The Straight And Crooked Path

One of the most difficult parshios to understand in the Chumash is the episode of Yehuda and Tamar.  As my sister likes to say, when we learnt it in school they didn’t teach us the real story, they made it a G-rated movie.  Obviously, what Yehuda was doing with a strange woman needs to be explained.  Furthermore, how can it be that such a relationship, which is strange to comprehend in the first place would foster Moshiach?  And how great is the contrast between Yehuda and Yosef, who has a tremendous battle and fights against his yetzer harah to not succumb to the temptation of arious, yet Moshiach descends from Yehuda, not from Yosef, why?  We will try to explain a little bit based upon the teachings of the Shla, Maharal, Rav Yosef Engel, Rav Tzadok and Rav Tzvi Einfeld.  If I am in error, may Hashem forgive me.

The נחש is synonymous with all evil that exists in the world, especially those that are students of the Kabbalah know that it is the snake that is always raising its head again wherever evil is to be found. The נחש is known as "the crooked one."  In order to fix up this spirit of crookedness in the world it is necessary to use this power for good.  That means ultimately the rules of right and wrong have to be bent in order to accomplish this.  The Gemorah says that a king can break through a fence and no-one can stop him.  This isn't just a legal ruling, it is a summation of the power of a king.  The king is not bound by the normal rules, he has the power to violate the rules.  A regular person that breaks through the fence, violates the rules is subject to be being bitten by a snake (Koheles 7:14,) he is open to the powers of evil.  However, the king is different.  Why?  The sefirah of malchus is completely nullified, it functions as a tunnel to allow the "Godly light" to shine through.  The Kings of Israel are supposed to be a reflection of the sefirah of malchus and are completely nullified before Hashem.  They have no sense of self, there whole existence is only to bring out the true "I", Hashem.  Therefore, the King's actions aren't bound by the normal rules, for his actions are spurred on by the desire to glorify the name of Hashem and instead of being bitten by the snake, he transforms it.  How does the King know it’s not his own temptation convincing himself to bend the rules?  The midrash says that Yehuda was steering away from Tamar but a maalach pushed him forward against his will.  It is when he has no desire to do the action that isn't in line with the rules, yet he is pushed to do it anyway that shows it is a directive from Hashem to fix the evil.  Specifically, because the King is disgusted and repulsed by evil, that he is given the opportunity to fix it.  This is the mode of the "crooked tzaddik."   

Then there is the role of the straight tzaddik, the one who follows every rule to the nth degree.   This tzaddik has a strong sense of self.  His sense of “haughtiness” allows him to rise above the powers of evil.  Such a tzaddik isn’t involved in fixing evil, he rises above evil. The Gemorah says in Yoma (35b) that the wife of Potephar threatened Yosef in numerous ways in order to force him to live with her.  One of the threats was that she would bend his spine and he responded Hashem straitens the bent (Tehillim 146:8.)  Why was this the threat that she chose to say?  Rav Yosef Engel explains based upon the works of the Kabbilists that say naturally a person should walk on all fours and face downward like an animal.  What keeps a person up is because s/he has a holy spirit, a neshama which faces up, it faces its source above.  The wife of Potiphar was trying to bend Yosef, to get him to sin and detach his connection to above.  However, Yosef refused and said Hashem, meaning the Godliness within me, straitens the bent, meaning won't allow me to sin, is attached to its source above.  Yosef refuses to be bent, he is the straight tzaddik that goes on the straight path and rises above all the temptations of the evil side.  This is the underpinnings of the clash between Yosef and Yehuda, of the two reigns in Klal Yisroel, which is the rout to be followed.   

It is ultimately through Yehuda that Moshiach will emerge for it is only through the ability to use crookedness for good that will lead to the ultimate tikkun, to straighten out all the evil in the world.  However, there is the concept of the Mashiach ben Yosef who blazes the trail for the Moshiach that descends from Yehuda.  There first must be a complete nullification of the forces of evil before it can be eradicated.  In in the meantime, there is a need for both roles, those that wear the hat of the straight tzaddik and those that wear the (possibly furry) hat of the crooked tzaddik.