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son and in unknowingly sleeping with her himself (discussed in ££The End of Days£££The End of DaysThe End of Days
“Judah, King David, and Repentance”). And now he finds himself £
in an untenable situation because he has promised his father that
Benjamin will return unharmed. It seems like everything Judah does
goes wrong. Nevertheless, like a true ba’al teshuvah, he turns to God Although God did not allow Jacob to openly reveal the End of Days, 6
in his hour of need, confesses, and tries to make amends by offering he was permitted to embed different parts of his overall vision in
to take Benjamin’s place. the blessings. Rashi points out many of these prophetic allusions in
his commentary. Judah’s blessing, for instance, contains some quite
Yet as he is maneuvered by Joseph into the circumstances where explicit and other more subtle references to the future:
he can finally rectify his selling his brother by offering his life for
Benjamin, there is a chance that he might falter; at this point, the Judah – you, your brothers shall acknowledge; your hand will
tzaddik within him comes to the fore as it says: “Seven times a beat your enemies’ neck; your father’s sons will prostrate themselves
tzaddik falls, but rises” (Proverbs 24:16). It is the tzaddik within him to you. A lion cub is Judah; from the prey, my son, you elevated
that does not allow him to despair; it is the spark of righteousness yourself. He crouches, lies down like a lion, and like an awesome lion,
deep within that ultimately allows him to offer himself in order to who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a
save his brother. At the crucial moment Judah merges the qualities scholar from among his descendants until Shiloh arrives and his will
of both ba’al teshuvah and tzaddik together and reaches an even be an assemblage of nations. He will tie his donkey to the vine; to the
higher level than he would have as merely a ba’al teshuvah. vine branch his donkey’s foal; he will launder his garments in wine
and his robe in the blood of grapes. Red eyed from wine, and white
Joseph, on the other hand, who saw himself as a tzaddik, had toothed from milk. (Genesis 49:8-12)
been brilliantly crafting a strategy that would allow him to discover
whether his brothers had truly repented. If they had, he would reveal Much of this blessing is dedicated to describing the tribe of Judah’s
himself to them, and if they had not, as a tzaddik, he would create a future role as the progenitor of kings. Not only will the Jewish
situation enabling them to complete their process of repentance and people accept Judah’s descendants as kings and scholars, the nations
atonement. At the climatic moment, when Judah offers to sacrifice of the world will also accept his penultimate descendant as ruler
himself for his brother’s sake, Joseph is so moved that he reveals of humanity. Rashi explains that Jacob is alluding to the Davidic
himself to his awestruck siblings. This would have been dramatic monarchy and to Mashiach, the future redeemer. The Hebrew words,
enough, but the mystical tradition teaches us that Joseph did more “Shiloh arrives,” equal 358, corresponding exactly to the numerical
than just divulge his true identity. Suddenly, at that moment, value of Mashiach!
something within him stirred, making him realize that he too was The Hebrew word “Shiloh,” by itself, equals 345, the numerical
not entirely blameless. Though a tzaddik, he also was imperfect. On value of Moses’ name in Hebrew. As the Midrash states, Moses “is the
some level, he too needed to do teshuvah. Many thoughts may have first redeemer and he [his soul reincarnated as Mashiach] will be the
crossed his mind as Judah poured out his heart: Perhaps he realized last redeemer” (Shemot Rabbah 4:2). This statement links the souls of
that he might have acted arrogantly when he recounted his dreams Moses and Mashiach together. The connection between Moses and
to his brothers; maybe he worried that his great beauty had blinded Mashiach is further stressed by both their Hebrew names beginning
him in his youth; possibly he felt remorse for not having contacted with the letters mem and shin.
Jacob sooner, leaving him in the dark for so long. At this crucial
moment, Joseph, like Judah, found within himself the quality of his In this blessing Jacob also subtly sheds light on Mashiach’s role
and on the change of consciousness that humanity will undergo in the

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