Did the Patriarchs Make Mistakes?

Has every single ancestor from the 5 books of moses, made mistakes?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

If I understand correctly, you are asking if the Patriarchs and Matriarchs ever sinned.

The Talmud in Shabbat 55b-56b quotes seven examples where the Bible says that leaders sinned. While some take the verses literally, Rabbi Samuel ben Nahmani reinterprets the verses and episodes in a way which lightens, or even completely erases, the act in question as being sinful.

For example, while the Torah (Genesis 35:22) seems to say that Reuven sinned with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, the Talmud explains that Reuven merely moved his father’s bed to his mother, Leah’s tent. It is explained that Reuven was upset that after Rachel died, Jacob decided to move his bed to Bilha’s tent, instead of the more important Matriarch, Leah. The breach and invasion of privacy was so serious that it was likened to actually having relations with Bilha. The Talmud further attempts to prove that Reuven did not actually sin by teaching that the verse “Now the sons of Jacob were twelve” implies that all his sons were righteous.

So, to answer your question: did the Patriarchs sin? The answer is that on their high and holy level, which is beyond our comprehension, they indeed engaged in activities or did things that were not appropriate for them on their level. And although the sages teach us that “a verse is meant to be understood in a literal manner” there are deeper interpretations, as presented above in the case of Reuven, that help us understand what took place on a more spiritual level, rather than merely a literal one. The greatness of our leaders is that they -and we- can learn and grow from the decisions they made, both the positive ones as well as from the seemingly negative one.