Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah. Amein.
ויהי בעת ההוא – ‘’from that time’’ maybe Judah/Yahudah never fully recovered
‘’from that time’’
Gen 38:1 And at that time it came to be that Yehuḏah (va
yered)left his brothers, and turned aside (Heb – ‘’natah’’ to deviate) to a
man, an Aḏullamite whose name was Ḥirah.
Rashi comments: “va yered Yehudah” Yehudah went down – his
descent was figurative in the sense that his brothers deposed him from his
position of leadership. This narrative interrupts the story of Yosef to teach
how Yehudah’s brothers lowered him in esteem because of the incident with
Yosef, for when they saw their father’s intense grief, they blamed Yehudah for
it. “You told us to sell him,” they charged. “Had you advised us to send us to
send him back to Father, we would have listened!” As a result of their
disenchantment with him, Yehudah moved away from the family and settled in
Adullam, where he became the business partner of Chirah.”
Adullam “the verb (adal) means to turn aside in the sense of to hide or seek
refuge. Hence BDB translates the name Adullam with Retreat, Refuge’’
The sages also tell us
that because of Yehudah’s culpability for Yakov’s suffering, he was repaid by
losing his two oldest sons, so he would experience the same grief as his father
– Sforno.
“Chirah” refers to a noble family – Strongs 2437. However the Hebrew root of this word – charar - is to “shame or to wax pale” Strongs 2357 – Deut 7:1-3 forbids marriage with Canaanites (Kena’ates).