Leadership begins with courage, not power. In Parashat Vayigash, Judah steps forward to confront Joseph and speaks the truth without knowing the outcome. After October 7 — a moral earthquake for Israel and Jews worldwide — that ancient moment feels urgently contemporary. This piece is inspired by the growing number of women — Zionist and allied — who have refused moral confusion and chosen clarity, even at personal cost. Their courage reminds us that leadership does not wait for permission.

This week’s reading opens in dramatic fashion.

“Vayigash eilav Yehuda” — And Judah approached him.
(Genesis 44:18)

Parashat Vayigash opens not with armies or strategy, but with courage. Judah steps forward to confront Joseph — the most powerful man in Egypt — and does something that defines leadership: he speaks truth without knowing the outcome.

The Torah does not say Judah conquered, defeated, or outmaneuvered. It says vayigash — he approached. Leadership begins not with power, but with the willingness to step forward and speak.

Judah’s approach is also Judah’s transformation. The same brother who once enabled betrayal now offers responsibility. Earlier, when confronted by Tamar, Judah uttered three words that still define moral leadership: “She is more righteous than I.” No spin. No excuses. No deflection.

Leadership begins where ego ends.

Two Models: Joseph and Judah

Vayigash brings together two essential leadership models.

Joseph represents pragmatic leadership: reading reality clearly, preparing for famine, managing crisis, and saving nations. He does not explain reality away; he takes responsibility for it.

Judah represents moral leadership: confronting truth, admitting failure, and standing in the breach for others.

Healthy societies need both. But when moral leadership collapses, pragmatism alone becomes hollow. That is the danger of our moment.

October 7: A Moral Earthquake

October 7 was a moral earthquake — not only for Israel, but for Jews worldwide.

For many of us, that day did not only change what we think about Hamas. It changed what we think about the world that reacts to Hamas. Jews woke up to something painfully simple: evil can be filmed in real time, and still be explained away within hours.

And then came the aftershocks.

The Bondi Junction attack in Sydney — Jews murdered in an ordinary place of daily life — was not the same quake in scale, but it was an aftershock in meaning for world Jewry. It reinforced a truth many preferred to keep at........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)