VaYigash

Abraham came forward and said, “Will You sweep away the innocent along with the guilty?

So Jacob drew close to his father Isaac, who felt him and wondered. “The voice is the voice of Jacob, yet the hands are the hands of Esau.”

he said, “Serve me and let me eat of my son’s game that I may give you my innermost blessing.” So he served him and he ate, and he brought him wine and he drank.

And when Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, and the flock of his uncle Laban, Jacob went up and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of his uncle Laban.

ויגש אליו וגו' . . . דבר באזני אדני THEN JUDAH CAME NEAR TO HIM etc. [LET THY SERVANT SPEAK] A WORD IN MY LORD S EARS etc. May my words penetrate into your ears.

Then Judah approached him: The last letters of these three words create שָׁוֶה (equal.) Judah said to Joseph, "I am equal to you, just as you are a king, I am a king." And for this he demands in the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah 93:6) For behold the kings have assembled (Psalms 48:5).

ויגש אליו וגו'...בי אדוני, “he came near to him;....oh my lord.” Yehudah”s logic in challenging Joseph’s punishment for Binyamin was as follows: normally when a slave owner buys additional slaves and finds out that they steal from him, he demands his money back from the seller and returns such slaves to him. Why, do you do the opposite, by preferring to have a thief as your slave?

ויגש אליו יהודה, Yehudah approached him (Joseph), etc. Why does the Torah have to mention that "Yehudah approached," seeing he had been standing close to Joseph during the previous part of the discussion? Our sages in Bereshit Rabbah 93,6 explained that the word ויגש refers to Yehudah girding himself for war. This is a homiletical commentary.

A homiletical approach to the words ויגש אליו may be similar to what Solomon tells us in Proverbs 27,19: "as face to face is reflected in water, so man's heart will be reflected by his counter-part." Yehudah endeavoured to turn Joseph's heart towards himself. Yehudah had to make a special effort in this regard as there is a natural dislike between idol worhippers and the servants of the one and only G'd as we know from Psalms 125,3. In this instance, keeping in mind his immediate concern, Yehudah had to overcome his natural dislike for people who worshipped idols.

Still another possibility is that the word indicates that Yehudah had Joseph's interest at heart. He presented himself as far more useful to Joseph as a slave than his youngest brother Benjamin.

Another matter, “Judah approached [vayigash] him” – Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Neḥemya, and the Rabbis. Rabbi Yehuda says: An approach for war, just as it says: “Yoav and the people who were with him advanced [vayigash] to the battle” (II Samuel 10:13). Rabbi Neḥemya says: An approach for conciliation, just as it says: “The children of Judah approached Joshua” (Joshua 14:6) – to placate him. The Rabbis say: An approach for prayer – “Elijah the prophet approached, and he said: Lord, God of …” (I Kings 18:36). Rabbi Elazar resolved it in accordance with all of them: If [I must engage in] war, I am coming; if [I must engage in] conciliation, I am coming, if [I must engage in] prayer, I am coming.

ואל יחר אפך AND LET NOT THY WRATH GLOW — From these words you may infer that he spoke to him in harsh terms.

כי כמוך כפרעה FOR THOU ART EVEN AS PHARAOH — In my sight you are as important as the king. This is the literal meaning, but a Midrashic explanation is: You will ultimately be stricken with leprosy for detaining Benjamin even as your ancestor Pharaoh was stricken because he detained my ancestress Sarah one night. Another explanation is: you are as unreliable as Pharaoh — just as Pharaoh issues decrees and does not carry them out, makes promises and does not fulfill them, so also do you. Is this what you meant by “setting your eyes” upon him when you said (Genesis 44:21) “Bring him down and I will set mine eyes upon him”? Still another interpretation of כי כמוך כפרעה FOR THOU SHALT BECOME EVEN AS PHARAOH: if you provoke me I will slay you and your master (Genesis Rabbah 93:6).

FOR THOU ART EVEN AS PHARAOH, i.e., “it is with great fear that I speak before you, as if I was speaking before Pharaoh.”

כי כמוך כפרעה, the fact that I address my words to you is not to be considered personally, as I address them to you in your capacity of representing Pharaoh himself.

באזני אדוני, “for the ears of my lord only.” ואל יחר אפך בעבדך, “so that you will not become angry at your servant.” I have reason to fear this as you are just like Pharaoh in stature and your anger is something that is feared by everyone. Who else is there for me to lodge a complaint to if I feel I have been wronged?

כי כמוך כפרעה, “for you are just like Pharaoh;” just as an earlier Pharaoh lusted after the founding mother of the Hebrews, because of her physical beauty, our matriarch Sarah, you lust after our brother because you are attracted by the fact that he is so handsome.” An alternate interpretation: “just as you are great and mighty in your country, so we are great and mighty in the region which we call our home.”

אדוני שאל…היש לכם אב או אח, "My lord asked….'do you have a father (alive) or a brother?'" Yehudah wanted to remind Joseph that they had brought Benjamin to Egypt only because of Joseph's insistence. If he were not to be seen with them upon their return their father would die from anguish. He reminded Joseph that when someone is asked questions about family details and the questioner is a king, it is impossible not to answer truthfully. In addition, Joseph had made the appearance of Benjamin in Egypt a test of the brothers' denial to be spies.

And so the Rabbis said in Bereshith Rabbah: “Judah said to him, ‘I will prove to you that you moved against us with a pretext. The people of how many countries have come down to buy food? Have you interrogated them as you have interrogated us? Were we perhaps asking for your daughter in marriage or were you seeking to marry our sister?’” The Rabbis are saying that this was hinted at in his words.

אדוני שאל, he proceeded to tell Joseph the sequence of events in a manner calculated to arouse Joseph’s sympathy for the plight of his aged father.

Nevertheless, “We said to my master” — we withheld nothing from you. Rashi explains this so we will not ask: If Yehudah knew that Yoseif was acting with subterfuge, why did he answer him, “We have an old father...”? Rashi answers: Yehudah was saying, “Nevertheless ... [we acted respectfully and withheld nothing from you].”

ואחיו מת AND HIS BROTHER IS DEAD — He uttered this untruth out of fear. He thought: if I tell him that he is alive he may say “Bring him to me”.

ואחיו מת, “and his full brother is dead.” According to Rashi fear prompted him to lie and to declare his brother Joseph as “dead.” Even so, it is hard to understand how he dared refer to Joseph as dead when previously he had only described him as missing, i.e. האחד איננו, (42,13).

ונפשו קשורה בנפשו, this is why, the moment he becomes aware that Binyamin did not return he will die.

Now, the sign that one is attached to the tzaddik is if one possesses unpretentiousness. For, as mentioned, it is the nature of the lesser to be nullified before the greater. And the main bond is love: one should love the tzaddik with a complete love. As it is written (Genesis 44:30), “His soul was bound with his soul”; the Aramaic translation of which is, “he loved him as his own soul.” And as it is written (1 Samuel 18:1), “Yonatan’s soul was bound to the soul of David.”

Another matter, “Judah approached him.” It is written: “Like deep water is counsel in the heart of a man…” (Proverbs 20:5) – this is analogous to a deep well filled with cold water; its water was cold and good, but no person could drink from it. Someone came and tied rope to rope, thread to thread, and cord to cord, and he drew from it and drank. Everyone began drawing from it and drinking. So, Judah did not relent from responding to Joseph regarding each and every matter, until he touched his heart.