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The story of Yehudah and Tamar stands for the story of Knesses Yisrael and their miraculous return to Hashem after 70 years of Babylonian exile.

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At his mysterious meeting with Tamar, Yehuda didn't know what was going on - and that's the whole point.

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What was Tamar's plan? What was she thinking would happen? 

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Tamar is the ideal woman for the royal house: in the days of Yehuda, in the days of David, and in the days of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.

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For a lecture series on major topics in Jewish philosophy, see here: https://anchor.fm/shnayor-burton

Yehuda's royal progeny is at risk of coming to an end. Tamar is the life force that preserves it, and after her, Rus, who continues both the story of Tamar and that of Lot's daughters.

 Yehuda needed Tamar in his family. She provided him with the opportunity to rise from his fall. She is the woman who could bring goodness by fixing man's aloneness, the only thing "not good" in creation.  

When Yehuda "turned to a certain Addulamite," he was turning off the path of Hashem's ways, the path of prophecy. This is consistent with the sale of Yosef, that terrible act that initiated a long period of divine concealment.

The narrative of Yosef is interrupted with a story about Yehudah. 

This mysterious story takes us from Yosef's challenges to realize his kingly destiny to Yehudah and his royal house. The theme of divine hiddenness, introduced through Yosef and his sale, continues and takes on different dimensions. 

Sources:

מלאכי ב יא-יב

שופטים יד-טז

מגילת רות

You can email Rabbi Burton with questions or comments at: [email protected]

For a lecture series on major topics in Jewish philosophy, see here: https://anchor.fm/shnayor-burton