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“Who’s On First?” Jospeh or Judah?
At a time when the public reading of the five Books of Moses was punishable by death, our sages instituted the public reading of a haftorah, from the Books of the Prophets, which was a portion that would trigger the memory within the people of what that week’s Torah-portion was about. Thus, in our Torah-portion of “Judah approached him (Joseph) and said…” the haftorah is the portion of, “And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write upon it, 'For Judah and for the children of Israel his companions'; and take one stick and write upon it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions. And bring them close, one to the other into one stick, and they shall be one in your hand.”
Our Sages teach us that Joseph represents Torah-study, while Judah represents Mitzvah-observance. The Talmud questions which is greater, Study (Torah-study) or action (Mitzvah-observance)? The Talmud answers, “Greater is study, for it leads to action.” Thus, in the Torah-portion Joseph is the king, to whom Judah approaches and beseeches of him, “Within me, my L-rd,” mystically meaning that Judah (action) is requesting of Joseph (Torah-study) that Joseph empower him.
Our Sages go on further to teach us that when Moshiach comes, in the Future-to-Come, action will be greater than study, and thus, the haftorah states, “And My servant David (from the tribe of Judah) shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all.”
Question: The answer, “Greater is study, for it leads to action,” is stating that in study there ends up being both, study and action. How then can it be that in the Future-to-Come action alone will be greater than study and action?!
Thus, we must say that within the haftorah, when the verses first states, “and they shall be one in your hand,” and then, “And My servant David (from the tribe of Judah) shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all,” it is because within the oneness of the staff of Judah and the staff of Joseph, it is not that the staff of Judah overpowers the staff of Joseph, or that the oneness between them is but of a general manner, but rather, we are speaking of a oneness in which all the details of Judah and all the details of Joseph are transformed into become one and the same. And nevertheless, it is the tribe of Judah that will be the king and the shepherd of all of Israel. Let us understand this.
While Torah-study is the power of illumination, action is the power of obedience, total transcendence of Self and full humility. However, presently the power of transcendence of self and of humility is limited to a general transcendence of Ego in general. Therefore, the power of action is not that we can transcend who we are, with all our details, that our details be but of total transparency and unity. However, when Moshiach comes, and there will be the revelation of the Essence of G-d, which is the Essence of everything, in all of everything’s details, then the true power of action will be actualized.
Thus, presently, it is the Divine Illumination of Torah-study that empowers the humility, transparency, and transcendence of the general Ego of self, and thus, it is Torah-study that brings to action. However, when Moshiach comes, the oneness of study and action will be that the absolute transparency, humility, transcendence of self, and thus, the unity of all of our details will be that which empowers Torah-study.
As we stand at the threshold of Moshiach, the teachings of Chasidus has been revealed to us, through which we can already begin to have the Essence of G-d imbue and empower our power of transcendence of self and our unity with G-d can begin the process of becoming complete, imbuing our Torah-study to become the true experience of, “And I will place My words within your mouth.”
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