December 1st, 2018 — Shabbat Vayeshev
Why do all these characters we read about in the Torah – our beloved ancestors – keep doing such terrible things? Cain kills his brother. Abraham attempts to sacrifice his son. Jacob lies to his father to steal from his brother on the advice of his mother. And this week, we read about Judah’s descent into depravity, which may just be the worst of them all. Yet Judah will also be the one to do something we’ve never seen before: confess. And this simple act of admission will sharply alter the entire course of the Genesis narrative. So what lessons does Judah’s story of wretchedness and redemption hold for us in the current moment?