(יב) וַיִּרְבּוּ֙ הַיָּמִ֔ים וַתָּ֖מׇת בַּת־שׁ֣וּעַ אֵֽשֶׁת־יְהוּדָ֑ה וַיִּנָּ֣חֶם יְהוּדָ֗ה וַיַּ֜עַל עַל־גֹּֽזְזֵ֤י צֹאנוֹ֙ ה֗וּא וְחִירָ֛ה רֵעֵ֥הוּ הָעֲדֻלָּמִ֖י תִּמְנָֽתָה׃ (יג) וַיֻּגַּ֥ד לְתָמָ֖ר לֵאמֹ֑ר הִנֵּ֥ה חָמִ֛יךְ עֹלֶ֥ה תִמְנָ֖תָה לָגֹ֥ז צֹאנֽוֹ׃
(יד) וַתָּ֩סַר֩ בִּגְדֵ֨י אַלְמְנוּתָ֜הּ מֵֽעָלֶ֗יהָ וַתְּכַ֤ס בַּצָּעִיף֙ וַתִּתְעַלָּ֔ף וַתֵּ֙שֶׁב֙ בְּפֶ֣תַח עֵינַ֔יִם אֲשֶׁ֖ר עַל־דֶּ֣רֶךְ תִּמְנָ֑תָה כִּ֤י רָאֲתָה֙ כִּֽי־גָדַ֣ל שֵׁלָ֔ה וְהִ֕וא לֹֽא־נִתְּנָ֥ה ל֖וֹ לְאִשָּֽׁה׃
(טו) וַיִּרְאֶ֣הָ יְהוּדָ֔ה וַֽיַּחְשְׁבֶ֖הָ לְזוֹנָ֑ה כִּ֥י כִסְּתָ֖ה פָּנֶֽיהָ׃
(טז) וַיֵּ֨ט אֵלֶ֜יהָ אֶל־הַדֶּ֗רֶךְ וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ הָֽבָה־נָּא֙ אָב֣וֹא אֵלַ֔יִךְ כִּ֚י לֹ֣א יָדַ֔ע כִּ֥י כַלָּת֖וֹ הִ֑וא וַתֹּ֙אמֶר֙ מַה־תִּתֶּן־לִ֔י כִּ֥י תָב֖וֹא אֵלָֽי׃
(יז) וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָנֹכִ֛י אֲשַׁלַּ֥ח גְּדִֽי־עִזִּ֖ים מִן־הַצֹּ֑אן וַתֹּ֕אמֶר אִם־תִּתֵּ֥ן עֵרָב֖וֹן עַ֥ד שָׁלְחֶֽךָ׃
(יח) וַיֹּ֗אמֶר מָ֣ה הָעֵֽרָבוֹן֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶתֶּן־לָךְ֒ וַתֹּ֗אמֶר חֹתָֽמְךָ֙ וּפְתִילֶ֔ךָ וּמַטְּךָ֖ אֲשֶׁ֣ר בְּיָדֶ֑ךָ וַיִּתֶּן־לָ֛הּ וַיָּבֹ֥א אֵלֶ֖יהָ וַתַּ֥הַר לֽוֹ׃
(יט) וַתָּ֣קׇם וַתֵּ֔לֶךְ וַתָּ֥סַר צְעִיפָ֖הּ מֵעָלֶ֑יהָ וַתִּלְבַּ֖שׁ בִּגְדֵ֥י אַלְמְנוּתָֽהּ׃
...שְׁבָטִים הָיוּ עֲסוּקִין בִּמְכִירָתוֹ שֶׁל יוֹסֵף, וְיוֹסֵף הָיָה עָסוּק בְּשַׂקּוֹ וּבְתַעֲנִיתוֹ, רְאוּבֵן הָיָה עָסוּק בְּשַׂקּוֹ וְתַעֲנִיתוֹ, וְיַעֲקֹב הָיָה עָסוּק בְּשַׂקּוֹ וּבְתַעֲנִיתוֹ, וִיהוּדָה הָיָה עָסוּק לִקַּח לוֹ אִשָּׁה, וְהַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא הָיָה עוֹסֵק בּוֹרֵא אוֹרוֹ שֶׁל מֶלֶךְ הַמָּשִׁיחַ, וַיְהִי בָּעֵת הַהִיא וַיֵּרֶד יְהוּדָה...
The tribes were busy with the selling of Yosef, and Yosef was involved with sackcloth and mourning, Reuven was involved with sackcloth and mourning, Yaakov was involved with sackcloth and mourning, Yehuda was involved in getting married, and Hashem was involved in creating the light of the King of the Messiah, and it was at that time that Yehuda went down...
אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן בִּקֵּשׁ לַעֲבֹר וְזִמֵּן לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא מַלְאָךְ שֶׁהוּא מְמֻנֶּה עַל הַתַּאֲוָה, אָמַר לוֹ, יְהוּדָה, הֵיכָן אַתָּה הוֹלֵךְ מֵהֵיכָן מְלָכִים עוֹמְדִים, מֵהֵיכָן גְּדוֹלִים עוֹמְדִים. (בראשית לח, טז): וַיֵּט אֵלֶיהָ אֶל הַדֶּרֶךְ, בְּעַל כָּרְחוֹ שֶׁלֹא בְטוֹבָתוֹ.
...Rabbi Yochanan said (Yehuda) wanted to go past, but Hashem prepared an angel that was appointed on his lust and said to him, "Yehuda, how can you go from the place that kings stand, from where great people stand."
And therefore Yehuda turned, against his will, not for his benefit.
(3) When we assert that Scripture teaches that God rules this world through angels, we mean such angels as are identical with the Intelligences... for natural forces and angels are identical. How bad and injurious is the blindness of ignorance! Say to a person who is believed to belong to the wise men of Israel that the Almighty sends His angel to enter the womb of a woman and to form there the fœtus, he will be satisfied with the account; he will believe it, and even find in it a description of the greatness of God's might and wisdom; although he believes that the angel consists of burning fire, and is as big as a third part of the Universe, yet he considers it possible as a divine miracle.
But tell him that God gave the seed a formative power which produces and shapes the limbs, and that this power is called "angel," or that all forms are the result of the influence of the Active Intellect, and that the latter is the angel, the Prince of the world, frequently mentioned by our Sages, and he will turn away; because he cannot comprehend the true greatness and power of creating forces that act in a body without being perceived by our senses.
Our Sages have already stated--for him who has understanding--that all forces that reside in a body are angels, much more the forces that are active in the Universe. The theory that each force acts only in one particular way, as follows: "One angel does not perform two things, and two angels do not perform one thing"; this is exactly the property of all forces.
...in reference to the relation between Judah and Tamar: "R. Jochanan said that Judah was about to pass by [without noticing Tamar], but God caused the angel of lust, i.e., the libidinous disposition, to present himself to him." Man's disposition is here called an angel... The intelligent reader will find here a clear statement that man's imaginative faculty is also called "angel," and that "cherub" is used for man's intellectual faculty. How beautiful must this appear to him who understands it; how absurd to the ignorant!
(א) כי לא ידע כי כלתו היא גם אחר שנטה אליה אל הדרך לא הכירה
שאם היה מכירה היה מדבר בה בשביל בנו ולאל יתברך נתכנו עלילות שרצה שיהיה זרעה מיהודה
שהיה יותר שלם ורצוי משלה וממנה יהיה משיח צדקנו:
(ב) ובכן לקחה ערבון לא להנות בו אלא לעדות ואם היה נותן לה אתנן לא היתה מקבלת כי לא היה אז עמה עדות לזכות את נפשה:
(א) ופתילך ... באלה הכלים המורים הגדולה והגבורה כחותם ושבט המושל והאזור...
וזה עשתה כדי שתהרהר במעלת יהודה וגדולתו:
(1) כי לא ידע כי כלתו היא, he did not even recognise her after he joined her in her private quarters. Had he recognised her he would surely have spoken to her concerning why he had not given her to his surviving son. G’d has His own agenda; clearly, it was His wish that Tamar bear a child or two children sired by Yehudah who in His eyes was more acceptable than his son Shelah. G’d wanted that the eventual Messiah should have had genetic material dating back to Tamar.
(2) What will you give me. If he had offered immediate payment she would not have accepted it, because what she wanted was evidence that she could present later on to prove that he was the father.
(1) ופתילך, your closely fitting sash. The items Tamar chose as pledge were all things which testified to the superior standing of its owner in society.
She wanted to own such trinkets reminding her constantly of Yehudah’s status so that her child would be influenced by the thoughts she entertained during her pregnancy and would grow up to be like its father.
וַתֵּשֶׁב בְּפֶתַח עֵינַיִם
אָמַר רַבִּי אֲלֶכְּסַנְדְּרִי מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהָלְכָה וְיָשְׁבָה לָהּ בְּפִתְחוֹ שֶׁל אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ מָקוֹם שֶׁכׇּל עֵינַיִם צוֹפוֹת לִרְאוֹתוֹ רַבִּי חָנִין אָמַר רַב מָקוֹם הוּא שֶׁשְּׁמוֹ עֵינַיִם וְכֵן הוּא אוֹמֵר תַּפּוּחַ וְהָעֵינָם
and sat in the entrance of Enaim
Rabbi Alexandri says: This teaches that she went and she sat at the entrance of the home of Abraham our forefather, a place that all eyes hope to see it, Rabbi Ḥanin says that Rav says: It is a place called Enaim, and similarly “Tappuah and Enam” (Joshua 15:34).
(א) וַיֵּ֥רֶד שִׁמְשׁ֖וֹן תִּמְנָ֑תָה וַיַּ֥רְא אִשָּׁ֛ה בְּתִמְנָ֖תָה מִבְּנ֥וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּֽים׃
לְפִי שֶׁהָיְתָה צְנוּעָה בְּבֵית חָמִיהָ, גָּזַרְתִּי שֶׁיֵּצְאוּ מִמֶּנָּה מְלָכִים, וּמִשֵּׁבֶט יְהוּדָה גָּזַרְתִּי לְהַעֲמִיד מְלָכִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל:
... because she proved herself a modest woman whilst in her father-in-law’s house I have ordained that kings shall be descended from her, and I have already ordained that I would raise up kings in Israel from the tribe of Judah.
(א) לְמִי הַנַּעֲרָה הַזֹּאת. וְכִי דַרְכּוֹ שֶׁל בֹּעַז לִשְׁאֹל בְּנָשִׁים? אֶלָּא, דִּבְרֵי צְנִיעוּת וְחָכְמָה רָאָה בָהּ...
(1) To whom does this maiden belong. Was it the practice of Bo’az to inquire about women? Rather, [because] he saw her modest and wise behavior...
(ט) גּ֤וּר אַרְיֵה֙ יְהוּדָ֔ה
מִטֶּ֖רֶף בְּנִ֣י עָלִ֑יתָ
כָּרַ֨ע רָבַ֧ץ כְּאַרְיֵ֛ה
וּכְלָבִ֖יא מִ֥י יְקִימֶֽנּוּ׃
(9) A lion cub is Judah
On prey, my son, have you grown.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
Like the king of beasts-a—who dare rouse him?
... we can begin to understand the advice given by G'd to Yehudah when He sent His angel and almost forced him to have intercourse with the woman whom he considered a harlot. On the one hand, according to Torah law, it was not appropriate for Yehudah to have sexual relations with his daughter-in-law. Inasmuch as Yehudah was unaware of that woman's identity at the time, he did not know that he committed a forbidden act. Moreover, he acted under heavenly compulsion.
The combination of all these factors enabled him to release the souls of Peretz and Zerach who were part of the souls captured by the forces of evil at the time Adam ate from the tree of knowledge. We know that these two souls contained within them great spiritual potential since great people are descended from them. The "captor" of such souls, i.e. the forces of the קליפה, can be presumed to have guarded them especially carefully so that they should not escape from his clutches.
No wonder then that a great individual of the calibre of royalty such as Yehudah was needed to become the instrument of their release from that captivity. Unless such a soul had been accused of the morally depraved sin of incest (the appearance of it) it might never have been able to escape its original environment amongst the spiritually inferior pool of souls.
(5) This is what the Torah had in mind when it states, using indirect speech, i.e. G'd is speaking: גור אריה יהודה. This means that prior to Yehudah's union with Tamar he had only been a cub. This was also hinted at when his father had said to him previously: אתה יודוך אחיך, up until now you only merited that your brothers deferred to you by dint of some personal stature you possessed; this stature did not yet have historic significance. Yehudah acquired significance as a historic personality only as a result of his divinely induced union with Tamar.
If you want proof of this, just search our records and see which great personalities other than Peretz and Zerach are descended from him. Once Yehudah had united with Tamar he qualified for the title אריה, a fully grown lion. Jacob then went on to explain the underlying cause of Yehudah's spiritual rise. It was מטרף בני עלית, "you my son were able to tear yourself away from the prey" i.e. from the pool of captive holy souls that had been snatched by the forces of the קליפה as the result of Adam's sin. Your divinely induced union with Tamar enabled some of these souls to become free once more and join the pool of holy souls. The sons you have acquired for yourself as a result of this union enable you to establish an everlasting dynasty.
... As of that time the sceptre would not depart from Yehudah, i.e. he had laid the foundation for an enduring dynasty. We are still looking forward daily to the resumption of the monarchy by a descendant of Yehudah (the Messiah).