טעימה ממסורת פרשנית בהתעצבות- על נעלי הקיסר ועשרת הרוגי מלכות

(22) and commanded to fill his palace with shoes¹⁹⁷In the Midrash (version II), it is stated that he “lined the entire palace with shoes in order that they should recognize for what item Yosef was sold, as it says: “For shoes”: for money to buy shoes (Amos 2:6).

(23) He summoned ten great scholars

(24) who understood the Law

(25) and all of its intricacies.

(26) [He ordered]: “decide this case objectively

(27) and don't distort it with intentional trickery,

(28) but rather bring it out

(29) to its true light:¹⁹⁸According to the Midrash (version I), first the Sages agreed to judge the case objectively, after which the question was posed.

(30) If a man was found

(31) to have kidnapped one of his brothers,

(32) from among the Children of Yisrael;

(33) treating him as a slave and selling him.”

(34) They answered him:¹⁹⁹According to the Midrash (version I), the dialogue proceeds as follows: “If so, then you deserve the death penalty.” They asked “Why?” He answered, “For the sale of Yosef, who was sold by his brothers.”

(35) “The kidnapper should be put to death.”

(36) He then exclaimed “Where are your fathers,

(37) who sold their brother

(38) and dealt him to a caravan of Ishmaelites

(39) for pairs of shoes.”²⁰⁰The source is the verse in Amos (2:6) “For you have sold a righteous man for money, and a pauper for shoes”; the Midrash Pirke De’Rabi Eliezer (38) explains that each brother took two silver coins to buy himself a pair of shoes.

(40) You, therefore, must accept

(41) the law of God upon yourselves,

(42) for from the time of your fathers

(43) there has been none like yourselves²⁰¹In the Midrash (version III) it is written that Rabbi Yishmael asked the Angel Micha’el, “Hasn’t Hashem found anyone else from whom to take punishment for Yosef other than us?” He answered him “It is your good fortune that Hashem has not found any righteous among the sons of Yaakov but you.”