How do we know when someone has truly repented for past sins?
Table for Five: Vayigash
In partnership with the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles
Edited by Nina Litvak & Salvador Litvak, the Accidental Talmudist
Then Judah approached him and said, Please my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh. – Genesis 44:18
Rabbi Scott N. Bolton
Congregation Or Zarua, New York, NY
Judah’s approach is stunning, blending humility with courage. Rashi highlights how Judah balances deferential respect with bold insistence. He shows reverence, yet he stands firm, embodying the principle of knowing when to submit and when to rise in defense of family. As violence against Jews proliferates worldwide now is the time to be like Judah. His words exemplify measured confrontation—approaching Joseph not out of personal grievance, but to save and preserve the family. On a deeper level, Judah’s actions exemplify teshuvah (repentance) and mesirut nefesh (self-sacrifice). Ramban explains that having once sold Joseph into slavery, now Judah demonstrates complete repentance by risking his life to save Benjamin. Brotherhood and loyalty to family becomes the foundation upon which the Jewish future is built. Judah’s transformation is profound; he who once caused division in the family now dedicates himself to its unity and survival. The Hasidic Kedushat Levi, goes further, teaching that Judah’s act reflects a deeper truth about leadership and influence. By courageously approaching Joseph—symbolizing powerful leaders and nations—Judah seeks to awaken the spark of compassion within him. This is a lesson in our time to boldly confront leaders who show no empathy for the Jewish People or who wrongfully blame the Children of Israel. Joseph, as a ruler of Egypt, holds not only authority but also the potential to act righteously toward the Jewish people. Judah reminds us that we need unity and international partners to further the story of Am Yisrael both in the diaspora and in Israel.
Rabbi Tova Leibovic-Douglas
Founder of www.theritual.house
Vayigash is the parashah that presents the Torah’s clearest model of repair in service of a greater purpose, and it speaks directly to us. Years earlier, Judah had led his brothers in selling Joseph into slavery. Although this spared Joseph from death, it was still devastating and seemingly unforgivable. In Vayigash, we learn that repair is not only possible, but essential for life to move forward. The mystics teach that the biblical ancestors are not only historical figures, but spiritual forces that live within each of us. Rabbi Isaac Luria explains that “Joseph’s light was greater than the vessels of the generation.” Joseph represents yesod—our inner spiritual intensity, vision, and ideals. Judah represents malchut—our capacity to act responsibly, to lead and to take ownership of consequences. Both energies are necessary, yet often out of balance within us. When spirituality is disconnected from daily life, it can become overwhelming. When action lacks spiritual grounding, it becomes empty or reactive. As long as these inner forces remain divided, we remain fragmented. Judah’s choice to step forward and offer himself in place of Benjamin models inner repair. True teshuvah is not self-condemnation, but integration. Repair happens when our highest values guide our concrete choices, when spiritual intensity meets lived responsibility. By bringing our inner Joseph and Judah together, we create space for healing in our families, communities, and the wider world—a repair that is urgently needed today.
Cantor Michelle Bider Stone
Temple Beth Am
Did you know that the Jewish people are named after the first character in the Torah to do teshuva? Judah (ie. The Judeans = The Jews) was the brother who led the mutiny against Joseph, convincing the others to sell him into slavery all those years ago. Now, many years later, the brothers have come to Egypt in search of food. Judah promised Jacob, his father, that he would take care of the youngest, Benjamin. Testing his brothers, Joseph hid his goblet in Benjamin’s sack. In this verse, with the prospect of losing Benjamin, Judah steps forward, and asks to speak alone with Joseph. The Sfat Emet explains that “approached” means Judah wasn’t only approaching Joseph, but also confronting his inner self, elucidating on his spiritual transformation and how he had come full circle, from selling one brother into slavery so many years ago to now speaking up to save another brother. His magnanimity, showing that he has truly changed, allows Joseph to reunite with his family.
Maybe it’s no coincidence we are reading about Judah’s growth during New Year’s Resolution season. Teshuva, learning from our mistakes and changing for the better, is a core Jewish teaching rooted in this character’s story. We all make mistakes. Our tradition values recognizing them and vowing to not repeat them. The good news is that we don’t have to wait until the High Holidays to do teshuva. New Year’s may be another opportunity, but you can do teshuva any time of the year!
David Brandes
Screenwriter & Producer of The Quarrel
A paradox for Chanukah: Despite the fierce internal divisions and deep-seated mistrust in Israel, the people have united to defeat their enemies, care for each other, and survive. It is stunning, even miraculous. But this isn’t the first-time history has threatened us, only to remind us we are one. A key to understanding this paradox lies in the story of Joseph. The fact that the story is always read the week of Chanukah is more than a coincidence it is commentary.
When the frightened brothers stood before Joseph they saw only a powerful Egyptian viceroy. They could not see the brother beneath the Egyptian garb. But when Judah stepped forward, allowing his true self to be seen, Joseph dropped his mask. This is the turning point in the narrative. Joseph utters the famous line, “I am Joseph, your brother.” Tellingly, reconciliation begins not by erasing differences (Joseph remains the Viceroy), but by prioritizing brotherhood over ideology.
Back to Chanukah. We see this same truth in the “Miracle of the Oil.” Amidst the defilement of the Temple and a bitter civil war, one pure cruse of oil remained. It should have lasted one day, but it lasted eight. That was God’s miracle. The greater miracle, however, was the people having the faith to light it.
Today’s unity in Israel is the modern manifestation of that cruse of oil. It suggests that deep beneath the strata of mistrust and anger there is an irreducible “pintele Yid” (spark of Jewishness) that cannot be extinguished.
Yehudit Garmaise
Therapist Trainee at Chabad Rehab Center
When approaching Yosef to fight for Binyamin, Yehuda reveals his true rectification for his previous idea to sell his Yosef, as per Rambam’s definition that true teshuva only takes place when we make righteous choices when we again find ourselves in the same positions as our previous sins.
Yehudah’s bittel, or self-nullification in this moment, relates to his name, which comes from the root Hodaah, or gratitude, which requires humility.
Humility, shares Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, can be symbolized by the earth, on which “Everyone steps, yet the earth never reacts.” While the earth is at the lowest level of our material world, in the merit of its bittul, the earth contains a higher spiritual root.
The name of Yosef, who despite innumerable obstacles, always ascended to the top, comes from the root word for l’hosif, which means “addition and growth:” alluding to the grain, wealth, and power Yosef accrued throughout his life.
While the world of flora is materially one step higher than the earth, on a mystical level, the Alte Rebbe says that the colorful, beautiful, and showy world of vegetation derives from a lower spiritual root than that of the earth, which remains humble and never holds a grudge.
When Yehudah successfully approaches Yosef, our highest Jewish value is revealed not to be outward success, but self-nullification to and for others.
Yehudah’s higher spiritual root of gratitude, praise, and bittul is the reason he, and not Yosef, will rule all the Jewish tribes when Moshiach comes.
With thanks to Rabbi N. Scott Bolton, Rabbi Tova Leibovic-Douglas, Cantor Michelle Bider Stone, David Brandes and Yehudit Garmaise.
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