At the end of Parashat Veyehi, we see the Beracha that was given to Dan, which was, לישועתך קויתי ה׳
I hope to Your salvation,Hashem
As we know, every shevet/tribe got a beracha that was necessary in order to bring out his specific purpose in life.
As we will soon see, Dan needed to hope to Hashem, at that point, and later in life. Why ?
The Midrash Raba in Bereshit tells us,
דן נכנס בצלמוניתו אצל אביו
Dan walked in to get a beracha from his father Yaakov Avinu, as a shadow, because he came in with only one son, Hushim. The name Hushim was a euphemism; it means “senses”. Hushim actually lacked a sense-he was deaf.
So Dan walked in with one child, but later on, when they tribes were counted, Dan had 70,000 descendants.
ובנימין נכנס בעשרה ומתברך בארבעים אלף
Whereas it says, And Binyamin, who walked in with ten children, in the end only had forty at the count.
So we see that it’s not always that what seems like the more powerful and prestigious son will stay that way. Because Dan came in broken, and because he hoped to Hashem, he got more.
Furthermore, in this Beracha, it says,
דָּן יָדִין עַמּוֹ כְּאַחַד שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
Dan will judge his nation, like the chosen of the tribes.
Dan was considered from the lower of the tribes. He was not from Rachel or Leah, and as we said, he had but one handicapped child. He was not considered one of the prestigious shevatim at that time. But what Yaakov Avinu was saying was, “Wait and see. He will be up there with Yehuda.”
And we see that later on in history. First of all, when it came time to build the Mishkan it says
רְאֵה קָרָאתִי בְשֵׁם בְּצַלְאֵל בֶּן אוּרִי בֶן חוּר לְמַטֵּה יְהוּדָה
We give Betzalel, who comes from Uri, the son of Yehuda...”
in other words, he has a great yihus/lineage.
And it says,
וַאֲנִי הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי אִתּוֹ אֵת אָהֳלִיאָב בֶּן אֲחִיסָמָךְ לְמַטֵּה דָן
I gave with him, someone from the tribe of Dan, and he was the second in command.
The Midrash Tanchuma says that this is to tell us that Hashem took from the greatest of tribes, to the least prestigious of tribes, to teach us:
יבוא ויזדווג לו שלא תהא רוחו גסה
Do not get haughty, tribe of Yehuda,
שגדול וקטן שוין לפני ה'
G-d doesn’t only work with prestigious lineage
A person can be unknown, from out of the limelight, and they can be equally as influential on the Jewish people, or even save the Jewish people.
If we fast-forward, we see that the great Shimshon, who saved the Jewish people, came from Dan.
At the end, he pulled down a tower and killed more Pelishtim in his death than in his lifetime. He too said the words
לישועתך קויתי ה'
I hope to Your salvation, Hashem
and he was also handicapped, as the Pelishtim has blinded him.
The Rama M’Pano says that the word Hushim חשים rescrambled, spells Mashiah משיח
This is because although Yehuda is the source of Mashiah ( from David HaMelech), mixed into his blood is the blood of shevet Dan, from those people that are always hoping to Hashem, even in the most difficult times, to the point that the Rama M’Pano says that Shimshon was a Gilgul (reincarnate) of his great-great grandfather Hushim. That’s the long, long story.
Sometimes, we see that at the moment, a person might not that be powerful or prestigious, But if we hit the fast-forward button, we can see where they end up and who they become.
When Binyamin had his ten children, he felt like he was at the top of the world. But it doesn’t last forever.
Dan walked in with a handicapped child, and ended up seeing much nachat/pleasure from him.
He had many, many children; he took part in the building of the Mishkan; He produced the great Shofet/judge Shimshon; And eventually the blood of Mashiach will include the blood of Dan.
That’s our lesson of
לישועתך קויתי ה'
I hope to Your salvation,Hashem.
Have a wonderful day.