“Yehudah is a lion’s whelp,from the prey,my son, you have gone up.”(Bereshit 49:9)
Rashi comments that Yehudah elevated himself by two actions. One,he stopped his brothers from killing Yosef.Two, he publicly embarrassed himself to save Tamar. Rabbi Yeruchem Levovitz cited the Kuzari that the righteous person is one who rules over himself and all his impulses (mind over body). Because Yehudah had such self control and was always doing what was right, even if it went against his personal gratification, he merited being the tribe of the future Kings of Israel. He was so self confident that his brothers listened to him. This is the power of ruling over oneself. Such a person can be a ruler because of his own inner strength and not because others happen to choose him.
Excerpts taken from “Growth Through Torah” by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin
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