Parasha: Vayigash · Aliyah: Second (Gevurah)

ישב נא עבדך, "may your servant stay, etc." Although Yehudah had undertaken to bring back Benjamin personally, (43,9) he now relied on the dictum that a messenger appointed by a person can discharge that person's obligation as well as the person who has appointed the messenger (Berachot 34).

איך אעלה אל אבי והנער איננו אתי, "for how could I go up and face my father when the lad is not with me?" Yehudah meant that even if he were not guilty of failing to honour his guarantee, how could he look at the anguish of his father. Perhaps he meant to explain why they had all offered themselves as slaves to Joseph already previously. They could not bear to return to Canaan and face their father without Benjamin.

Yehudah may also have used the argument used by the woman from Tekoah in Samuel II 14,2-20. This woman had been employed by Yoav to bring about a reconciliation between David and his son Absalom. Absalom had been exiled for killing his half-brother Amnon after the latter had raped his sister Tamar. David was very unhappy about all this, and Yoav aimed to resolve the problem. The woman from Tekoah presented a ficticious case and asked for David's judgment. The judgment involved bringing to justice the remaining son of that woman who reportedly had slain her other son. Yehudah argued that once he would return to his father without Benjamin having explained that he was quite innocent in the matter, his father, having already lost his favourite son, would certainly not bereave himself a second time by consigning Yehudah to exile; this is the reason Yehudah presented a second argument, i.e. that his father would die from heartbreak.

ולא יכול יוסף להתאפק, Joseph could no longer contain himself, etc. He could not wait until all those present would leave of their own accord, but he called out loudly that everyone other than the brothers be removed from his presence immediately. The Torah adds the words ולא עמד איש אתו, that no one remained with him, to underline the speed with which his servants left his presence.

בהתודע יוסף, when Joseph revealed himself. The letter ב before התודע means "on account of" (his revealing himself). In order for the brothers to accept Joseph's claim that he was their brother, the matter of his sale had to be aired. Joseph wanted to spare his brothers the embarassment of becoming known as people who had sold their brother, hence he had to clear everyone out of the room. When the Torah mentions immediately afterwards that Joseph wept loudly when he revealed himself and all of Egypt heard about it, this is a clear indication that Joseph was not concerned that he could be overheard. He was only concerned that his brothers' part in all this should not be overheard.

ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו גשו נא אלי, Joseph said to his brothers: "please come closer to me." The reason he asked them to come close was so that when he would mention the fact that they had sold him he could whisper. Only after they had come closer did he say: "I am your brother Joseph whom you sold, etc." Joseph was careful to say all this in a whisper although he had sent everybody outside. He was familiar with the proverb that walls have ears.

אני יוסף אחיכם, "I am your brother Joseph." The reason he repeated the fact that he was Joseph a second time was that he felt there were two reasons why the brothers had not yet responded to him. 1) They were afraid of him and could not answer him just as a thief cannot answer when he is found out suddenly. 2) They simply did not believe him when he claimed to be Joseph. He said: "I am Joseph your brother, does my father still live, etc.?" in order to dispel their fear of him. He stressed the word your brother in that sentence. In the next sentence, after he had formed the impression that they did not believe him, he stressed the words your brother whom you have sold, indicating that even at the time they had sold him he had not ceased feeling like a brother towards them. He added the words "whom you have sold to Egypt" as proof that it was he, Joseph, for not even a prophet could have knowledge of that fact except he himself (compare Yalkut Shimoni 142).

ועתה אל תעצבו, "and now do not be sad, etc." We must first understand what Joseph meant when he said: "and now;" what did he want to exclude? Why did he tell the brothers neither to be sad nor to be angry? Besides, psychologically speaking, the feeling of sadness is the opposite of the feeling of anger. A sad person is humble whereas an angry person is arrogant, selfrighteous. Why would Joseph ask the brothers to be neither?

We must assume that Joseph meant that he was well aware that at present the brothers were saddened by the fact that they had sold him as they had indicated at the time they said to each other: "but we are guilty, etc." We also know from Bereshit Rabbah 91,3 that the brothers were prepared to pay a very substantial ransom to buy Joseph's freedom when they found him in Egypt. Taking this into consideration Joseph told the brothers: "do not be sad now seeing that you have located the subject of your search." He hinted that he was aware that they felt positive towards him and had been sincerely saddened by what they had done to him.

He added that they should not become angry at themselves for having set in motion all the developments which had led to this reunion. He supported his argument by saying that actually what the brothers had done had resulted in their now being able to rely on him to see them through the famine, and not become impoverished, etc.