn’t Yehuda go into a self-imposed exile as a way of atoning for his culpability in the sale of Yosef?

Rav Alter Chanoch Leibowitz z’l explained that Yaakov as we know wanted to share with his children the exact timing in history of the arrival of the Messiah. Realising that G-d had momentarily blocked his access to the information he realized that the Messiah wasn’t destined to come for quite a few millennia. In sharing this information perhaps his children would lose hope. So he gave them a message of hope; the Messiah can come in a fixed time in history or the Messiah can come even sooner…when you deserve it!

Turning to his sons his gaze penetrated straight to their souls and he called out those who at that moment in time were unworthy of the coming of the Messiah. When he came to Yehuda he ‘smiled warmly at him.’ Yehuda had dedicated years of his life to rectify his flaws; he’d admitted his culpability without any reservations. Couldn’t Yehuda have rationalized that his episode with Tamar occurred at the most painful, low place in his life? He’d just lost both of his sons and was already down on himself over his involvement in the sale of Yosef! Nevertheless, Yehuda ‘manned-up,’ refusing to accept his behavior as ‘an acceptable response in a low situation!’ Yehuda had redeemed himself!

Yaakov then, gave us all a message of hope. How do we turn the world around and make it a better place? We work on ourselves. We can’t change how others think and feel but we can breakout from how they tell us to think and feel; we can live proactively instead of reactively! When we put in the work good things will follow, and Please G-d, the coming of the Messiah speedily in our days!

Good Shabbos, Menachem