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Based on a passage in Bat Ayin; adapted by Rabbi
Yosef Y. Jacobson
A spiritual story
In one of the astonishing tales of the Torah portion
Vayeshev (Gen. 38), we read about the unconventional union that
transpired between Judah, the son of Jacob, and his daughter-in-law Tamar, who
disguised herself as a harlot. It is axiomatic among all of the Jewish biblical
commentators that the stories in the Torah are not just tales relating ancient
Jewish history. They also reflect spiritual timeless experiences that take place
continually within the human soul. Nachmanides wrote, "The Torah discusses the
physical reality, but it alludes to the world of the spirit."
Following is a classical Chassidic interpretation on
the episode of Judah and Tamar, treating the story as symbolic of the inner
spiritual life of the Jew.
Betrayal and its consequences
In the writings of the Kabbala, the name Judah, or "Yehuda"
in Hebrew, containing within it the four letters of the name of G-d, symbolizes
the Creator. Tamar, on the other hand, is the Hebrew name for a palm tree and
represents the Jewish people and their bond with G-d. (See Hoshanot
recited on the third day of Sukkot. Psalms 92:13.)  | | " Just as the palm tree has but one 'heart', so too do the Jewish people..." | | |
Why? The Talmud explains, "Just as the palm tree has
but one 'heart', so too do the Jewish people have only a single heart, devoted
completely to their Father in heaven." (The heart of the date palm is its sap.
Unlike the saps of other trees, like the olive or almond tree, the sap of the
palm is found only in its trunk, but not in its branches or leaves. This is the
meaning behind the Talmudic statement that the palm tree possesses only a single
"heart". - Rashi ibid.; cf. Ritva)
The intimate union between Tamar and Judah - the Jew
and G-d - occurs during the sacred days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. During
those days, G-d, or Judah, exposes Himself to His people, evoking within them a
yearning to transcend their ego and self-centered cravings and to become one
with G-d. But then, "Some three months passed" (Gen. 38:24), and the spiritual
inspiration of the High Holy days wears off. Judah is informed that "Tamar, your
"kalla", has committed harlotry, and moreover, she has become pregnant by
harlotry" (Gen. 38:24). The news arrives to G-d that His bride has betrayed Him,
substituting him with another partner.
[Note: ...your kalla... The conjugated Hebrew word
can be translated as "your daughter-in-law", or, literally, as "your bride".] | | " The purpose of the Jew is to serve as the spiritual compass of human civilization..." | | |
Is this not the story of so many of us? At one point
during our lives we are inspired to transcend our selfish identity and connect
to the deeper divine rhythm of life. Yet, the cunning lore of numerous other
gods captivates our imaginations and ambitions and dulls our vision. We
substituted the G-d of truth and transcendence with the ego-god, the power-god,
the money-god, the temptation-god, the addiction-god, the manipulation-god and
the god of self-indulgence. What is even sadder for Judah is the news that Tamar
is so estranged that she became pregnant by harlotry. This symbolizes the stage
in life when the Jew rejects the G-d of his forefathers permanently and decides
to build his future with superficial sources of gratification.
"Take her out and have her burned," says Judah. The
purpose of the Jew is to serve as the spiritual compass of human civilization,
to bear witness to the truth of the One G-d, the moral conscious of the world.
When the Jew loses sight of the raison d'etre of his existence, when he
believes that his salvation lies in the fact that he "was invited to the White
House", or that he was praised in an editorial of The New York Times, his
existence is useless.
The truth emerges
Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Arizal) wrote that the judgment
that began on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is completed some three months later,
during the days of Chanukah. That's why it is at this period of time - three
months after the intimate union between Judah and Tamar - that Judah (the
metaphor for G-d) is "informed" regarding the spiritual status of Tamar (the
Jewish people) and the verdict is issued that Tamar has no future. | " The judgment that began on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur is completed
...during the days of Chanukah..." | | |
"When Tamar was being taken out, she sent word to
Judah, saying, 'I am pregnant by the man who is the owner of these articles.
Identify, I beg you, these objects. Who is the owner of this seal, cord and
staff?'" (Gen. 38:25)
[Note: "Petila" in Hebrew literally means a
"string" or a "wick". Judah gave her the string that he used to bind his sheep (Sechel
Tov on Gen. 38:18). Many commentators, including Rashi, translate the
word to mean a wrap or cloak.]
During that fateful time, when the "prosecuting
angels" have almost been successful in demonstrating to G-d that the Jewish
people are a failed experiment, at that very moment, the Jew sends word to G-d,
saying, "I am pregnant by the man who is the owner of these articles!" The
information you received that I abandoned you is a blatant lie! If I have gone
astray here and there, it is merely a superficial, temporary phase. Gaze into
the deeper layers of my identity and you will discover that I belong to You,
that my intimacy is shared only with You, G-d. "I am pregnant from Judah and not
from anybody else!" the Jew declares. | | " The information you received that I abandoned you is a blatant lie!" | | |
"Identify, I beg you, these objects. Who is the owner
of this seal, cord and staff?" For during the festival of Chanukah - when the
judgment of Rosh Hashanah is finalized - the Jew kindles each night a wick, or a
cord, soaked in oil, commemorating the event of the Jews discovering a sealed
single cruse of oil after the Greeks had plundered the holy Temple in Jerusalem.
The Jew further points to the staff in his arm. In
order to preserve his faith, he was forced time and time again - for 2000 years
- to take the wandering staff in his arm, abandon his home, wealth and security,
and seek out new territory where he could continue to live as a Jew.
The Hebrew term for "and the staff", "v'hamateh",
has the same numerological value as the word "the vessel", "hakeli",
symbolic of the menorah in which we kindle the Chanukah flames. Hence, this
verse is alluding to the three components of the Chanukah lights: the menorah,
the wick and the oil - all of which testify to the eternal allegiance of the Jew
to
G-d.
"Identify, I beg you, these objects. Who is the owner
of this seal, cord and staff?" the Jew asks G-d. "It is to this man that I am
pregnant!" Our loyalty and commitment remain eternally to the owner of the
"seal" and "cord" of the Chanukah flames; our deepest intimacy is reserved to
the owner of the "staff" of Jewish wandering.
Who is the traitor?
"Judah immediately recognized the articles, and he
said, 'She is right; it is from me that she conceived. She did it because I did
not give her to my son Shelah.'" (Gen. 38:26) When G-d observes the burning
flames of the Chanukah menorah, He immediately recognizes that indeed, His
people have never left Him. True, the Jew does fall prey at times to the
dominating external forces of a materialistic and immoral world, yet this
enslavement is skin deep. Probe the layers of his or her soul and you will
discover an infinite wellspring of spirituality and love. | | " If the Jew has, in fact, gone astray here and there, it is my fault..." | | |
"If the Jew has, in fact, gone astray here and there,
it is my fault," G-d says, not his. "...Because I did not give Tamar to my son
Shelah." Shelah is the Biblical term used to describe Mashiach (see Gen. 49:12).
G-d says that for two millennia I have kept the Jewish nation in a dark and
horrific exile where they have been subjected to horrendous pain and savage
suffering. Blood, tears and death have been their tragic fate for twenty
centuries, as they prayed, each day and every moment for world redemption. But
redemption has not come.
How can I expect that a Jew never commit a sin? How
can I expect that a Jew never try to cast his luck with the materialistic world
about him that seems so appealing, when I held back for so long the light of
Mashiach? "It is I, G-d, who is guilty of treason," G-d says. Not the Jew. Tamar
is an innocent, beautiful palm-tree, which still has only one heart to its
father in heaven.
My gratitude to Shmuel Levin, a writer and editor in
Pittsburgh, for his editorial assistance.
Copyright 2001 by Yosef Y. Jacobson.
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