Taking resonsiblity for others By taking responsibility for others, Yehuda inherited the most important role among the Jewish people. We see from here a fundamental concept: Responsibility can often be seen as a burden which restricts us and forces us to do things that we do not want to do. Yehuda's actions show us exactly the opposite is true. Taking responsibility, for himself, his family and his nation, enabled him to reach such exalted heights. At the very moment that he accepted "what was incumbent upon him", it was then that he rose to a whole new level. The same is true for all of us, if we stand up and take responsibility for ourselves and for others, then we can also attain heights that we never thought possible.
Rav Shmuelevitz goes even further in another piece: "A wise man, a chatan (newly married man) and someone who has risen in greatness, all receive atonement for their sins." The Yerushalmi gives the example of Esav as the source that a chatan receives atonement - he married a woman the Torah calls 'Machlah', but that was not her real name. The name 'Machlah' comes from the root word of 'mochel' - 'to forgive'. From here the Yerushalmi derives that all of their sins were forgiven when she married Esav. Rav Shmuelevitz proves from the choice of the evil Esav and his idol-worshipping wife that a person who gets married receives atonement even without teshuva for they clearly did not repent their sins. Even on Yom Kippur a person only receives atonement with repentance, why here is atonement so easily attained? He answers, "It would seem that the uniqueness of the chatan is that he accepts responsibility for his wife, and there is nothing greater than someone who accepts upon himself the yoke of responsibility. Therefore they forgive him for all his sins, and give him heavenly help to succeed in his new obligation, and they remove from him all of his past, so that he can live up to his new responsibility." Taking a new level of achrayut is such a great accomplishment that a person is given a clean slate - he now lives on a whole new level of existence!
How do we face the difficult times when we must take responsibility for us and for others? By realizing how important and crucial some situations are in life, even though it entails great responsibility, as it is written in Pirke Avot 'In a place where there are no leaders, strive to be a leader'.
Taking responsibility is no less than the decisive factor in determining the heights a person reaches in his life. All that is required for a person is to make the free will decision to take responsibility for himself and the world around him. Free will is in essence, the ability to make choices, to change, to grow, to live up to our true potential. If a person makes that choice, then he can become a totally new creation, one whose past is left behind.
Facing the raging sea, the members of the Tribe of Yehuda made a momentous decision to take responsibility and not shift it onto others.
May we all merit taking responsibility and achieving our true potential.
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