Can you Guarantee My redemption?
This week, we read about Judah’s encounter with Tamar. On the surface, it looked like an intimate rendezvous on the side of the road. On a deeper level, something historical and fundamental occurred. Judah, the leader among his brothers, fathered the ancestor of King David and Mashiach. Our sages saw the discussions that preceded their interlude as negotiations of historical import.[1]
In this negotiation, Judah represents G-d because the Hebrew letters that comprise G-d’s name are included in Judah’s Hebrew name, Yehudah. His interlocutor, Tamar, represents the Jewish people.
Tamar asks Judah, “What will you give me if I consent to your proposition? Judah replies that he would send her a goat. Why a goat? What enigmatic message was Judah trying to convey?
The Talmud famously asks why goats walk ahead of sheep. The Talmud replies that it resembles creation: first, G-d created darkness and then light.[2] Our sages asked questions to convey deep teachings. The Torah compares the wicked nations that oppress us to dark goats.[3] The coded question our sages asked is why dark, wicked nations prosper (come out ahead) while we, innocent Jews, suffer. The answer is that just as day follows night, so will our redemption undoubtedly follow our time of suffering.
Accordingly, Judah’s reply can be explained thusly: “If you consent to be with me, the descendant of the child born from our relationship will dispatch the goat (the oppressive nations) from the Jewish people.”
Tamar asks for a guarantee. Can you guarantee that our children will be redeemed? Judah responds by handing her his seal, thread (shirt), and walking stick. These, said Judah, will serve as your guarantee until I send the goat. Let’s examine these three guarantors.
The Seal
G-d tells the Jews that He will give us His seal, and we can hold on to it as collateral until our redemption.
G-d stamped us with His seal—the first two letters of his name. In the book of Numbers, the Torah records the name of each Jewish family preceded by the letter hei and followed by the letter yud.[4] These two letters spell the first half of G-d’s name in reverse. Letters of a seal are stamped onto the parchment in reverse. Thus, if the letters on the seal read yud, hei, the stamp will read hei, yud. Hence, the two letters that precede and follow the name of each Jewish family spell G-d’s name in reverse.
Though they are the first two letters of G-d’s name, it has become common to use this abbreviation as an alternative name for G-d. Our sages tell us that this abbreviation will only be used until the coming of Mashiach.[5] When Mashiach comes, G-d’s complete name will be used. This, in effect, is G-d’s guarantee. I will abbreviate my name—restrict myself—and place that abbreviation under your control. It is yours until I redeem you; by this, your redemption is guaranteed.
The Thread
Next, Judah offered his thread—his shirt. But the Torah does not call it a shirt. The Torah calls it a thread. This implies that the Torah alludes to the Mitzvah fulfilled with threads—tzitzit. The biblical requirement for tzitzit is that one of the four threads on each corner of the garment must be of a special wool called techelet; It has a unique natural color in the turquoise family.
The precise nature of this wool has been lost to history and Jewish tradition. Some communities have maintained the techelet tradition and others have reestablished the tradition, but most Jews do not wear techelet anymore. It is believed that when Mashiach comes, he will direct us to the correct wool that comprises techelet.
As a result of our dispersion and long exile, we lost the techelet tradition, and, thus, the Mitzvah G-d gave us could not be appropriately fulfilled. Since Mitzvot are eternal and cannot be abrogated, circumstances will inevitably arise to enable us to fulfill it properly. Thus, we have a second guarantee for our redemption.
The Stick
The third guarantee was the walking stick. If there is one letter in the Hebrew alphabet that resembles a stick, it is the letter vav. The letter vav is often used as a vowel. If the dot is above the vav, the vowel sounds like oh as in row or snow. If the dot is on the side of the vav, the vowel is ooh, as in tool or rule.
The name Yaakov is generally spelled without a vav. The last vowel is achieved by adding a dot above and before the final letter. Eliyahu is usually written with a vav at the end to create the final vowel. There are five incidents in the Torah where Yaakov is spelled with an additional vav, and Eliyahu is spelled without a vav. Our sages taught that G-d took a vav from Eliyahu and handed it to Jacob as collateral.[6]
Elijah is the malach hago’el—the angel of redemption. He is famously tasked with heralding the arrival of Mashiach. To motivate Elijah to keep urging G-d and praying for our redemption, G-d removed a letter from Elijah’s name and gave it to our forefather Jacob. Elijah will get his vav back when he fulfills his task. This obliges Elijah to keep pushing and never give up on being the herald of our redemption.
G-d took this letter from Elijah on five occasions because the letter vav also resembles a finger. Five fingers represent a hand. It is as if Elijah and Jacob shook hands and agreed that the Jewish people would be redeemed.
We, thus, have three guarantors for the coming of Mashiach alluded to in the three pieces of collateral that Yehudah gave to Tamar, the ancestress of the Mashiach.
Chanukah
Of course, the greatest way to guarantee our redemption is to increase the number of Mitzvot we perform, especially acts of goodness and kindness. Next week, we will celebrate Chanukah. Every night of Chanukah, we will add one candle to the Menorah until it is entirely filled with light. These lights are symbolic of our good deeds and acts of goodness and kindness. Keep adding more acts until the world is filled with light.
On the fifth night, there will be five candles in our Menorah, each in the shape of the letter vav. At that point, our Menorah will have more light than dark. Let us hope that we will celebrate the coming of Mashiach even before the fifth night when the scales of the Menorah will tilt toward the light.[7]
[1] They did not necessarily have these concepts in mind as they negotiated, however, the Torah recorded their words because these words have historical impact.
[2] Shabbat 77b.
[3] See also Daniel 8:21, in which the Greek kingdom is described as a goat. השעיר מלך יון.
[4] See Numbers 26 and Rashi on 26:5.
[5] See Rashi on Exodus 17:16.
[6] Rashi on Leviticus 26:42 based loosely on Midrash Chaserot Viyeterot.
[7] This essay is loosely based on the commentary of Rabbi Ephraim Luntschitz, Kli Yakar, on Genesis 38:18.
