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The Crouching Lion - ויחי

Thursday, 9 January, 2025 - 9:39 am

 

The Crouching Lion 


At the end of his life, Jacob summoned each of his children to his bedside and blessed each one with their individual blessing. The blessings are beautiful and poetic but also mysterious and cryptic; they address both the character of each son as well as future events that would unfold with their descendants and members of their tribe. There are, therefore, multiple layers of interpretations and perspectives on each phrase of the blessings. We will explore dramatically different interpretations of one phrase in the blessings to Judah. 


Jacob blessed Judah with leadership, military might, and an abundance of wine, representing the fertility of his future portion of land in Israel. Jacob stated: "A cub [and] a grown lion is Judah", which Rashi interprets as referring to King David: "He prophesied about David, who was at first like a cub: "When Saul was king over us… and at the end a lion, when they made him king over them". Then, continuing with the metaphor of the lion, Jacob continues:  


A lion's cub Judah, from prey my sin you ascended; he kneeled, crouched as a lion and as an old-lion who will raise him?  (Genesis 49:9)


If the lion represents the might of King David, then what is the symbolism of crouching? Rashi and Onkelous explain that the crouching lion is a metaphor for a time of peace and tranquility, when the lion can rest and does not have to assert his might, for all its enemies will have already been vanquished. As Rashi explains:  


 This refers to the reign of King Solomon, when peace prevailed in the land and the people of Israel sat "each under his grapevine and each under his fig tree". No nation dared disturb their tranquility, as none would dare disturb a lion's rest. 


The Zohar, the primary book of Jewish mysticism, offers a completely opposite reading. To the Zohar, the crouching lion refers not to the tranquility of the era of King Solomon, when the Jewish people were at their peak both physically and spiritually, but rather to the time of exile, when the Jewish people are "crouching", are subjugated under oppressive nations. Yet they nevertheless retain the strength of the lion and remain steadfast in their commitment to Judaism and G-d. As the Zohar explains:  


This describes the people of Israel in their exiles: although they have been brought to their knees, they have the strength and perseverance of a lion, and are not swayed by the nations who persecute them and attempt to seduce them away from their faith and their practices. 


The Zohar, the inner perspective of the Torah, invites us to reexamine the apparent reality and find the deeper truth. Yes, the lion is crouching, seemingly in a weakened position, but, in truth, the lion is crouching in preparation of pouncing. The same is true for the Jewish people. Our personal and collective challenges, while they seem to weaken us, are, in truth, an opportunity to dig deeper and discover reservoirs of strength, to not only survive but ultimately to transform the world as well. As the Zohar continues: 


And as a lion who crouches not out of weakness but in order to pounce on its prey and vanquish it, so too the bride Israel in her exile is fallen only in order to pounce from her crouch as a lion and banish idolatry from the world.


Translation of Onkolous and Zohar taken from the new Open Book Chumash


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