Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

61
בלה תובשחמ
of Potifar’s wife, and he became known as Yosef Ha-Tzaddik – the archetypal
“Righteous Man” for having withstood temptation. The question being asked is
– who should lead Bnei Yisrael, a tzaddik or a ba’al teshuva? Now we know that
many sources discuss how what will happen is that Moshiach ben Yosef will come
first and then eventually die, and the era of Moshiach will be lead by Moshiach
Ben David (David himself came from Yehudah is also a model of a ba’al teshuva),
and therefore we see that the ultimate leader of the Jewish people is someone who
can maybe understand a bit more why and how people make mistakes in their
avodat Hashem from a practical and not just theoretical perspective. However, at
this point in the development of our nation, this question has not been resolved
and so the Torah is contrasting the fortunes of the two potential bearers of
Moshiach and that is why the story of Yehudah (and Tamar) is told at this point.