Vayeitzei

The passuk says “and she (Leah) became pregnant and gave birth to a son and she said, ‘this time I will thank Hashem.’ Therefore she called his name Yehuda.” Rashi explains “this time I will thank” because now that I have taken more than my portion, I need to praise Hashem. There were 4 wives and 12 shevatim to be born; each wife should have three of the shevatim. Now however Leah had her fourth child which was more than her share.

The Gemara says when Yosef was מקדש שם שמים privately by not being together with the wife of Potifar he was zoche to have the letter ה added to his name to become יהוסף. Yehuda who was מקדש שם שמים in public was zoche to have his name contain all the letters of the shem havayah. The Maharsha explains this refers to when he admitted in front of many people צדקה ממני, that Tamar was pregnant from him, and he saved her life.

The Maharsha asks: the passuk says Leah called her son Yehuda because of thanks, yet from the Gemara it seems the name Yehuda is because he admitted? The Maharsha answers: With Leah’s reason alone he would have been have called Odeh, as in the passuk הפעם אודה את ה’. However Hashem put “Yehuda” into her mouth so he would have Hashem’s name in his name. The added ד of Yehuda refers to הודאה, admitting- hinting that because he admitted and said צדקה ממני he was therefore called with the name of Hashem.

We see that Yehuda has two meanings. One is thanking and the second is admitting. Thanking is from the lashon אודה and מודה. Admitting is from הודאה as הודאת בעל דין כמאה עדים דמי. We say every day מודה אני and מודים אנחנו לך, which have two meanings. We admit that Hashem returned our neshama and that He is our G-d and everything is from Him. We also thank Hashem for returning our neshama and for giving us everything. Every night when we sleep it is like 1/60 of death. Hashem takes back our neshamos and returns them. We thank Hashem for this every morning. Also when we say Modim we thank Hashem for everything- general and specific: for our life which is given to us by You… for our neshamos… for all the nissim that You do the whole day, and for the nifla’os and tovos done for us every second. Hashem helps us and gives us life and strength. For all these things we thank Hashem, and admit that they are from Him.

We are called Yehudim, from Yehuda, and not after any other shevet as this reflects thanking and admitting which are the essence of a Jew. May Hashem help us recognize and be thankful for all the chassadim that He does for us.