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- Parashat Hashavua
A harsh conflict, which reached its apex with the sale of Yosef, split the family of Yaakov. Between the two leaders of their respective mothers’ parts of the family, Yehuda (from Leah and connected to Zilpa) and Yosef (from Rachel and connected to Bilha), we see tension that continues from Parashat Vayeishev until Parashat Vayechi.
The overall leadership, from the perspective of Sefer Bereishit, lands unequivocally in the hands of Yosef the son of Rachel. He was, after all, Paroh’s viceroy, and arguably the most powerful person in the world, and his brothers and their families needed to be "under his wings." This fulfilled Yosef’s dream about his brothers and actually the whole world bowing down to him.
How were the tears in the fabric of the nation mended? This is not divulged in Sefer Bereishit. However, there are strong indications on the matter in Divrei Hayamim, which tells of Chetzron, son of Peretz and grandson of Yehuda, marrying the daughter of Machir (I, 2:21), the son of Menashe and grandson of Yosef. Menashe, as the firstborn son of Yosef and thus the equivalent of a prince in Egypt, took an army and captured significant land east of the Jordan, which the Torah calls Gilad (the name of Machir's son). So already relatively early in the time that Bnei Yisrael were in Egypt, there was at least this prominent connection through marriage between the rival tribes.
The son of this important union, Seguv, who halachically and normally would be considered from the tribe of Yehuda, bore a son named Yair, who "had twenty three cities in the Land of Gilad" (Divrei Hayamim ibid. 22). In other words, he lived among the tribe of his maternal grandfather, Menashe. In this way, members of the tribe of Yehuda, from Leah, lived as noblemen among the descendants of Yosef and Rachel. This is the best glue to stick the pieces of the nation together.
These bonds find expression hundreds of years later, during the development of the reign of David. David was originally king only over his tribe, Yehuda. After Shaul died, he turned to the people of Yavesh Gilad, in the section of Menashe on the east bank, in which the transplanted Judeans lived. David offered them partnership in forming a united kingdom, after Shaul’s death (Shmuel II, 2:5-7). This was a strategic opportunity to continue the process of reuniting the factions within the nation. (We will develop this theme at length in the upcoming sefer, Tzofnat Shmuel.)
Let us pray that we too will merit having unity in our nation, whether those who live in Eretz Yisrael or those who live abroad.
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