Musar zu Bereschit 43:78

And it is fitting for a penitent to do this before the confession, so that he can be accepted with his confession. And at the time of [his] repentance, King David, peace be upon him, did this before the confession, as it is stated (Psalms 51:6), "Against You alone have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your sight; so that You are just in Your sentence, and right in Your judgment." The explanation [of this] is that I am only considered a sinner to you, and I need nothing besides your forgiveness; and if I sinned to a person, I have requested forgiveness from him and I have made amends with him. And similar to it is (Genesis 44:32), "I shall stand guilty before my father forever" - for this sin, I will be considered a sinner to my father forever, as he will never forgive me for it. And its translation (Onkelos), is "and I will be a sinner to father." Or (alternatively) the explanation [in the verse in Psalms above] is, "Against You alone have I sinned" - I have not sinned to a person and I have not said extra words about him, nor have I taken anything from a person; that I should require his forgiveness and return his stolen goods. So my atonement is only dependent upon You. "So that You are just in Your sentence, and right in Your judgment" - in order to show Your charity and the greatness of Your forgiveness to the nations, on the day of Your speech and Your judgement at the time that You judged me. And the expression, "so that," is [to mean] that the greatness of the sin is the reason to make known the greatness of Your charity in Your forgiveness. Therefore the thing is compared to the head of sin, in order that God's kindness can be revealed - as well as His charity in His forgiveness - on the day of [David's] judgement. And like it is [the usage of, so that] (in Hosea 8:4), "of their silver and gold they have made themselves images, so that it will be cut off." For their making the images is the reason for the cutting off of their silver and their gold - the thing was compared, as if they made the images in order that they would be cut off. Or its explanation (in Psalms) is, because of this, You will be justified in Your word about the judgement and the repayment (meaning to say that he is justifying His judgement, may He be blessed). And likewise (in Hosea), "so that it will be cut off," [can be understood] as, because of this will it be cut off.

ולא יכלו אחיו לענות אותו . We find in Bereshit Rabbah (93,10), that this verse teaches us how impossible it is to confront those who admonish us. Bileam, the wisest of the Gentiles, could not justify himself before his ass (Numbers 22,30), and Joseph, the youngest of the brothers, silenced his older brothers when he confronted them with admonitions. In due course, G–d will admonish each one of us individually (Psalms 50,21 "I shall censure you and confront you with charges"). The Zohar comments at length on 43,18, describing the brothers' fear when escorted to Joseph's private residence (Sullam edition Miketz page 53). "Woe to those who neither know nor bother to study the Torah. G–d will demand an accounting from them. Body and soul will both have to answer for their deeds before they are finally separated."

Yosef, for saying to the officer of [Pharaoh's] drink: "But remember me when it is well with you [and please show kindness to me, and make mention of me to Pharaoh.]" (Gen 40:14), his sentence [in prison] was increased by 2 years as the Midrash reports (Genesis Raba 89b). And Yosef himself for embalming his father without G-d's permission, according to one view, or because he heard the words: "your servant, our father [Yaakov]" (Gen.43:28) and remained silent, according to another view, died before all of his brothers (Gen. Raba 100:4).

The Creator, may He be Blessed, apportioned this quality to the righteous and to His servants so that through this quality they might be identified, as you learn in the case of Joseph, "whose mercies were kindled" (Gen. 43:30). And it is fitting for the intelligent person that the quality of Mercy and Graciousness should be firmly fixed and present in his heart at all times.

And Judah said (Ibid. 43:9): "If I do not bring him [Benjamin] to you and present him to you [alive], I shall have sinned against you all the days," Judah going surety both in this world and the next, and through this, experiencing great suffering, more than all of the other brothers, as written in Parshath Vayigash. The reason for this is that he caused Joseph's being sold as a slave. In truth, Judah was the most eminent of the brothers, and he should have strengthened himself to return Joseph to his father, wherefore he was punished by Heaven by having to go surety for a different brother [Benjamin], to bring him to his father. And in this, he strengthened himself with all his power, and he also acquiesced in prostrating himself before the lord of the land to be taken as a slave, so that his brother could return home to his father. And all the other brothers who acquiesced in the sale were made to undergo great sorrow by acquiescing in becoming slaves themselves, as it is written (Ibid. 44:9): "And we, too, shall be slaves to my lord." And also (Ibid. 50:18): "And his brothers also went, and they fell before him [Joseph] and they said: 'Behold, we are your slaves.'"

Another awesome thing which befell Judah: Our sags of blessed memory have said (Sotah 7b): "All those years that Israel was in the desert, the bones of Judah were 'rolling around' in his casket, until Moses arose and implored mercy for him. He said… (Devarim 33:7): 'Hear, O L-rd, the voice of Judah' — at which his limbs reunited. But he was not yet brought to the Heavenly synod, at which Moses said (Ibid.): 'and to his people shall You bring him.' But he could not engage in halachic converse with the sages there, at which Moses said (Ibid.): 'Let his hands do battle for him', etc." All this befell him because he had said (Bereshith 43:9): "If I do not bring him [Benjamin] to you and present him to you [alive], I shall have sinned against you all the days." __ But he did bring him! But, "the curse of a sage is fulfilled even if the condition [(in this instance, bringing him back)] is fulfilled" (Makkoth 11b). And we have already said that whatever issues from a man's mouth is by Divine providence, so that the L-rd's will was being enacted here. It seems to me that the explanation is as follows: It is known that they [the brothers] placed a ban on anyone who would reveal this [(the sale of Joseph)] to our father Jacob, and they included the Shechinah in this ban, wherefore the Holy Spirit [of prophecy] was removed from our father Jacob (until the end [of the episode], where it is written (Ibid. 45:27): "And the spirit of Jacob their father revived," which Onkelos translates: "And the Holy Spirit [again] reposed upon him.") And because of this ban it was decreed upon him [Judah] that holiness depart from him entirely, (as any man who is excommunicated), wherefore Judah was constrained to accept excommunication upon himself, as it is written: "And I shall have sinned against my father all of the days."

And now let us see the suffering that came to them from Heaven because of the bread, their sitting down to eat bread [(before selling Joseph)]. For when they brought Benjamin and stood him before Joseph, they thought that they had thereupon satisfied his demand, and that he would permit them to return home. But it was not to be so, as it is written (Bereshith 43:16): "And Joseph saw Benjamin with them, and he said to the overseer of his house: 'Bring these men into the house, and [see to it] to slaughter something (for a meal) and prepare it, for with me will these men dine.'" And, later, (Ibid. 25): "…for they heard that they would eat bread there," and (Ibid. 18): "And the men were afraid, for they were brought into the house of Joseph. And they said: 'It is because of the money that was returned to our sacks … and to fall upon us, and to take us as slaves." And (Ibid. 31): "And he said; 'Place bread.'" (Ibid. 33): "And they sat before him, the first-born according to his seniority, etc." And, similarly, the entire episode of the goblet, everything centering around the meal, where they saw the goblet by which he divined. For if he had not invited them to dine with him and to see the goblet, they could not in the end have been suspected of theft, and undergone the great suffering [which followed] whereby they all consented to become slaves.

[When the merchant finished his discourse] Rabbi Yose and Rabbi Chiya came and kissed him upon the head, saying, “If we had not come into the world for any reason other than to hear this, it would have been enough for us. Fortunate is the generation of Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai in which wisdom can be found even amidst the mountains!” Then they inquired, “What is your name?” He responded, “Chanan.” So they blessed him with the verse, “May God give you grace [yachnecha], my son” (Bereishis 43:29), adding, “May God hear your voice whenever you need Him.”

We can now understand Rashi's comment on the first verse in our פרשה that the Torah evidently speaks of a מלחמת רשות, an expansionary war. The Torah had already stated that in the wars fought to conquer ארץ ישראל no prisoners must be taken. It says: לא תחיה כל נשמה, "You must not allow anyone to survive" (20,16). In Sotah 35b, however, Rashi derives the permission to take Canaanite prisoners from the fact that the Torah must speak about an expansionary war and the prisoner in question is a Canaanite who had been resident outside the boundaries of ארץ ישראל to whom the commandment: "Do not allow a soul to survive" does not apply. Rashi purports to quote the Sifri on our verse: Should it occur to you that this verse speaks about a campaign involving the capture of ארץ ישראל, this is impossible since we must not take any prisoners from the inhabitants of ארץ ישראל. Therefore the reason for this verse is only to permit you to keep a Canaanite prisoner of war captured in another country. [The wording of Sifri as printed in our editions (Malbim) is different from Rashi. Ed.] Let us now consider the implications of the above comments on the allegorical explanation of the passage. We would say that though the Torah wages war against the evil urge it does not envisage total annihilation of the evil urge, but rather the Torah suggests that it must be controlled, i.e. be taken captive. Utter destruction of the evil urge would result in utter destruction of mankind; there would no longer be an urge to indulge in union with one's wife and begetting children. The evil urge in all its facets including the sexual urge is to be indulged only minimally under controlled conditions. The Torah's description of the feeling of fondness entertained by the captor for his captive, i.e. וחשקת בה, is a metaphor for the positive feelings we often entertain for the evil urge. The message the Torah has for us is that as soon as we experience such feelings of attraction towards anything sinful we must suppress the evil urge by making it appear as despicable as per the examples in our passage which are designed to make the sexually attractive prisoner lose her allure.This is the advantage of the repentant sinners of whom our sages in Berachot 34b state that their moral/ethical plateau cannot be equaled even by the perfectly righteous who have nothing to repent of. The repentant sinner is at an advantage over the perfectly righteous because he has trained himself to resist temptation when it assails him. The totally righteous person, who has never been tempted has not yet learned that he has to "stand" aside lest temptation may overcome him. I have elaborated on this whole subject in the appropriate chapter of my treatise עשרה מאמרות.

Let us get back to the brothers who had originally suspected Joseph of harboring personal motives in his quest to become Royalty. Their suspicion is alluded to in פרשת ויגש, and expressed in Psalms 48,5: כי הנה המלכים נועדו עברו יחדו, המה ראו כן תמהו נבהלו נחפזו, רעדה אחזתם שם חיל כיולדה. The part about "See the kings," refers to Joseph and Yehudah; עברה יחדו describes their hatred of each other (from the word evrah for anger); המה ראו כן תמהו is an allusion to Genesis 43, 33 where the brothers ויתמהו, express their amazement to one another at the seating arrangements made by Joseph which placed them in the order of age. The reference to the brothers' terror and fright, נבהלו, etc., is to the moment when Joseph revealed himself and the brothers were frightened (45,3). The words רעדה אחזתם, "Panic seized them", refers to the other brothers who said: "kings are arguing with one another" (the debate between Joseph and Yehudah), "let the kings fight it out among themselves."

Rabbi Oshiyah in Bereshit Rabbah 92, 3 comments that when Jacob said to his sons in Genesis 43,14 prior to their second descent to Egypt: "May the Lord Shaddai grant you mercy when you appear before the man, etc.," he alluded to the 4 exiles. The word "the man," i.e. האיש, in that verse referred to G–d who is described as איש מלחמה in the song the Israelites sang after crossing the sea of reeds (Exodus 15,3). When Jacob continued "and he will send to you your brother," [the Midrash presumably reads the word Achichem, "your brother," singular as Acheychem, "your brothers," Ed.] this refers to the Ten Tribes; the words: "the other one and Benjamin," refer to Benjamin and Yehudah. When Jacob (in his capacity of the nation's founding father) continued: "as for me, if I am to be bereaved, I am to be bereaved," refers to the two destructions of the first and second Temple respectively. Jacob implies that there will not be a third destruction.