Humble Pie

The rise and fall of Yehuda is a fascinating story in itself. We see at the beginning that he had influence over his brothers. They listened to him when he made the suggestion to sell Yosef as a slave.

Rav Kook wrote that this terrible decision led to the deaths of the Ten Martyrs that included Rabbi Akiva. They were told that they would pay the price for the kidnapping of Yosef by ten of his brothers.

The Torah tells us that Yehuda was demoted. He lost the respect of his siblings when they saw how much grief it caused their father.

As fate would have it, during that state of banishment, he fathers twins with Tamar. From them the Mashiach descended.

Yehuda was destined for greatness and as it is with many great leaders, they go through a period of humility and even degradation, before they emerge.

Yehuda was reinstated when they had the dilemma of having to bring Binyamin to Yosef. He gave his personal guarantee of his safety. He was not afraid to confront Yosef as the spokesmen of all of the brothers.

When they went down to Egypt, Yehuda was sent first. He needed to prepare the land of Goshen, as a place where they could thrive as Jews.

There are certainly patterns when we examine great people and how they ultimately achieved greatness. One of the important recipes towards achieving this greatness, was being able to consume a large piece of “humble pie.”