FOURTH IN LINE, FIRST IN HONOR

Jews around the world see themselves as descended from the sons of Jacob, the twelve tribes of Israel. Among these twelve sons, the most significant is certainly the fourth in line: Judah. He was not the oldest of the sons, but he was the most influential. His descendants founded the capital of their Kingdom of Judah in a small hilltop city called Jerusalem.
THE BIBLICAL ORIGIN OF THE NAME

Following the destruction of the Temple, the entire nation acquired the name of the “Judeans” which eventually became "Jews". But what is Judean? In the book of Genesis, the matriarch Leah “conceived again and bore a son, and said, This time I will praise the Lord, therefore she named him Judah” (Gen 29:35). In English this name is just a collection of arbitrary sounds. But in fact, the word for praising or thanking someone in Hebrew is hodaya. Leah says “I will praise” – odeh – and names Judah – Yehuda.

Jonathan Lipnick,
Head of the Holy Land Studies Dept. at eTeacher