[Avodah] Yaakov v Yehuda

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Jan 05, 2017 at 09:57:23AM -0800, Martin Brody via Avodah wrote:
: Micah Berger asked
: > Is it so hard to believe that for all his greatness,
: > Yehudah still didn't reach his father's level?"

: Not according to Brachot 34B.( In the place where BT's stand, Tzaddikim
: don't)
: Yehudah did teshuva Yaakov didn't.

1- Who said Yaaqov didn't ever do teshuvah?

2- You are assuming that greatness only has one metric.

After all, a tzadiq ben tzadiq's prayers are answered more readily than
a tzadiq ben rasha's. The sayng does not take into account the work it
took to buck one's upbringing.

3- Even if the baal teshuvah were greater than the tzadiq in the same
way as is reflected in tzadiq gozeir veElokim meqayeim, it would still
be hard to read that as meaning anyone who did teshuvah would be greater
than Binyamin, Amram, Yishai or Kilav (to pick tzadiqim that didn't have
much to do teshuvah for since they didn't sin). Lo qam navi od beYisrael
kemosheh -- only because he did teshuvah? There has to be an implied,
"all else being comparable..." or else it just doesn't make sense.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Live as if you were living already for the
micha at aishdas.org        second time and as if you had acted the first
http://www.aishdas.org   time as wrongly as you are about to act now!
Fax: (270) 514-1507            - Victor Frankl, Man's search for Meaning