Coffee & Kabbalah: Vayeshev

(16) So he turned aside to her by the road and said, “Here, let me sleep with you”—for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. “What,” she asked, “will you pay for sleeping with me?” (17) He replied, “I will send a kid from my flock.” But she said, “You must leave a pledge until you have sent it.” (18) And he said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your seal and cord, and the staff which you carry.” So he gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived by him.

(23) when the ass caught sight of the angel of the LORD standing in the way, with his drawn sword in his hand. The ass swerved from the road and went into the fields; and Balaam beat the ass to turn her back onto the road.

(24) About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has played the harlot; in fact, she is with child by harlotry.” “Bring her out,” said Judah, “and let her be burned.” (25) As she was being brought out, she sent this message to her father-in-law, “I am with child by the man to whom these belong.” And she added, “Examine these: whose seal and cord and staff are these?” (26) Judah recognized them, and said, “She is more in the right than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he was not intimate with her again.

(11) One such day, he came into the house to do his work. None of the household being there inside, (12) she caught hold of him by his garment and said, “Lie with me!” But he left his garment in her hand and got away and fled outside.

“It was at that time; Judah descended from his brothers and turned to an Adulamite man, and his name was Ḥira” (Genesis 38:1).
“It was at that time; Judah descended from his brothers” – “Judah has betrayed, and an abomination has been performed…” (Malachi 2:11). [God] said to him: ‘You have denied, Judah; you have lied, Judah’ – “and an abomination has been performed in Israel” (Malachi 2:11). ‘Judah has become profane’ – “for Judah has profaned the holy of the Lord that He loves” (Malachi 2:11).
“It was at that time.” “I will yet bring to you a dispossessor, inhabitant of Maresha; [the glory of Israel] will come as far as Adulam” (Micah 1:15) – the King and Holy One of Israel. [Alternatively,] should the glory of Israel have “come as far as Adulam”? “Come as far as Adulam” – as it is written: “And turned to an Adulamite man.”
“It was at that time” – Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman began: “For I have known the thoughts” (Jeremiah 29:11) – the tribes were engaged in the sale of Joseph, Joseph was engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting, Reuben was engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting, Jacob was engaged in his sackcloth and his fasting, Judah was engaged in taking a wife for himself, and the Holy One blessed be He was engaged in creating the light of the messianic king: “It was at that time, Judah descended from his brothers.”
“Before she begins labor, she will give birth” (Isaiah 66:7) – before the first one who would enslave [Israel] was born, the ultimate redeemer was born. “It was at that time” – what is written prior to the matter? “The Medanites sold him to Egypt” (Genesis 37:36).