Daniel Kahane: despite Judaism’s tremendous emphasis on the unity of G-d, and how the whole world is One, and we discussed in previous posts the importance of having only one leader, one head, the Torah itself begins with a word that can be easily understood as "Beit Reishit," two heads, two beginnings.
While the West’s calendar (based on the Roman one) is purely solar and the Islamic calendar is purely lunar, the Jewish calendar has aspects of both. Joseph appears primarily associated with the year as a whole (countering Esau), while Judah appears to be primarily connected to the lunar months (countering Yishmael).
Judah is first and foremost a leader of the people, while Joseph’s leadership is more detached, in a sense more connected to the Torah itself.
The tension, balance, and contrast between Judah and Joseph is very apparent in the way the Torah places the very parallel stories of Joseph and Judah side by side
This balance and tension has continued throughout history, most notably with King David and King Shaul, the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel (also called Ephraim in the Torah)
The prophet Ezekiel’s vision of the Holy Chariot, Hashem’s holy throne, has a lion on the right (the symbol of Judah) and an ox on the left (the symbol of Joseph). The same prophet Ezekiel, in the haftorah reading for Vayigash, is told by G-d to collect one stick for Judah and one for Ephraim, and to join them together, symbolizing that in future Yosef and Yehudah will become completely united.
