Facing the Truth with Authenticity and Courage—#6

The Lion and the Ox: Two Modes of Jewish Leadership

• Humility = Strength. Ego is the enemy, and getting ourselves out of our own way is the David/Yehuda way to incredible success/Kingship. When we uphold the image of our successful self, we can take the high road of Yosef, but sometimes the best and most powerful path forward is to admit that we are in fact powerless (this expression of powerlessness is the essence of prayer, and king David says of himself “I am prayer”). With no skin in the game we are able to humbly submit before Hashem and allow Him to lead us to great success that only He knows us to be capable of. Millions have found strength and powerful inspiration from the various twelve step programs. Step # 3, which is the crux of the program reads as follows: “Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of G-d…” There’s incredible power in the raw honest living that comes with genuine ego negation.
• The interplay between resilience and excellence
• Yehuda is crowned King by Yaakov at the end, but that is only after first failing to fully save Yosef, saving his life, but sent away by the brothers for failing to immediately save Yosef in such a way that would have avoided the rift in the Jewish people which is only healed by Mashiach, then personal and familial failure with Tamar, and then the crowning achievement of his admission, which paves the way for his taking full responsibility for Binyamin, and his face-off and discovery of Yosef.
• Yehuda and Tamar: Admitting weakness as a form of strength (Yosef, who represents strength, only emerges after Yehuda admits to his role with Tamar).
• Yaakov entrusts Benjamin with Yehuda and not Rueven: Responsibility as the foundation for leadership.. What makes Judah trustworthy is that he submits his entire being under that responsibility, he becomes the vessel to succeed in the mission he’s entrusted with because he negates himself so powerfully. Yaakov can’t bring himself to trust Reuven with the dangerous and consequential mission, as he is worried that Reuven will mix himself into the picture, and fail to bring his entire self to bear on the problems that the Egyptians will surely throw their way. Under fire, fears of failure, even legitimate ones, will hinder one's ability to focus everything they’ve got, and under fire you’d better have access to all your strength and focus.
• Yehuda, with no self in the picture, is able to decide exactly when to push Yaakov to part with Binyamin. He isn’t rash. He has no need to act if it won’t be 100% useful, and so he waits, patiently, for the perfect opportunity, and he gets one when the food supplies run dry.