1. And this for Judah"? Why was the blessing of Judah linked to that of Reuben? Throughout those forty years that the children of Israel were in the wilderness, Judah's bones were rattling in the coffin, detached from one another, because the ban that he declared upon himself remained in effect, until Moses stood and entreated God to have mercy upon him;Rabbi Yehuda said in the name of Rav: An excommunication ban that was declared conditionally requires nullification, even though the condition was not fulfilled. From where do we derive this? It is derived from Judah, as it is written with regard to his request that his father allow the brothers to take Benjamin to Egypt