Shabbat Vayigash 5784
By Rabbi Daniel Reich
LA JOLLA, California — Parshat Vayigash continues from where we left off last week, as Yehuda confronts Yoseph in the aftermath of the stolen goblet incident that led to Binyamin’s imprisonment. The narrative carefully retraces the sequence of events, beginning with Yoseph’s peculiar interest in their family. Yehuda makes a heartfelt final plea, expressing his willingness to endure enslavement in place of Binyamin. This plea prompts Yoseph to finally reveal his true identity with the powerful words, “I am Yoseph, is my Father still Alive?!”
The following is the eulogy I delivered for my grandfather, Saba, Yehuda Reich ZT”L, upon his passing. Instead of the conventional Parsha commentary this week, I would like to share this eulogy for two reasons:
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Firstly, this past week marked my Saba’s yahrzeit.
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Secondly, the eulogy is centered around a rabbinic teaching shedding light on one of the main characters in our Parsha — Yehuda (as mentioned above).
What follows is that eulogy from three years ago:
“I am going to try, B’Ezrat Hashem, to give a brief and incomplete eulogy in honor of my Saba — Yehuda ben Frantichek ZT”L.
I say incomplete due to two factors:
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Firstly, my own inadequacies.
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Secondly, the rest of my family and Saba’s closest friends prepared the most honorable eulogies. I am merely hoping to add one more perspective as Saba’s third grandchild — not claiming to capture the full picture, as it is impossible to do so.
The Toseftah in the 4th Perek of Brachot tells us that there was once a group of Rebbe Akiva’s students gathered around discussing the following question: How did Yehuda merit to bear the crown of Israel? How did his descendants become the Royal family of the Jewish people?
“For what reason was Yehuda given the great honor to be given the crown of kingship for Klal Yisrael?”
Today we ask: How did “Saba Yehuda” merit royalty among Klal Yisrael?
How did Saba become a person who was not just liked but literally loved by every person he met? How did Saba, together with Savta, rise from the ashes of unimaginable horrors to build a family of Torah-dedicated Jews? How did Saba become a person whom great Rabbis sought out to receive Brachot from (as I witnessed on more than just a few occasions)?
How did Saba become one of the kings of the Jewish people?
The Toseftah attempts with different suggestions to rationalize this great reward based on tremendous accomplishments and deeds Yehuda did during his lifetime.
And we can do the same. Maybe Saba merited to become royalty in Klal Yisrael because…
- Of all the cups of coffee and countless breakfasts he set up to enhance post-Shachrit learning at Etz Ahaim — EVERY morning!
- Or because he wrapped Tefillin every morning over the numbers tattooed on his arm.
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Or perhaps because Savta A”H told me that in 59 years of marriage, Saba never asked her to do anything for him… let me repeat that… never asked her to do anything for him!
But ultimately, Rebbe Akiva gives the final reason — the accepted reason — for why Yehuda merited the kingship: “Because he sanctified the name of God! For when the Jewish people were running away from the Egyptians and were caught at their dead end — the sea — there was one man who stood up, took the leadership, and surged into the water — Nachshon — from the tribe of Yehuda! And it was only then that the sea split, and the Jews were saved — and it was for this mighty display of leadership that Yehuda merited the Crown of the Jewish people! For this was the greatest sanctification of God’s holy name in this world.”
However, there is only one problem with this explanation… Yehuda isn’t the one that jumped in — Nachshon jumped in! So why does Yehuda get the credit? Why did Yehuda receive the crown of Kingship? Nachshon, his descendant, performed this incredible feat — decades after Yehuda’s passing… So why does Yehuda merit the kingship…?
Because Yehuda set the stage — he lived by example — he set up a family that understood what was truly important in life, with the right values, that were totally internalized by his children, and his children’s children. Consequently, when the time came in Jewish history when we needed someone to jump in, it was Yehuda’s descendant that jumped in. Yehuda gets the credit because he set the stage — he set the model.
Saba set the stage. He lived by example. He set up a family that understood what was truly important in life — with the right values, that were totally internalized by his children, my parents and Aunt Mina, and hopefully will be internalized by Brooke and myself to be passed down to our children.
Everything Saba did was a lesson in Torah values and in sanctifying God’s name in this world — in knowing how to choose right over wrong, every time:
- He was setting up the stage each time he smiled at you when you met him at shul — as if you just brought him a winning lottery ticket.
- Each time he tickled you under his Talis during Birchat Kohanim.
- Each time he played cards with you.
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And each time he spoke about his wife — Savta A”H.
How did Saba become one of the kings of the Jewish people? Because he set the stage for us all!
But Malchut is not handed to a person for free… as Saba used to always tell us: “Bshvil Kavod Tzarich Laavod — for honor, one needs to work.”
Thank you, Saba, our Melech, for being our greatest role model.
May Saba’s Neshama go to the highest point in Gan Eden, and may we all internalize the lesson of being the proper role models to Sanctify Hashem’s name in the world.
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Rabbi Daniel Reich is the rabbi of Congregation Adat Yeshurun of La Jolla.