2021/5782
The story of Tamar and Yehuda is a bit odd. Usually, we think of the VaYeishev-Mikeitz-VaYigash trilogy as focusing on Yosef against his brothers, so it’s weird to see just a single brother on his own; not to mention how it doesn’t connect to the story of Yosef at all. So what is this story doing here?
I think the first step is to dispel the notion that Yehuda isn’t a character in his own right. While we usually think of Yosef’s brothers as a single, antagonistic unit, Yehuda stands out as a unique character with a more concrete arc. Not only is he the one who actually sells Yosef (37:26-7), he is also the one to take responsibility for Binyamin (43:8-9) and, in the climax of the whole story (44:18-34), follows through on that promise. So it shouldn't surprise you that he has his own short story.
With this in mind we see how the story of Tamar helps Yehuda’s arc take shape. First, he sells his brother out of jealousy, but later, he shows himself to be responsible and respectful. We can really see this transformation through this seemingly irrelevant story.
Firstly, it re-emphasizes to us how Yehuda interacts with those in his family. Just as Yehuda didn’t understand why exactly Yosef was favored, he didn’t understand why his first two sons died. This made it all the easier to act selfishly in both cases, rejecting family for his own personal reasons.
Tamar, however, knows that she has been wronged and seeks to fix it by forcing Yehuda into recognizing her as part of his family. This is a microcosm of how Yosef, the other wronged party, uses his power to force Yehuda to take responsibility for Binyamin, with one crucial difference: In Tamar’s case, Yehuda almost fails the test. He orders Tamar to be burned for her harlotry, and only at the last moment she calls him out with his pledges, the staff, cord, and seal. Finally, Yehuda recognizes not what seems to be the revelation, that he was the one who impregnated Tamar, but the actual cause of everything: “Ki Al Kein Lo Netatiha LeShelah Beni”, “That this [my selfishness] is why I didn’t give her to Shelah my son” (33:26). He realizes that his selfishness, and not his excuse about Shelah’s youth, was the reason he rejected Tamar.
Furthermore, this moment directly calls back to Yehuda’s original misdeed through specific word choice: Tamar says “Haker Na LeMi… Eileh,” “Please recognize… whose are these” (33:25), which is almost the exact same wording that Yeuda uses to deceive Yaakov: “Haker Na Haketonet Bincha Hi Im Lo”, “Please recognize if this is the coat of your son or not” (37:32). The Torah explicitly connects this to the misdeed that started the main narrative.
Now, it is clear how this is so important to this main narrative: It is only with this experience in mind can Yehuda recognize how he has wronged Yaakov Avinu. And, though he hesitates until their hunger is too great (43:1-2), Yehuda finally realizes his mistake and takes full responsibility for Binyamin in Yosef’s stead.
The story of Yehuda’s growth is one of the most compelling in all of BeReishit. Every story beat keeps on adding and adding to the tension, before it all gets released in one of the most climactic moments in Tanach. And part of it is all thanks to how even the side stories serve to develop the characters of the main narrative.