We are called Jews as in Yehudi, from Yehudah. Historically, after the exile of the ten tribes, the overwhelming majority of Israelites were from the tribe of Yehudah and we became known as Yehudim. The Talmud teaches that there are three character traits of the Jewish people, Compassion, Bashfulness and Benevolence. In this week’s Torah reading we find that Yehudim have another important character trait – Emes, truthfulness.
When Leah gives birth to her sons, she names them based on her personal situation. Her 4th son, Yehudah was given his name because Leah said I will thank Hashem. (she saw prophetically there would be 12 tribes and she now had 4 sons, which was more than her share.)
The Midrash teaches that Leah had the characteristic of giving thanks – “Hoda’ah” and this character trait was transmitted to her descendants. As examples, the Midrash lists Yehuda and King David. In the story of Yehuda and Tamar, Yehuda stated “she is more righteous than me” and in Psalm 138, King David said “Give thanks to Hashem because He is good” (Hodu LaShem Ki Tov).
The obvious question on the Midrash is, how does Yehudah’s statement relate to Leah giving thanks. We can understand the connection with King David. He said give thanks to Hashem, similar to Leah giving thanks to Hashem, but what is the connection between Leah’s statement and Yehudah’s. He was admitting that he had sinned, he wasn’t thanking anyone.
Rabbi Henoch Leibowitz zt”l explains that both giving thanks – Hakoras Hatov, and admitting when you are wrong, stem from the same source, the characteristic of Emes – truth. A person of truth will recognize the good that Hashem does for him and will also be able to recognize when he is in the wrong. However, a non-truthful person cannot acknowledge the Chesed that Hashem does for him and cannot acknowledge his own shortcomings. In Hebrew, the word for thanks and the word for admit are the same root, Hoda’ah. That is because both the ability to be thankful and to recognize your own shortcomings stem from the same source, to be truthful.
When Leah had a 4th son, it was her innate sense of complete truth that enabled her to fully recognize that this was all thanks to Hashem and not of her own doing. This characteristic of complete truthfulness – Emes – was transmitted to her son Yehuda. When he admitted his actions with Tamar it was because he was a man of truth and was able to fully acknowledge his own wrongdoing.
As Jews, we are Yehudim. We have the characteristic of Hoda’ah which is based on being truthful. We are able to recognize the good that Hashem and others do for us and we are able to recognize when we are wrong. When we say we are proud to be a Jew, we are also saying that we are proud to stand up for truth.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Shaps and the JET Team
