Date: December 16th 2022

“And it was after these events, and Yehuda went down from his brothers.” The Torah tells us that after the sale of Yosef, Yehuda left his brothers and went to live near his friend Chira the Adulamite. Picking up on the expression ‘Yehuda went down’ the Medrash comments that Yehuda suffered a downfall after the sale of Yosef. The brothers unanimously decided Yosef was deserving of death. Reuvain convinced them to throw him into a pit rather than kill him and Yehuda advised that they save him from the pit and sell him as a slave. Nevertheless, after seeing the terrible state their father was in upon learning of Yosef’s fate, the brothers eventually recognized their mistake. They held Yehuda responsible for the decision they all had made, and they excommunicated him as a result.

On the surface, the behavior of the brothers of Yosef seems quite terrible. First to plot to kill their brother and then to blame Yehuda, who actually saved Yosef from their clutches, and excommunicate him because of what they had all conspired to do. It is important to understand that this perception is far from the truth. As seen through the eyes of Chazal, the brothers of Yosef were the greatest of tzaddikim and their intentions were based on firm principles and the conviction to serve Hashem. When they are called to task for their actions, it is for the most subtle and miniscule wrongdoing deep within the recesses of their beings that they are being held accountable for. Proof of their greatness can be found in Rashi (37:33). Rashi explains that Hashem did not reveal to Yaakov that Yosef was alive. After selling Yosef, the brothers wished to place a ban on revealing their actions to Yaakov. 10 people are necessary when placing and ban and since Reuvain and Binyomin were
with Yaakov at the time, they only had 9. They summoned Hashem Himself and He joined with them to place the ban! Certainly, Hashem would not be summoned by or be a party to any actions other than those done by the holiest of holy individuals.

For reasons we may have difficulty comprehending, the brothers of Yosef, in their righteousness, decided that Yosef was deserving of the death penalty and then afterward that Yehuda was worthy of excommunication.

The Yefe Toar on the Medrash explains that even though the brothers were more involved in the wrongdoing since they desired to kill Yosef while Yehuda only wanted to sell him into slavery, they placed the majority of the blame on Yehuda. They reasoned that since Yehuda was the leader among them, it was his responsibility to think more deeply into the matter.

The brothers faced a terrible predicament. They needed to decide whether or not to kill their own brother, a great talmid chacham and tzaddik, whom they certainly loved and respected. Any upstanding person faced with such a difficult problem would marshal all of his faculties and exert every last ounce of his energy to try to think through and understand the matter so he could make the right decision. Great men of wisdom such as the sons of Yaakov would have had a profound sense of these considerations and their duty to act properly. They were men who were worthy of taking on the responsibility of such a decision.

Yehuda, however, was held to task. He was held to an even higher standard than they. The Yefe Toar does not say that Yehuda possessed greater intellect, knowledge, wisdom, understanding, or experience than his brothers. The only way in which he stood out was that he was the leader. He carried the burden of leadership, and he was responsible to think more deeply even than they did. Even when all the faculties of his brothers were completely expended and they had all wrongly concluded in favor of Yosef’s execution, Yehuda should have realized their mistake.

All people have limits. However, those limits are not set in stone. It is true that the brothers surely exerted themselves to their outer limits, but Yehuda’s limits were expanded, aided by the impetus of the burdens of leadership. The Yefe Toar gives us a valuable insight into the dynamic of leadership and responsibility and the impact that bearing responsibility has on an individual. In a conscientious leader, having an awareness of the burdens and responsibility for others can give a person the wherewithal to break through barriers and see more clearly than they would otherwise possess.

Growth in life is often seen in the context of achievements, experience, influence, money, status, position, and reputation. When an individual has the opportunity to grow and take on more responsibility another benefit is the ability to expand their minds and capacity for understanding. Many people have a leadership role of some kind such as a parent, teacher, manager, or supervisor. In light of the Yefe Toar, an important part of any leadership role is to have the recognition that having greater responsibility includes the need to invest additional energy into understanding and weighing important decisions that have to be made to a degree that others are not able to achieve.

A corollary to this idea is that one should have great regard for the comprehension, responses, and judgements of his leaders. It is true that all people, including those in leadership position, can err. However, one must realize that a leader’s insight into a given issue may be more profound and all encompassing. All factors being equal the responsibility for others bestows a clarity of vision that is inaccessible to anyone not shouldering that responsibility.


Have a wonderful Shabbos


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