Comentario sobre Génesis 42:21

אבל VERILY — It is to be understood as the Targum renders it: בקושטא “in truth”. I have seen a statement in (Genesis Rabbah 91:8) that in the Roman (Latin) language אבל means ברם (verum) truly, indeed.

IN THAT WE SAW THE DISTRESS OF HIS SOUL, WHEN HE IMPLORED US. It is obvious that the brothers now considered their display of cruelty towards Joseph as deserving of a greater punishment than the sale itself since it was their blood-brother who was imploring and prostrating himself before them and they remained unmoved. Scripture, however, did not relate there [that Joseph implored them at the time of the sale], either because it is naturally understood that a person would implore his brothers when falling into their grip when their intention is to harm him, swearing by the life of his father, and doing all that is possible to save himself from death. It may be the desire of Scripture to speak only briefly of their sin, or it is possible that it is characteristic of Scripture to speak briefly about a matter in one place, and to elaborate on it in another place.
Now Reuben answered them by saying: “Now I already told you at the time that the event took place that you should not sin against him for he is only a lad, and only on account of his youth did he sin against you, and it is therefore fitting for you to gloss over the sins of his youth. And now, his blood also,¹⁵²Verse 22 here. together with the display of cruelty which you mention, is required.” Perhaps the explanation of the phrase, his blood also, may be: “Even though you have not killed him, G-d will require his blood of you, and it will be accounted to you as if you spilled his blood since he was sold as a permanent slave, for it is possible that being a darling child,¹⁵³Jeremiah 31:19. unused to work, he died.”
Our Rabbis have expounded¹⁵⁴Bereshith Rabbah 91:10. “The expression, ‘Also’ his blood, implies his blood and the blood of his aged father.”

הצרה הזאת, tit for tat. We threw Joseph into a pit, now we have been thrown into jail.

בהתחננו אלינו ולא שמעבו. This made us guilty of being cruel against our brother, even though we considered him halachically in the category of a רודף, someone threatening us. We should have reacted with pity once he started pleading with us. Now, we are being punished by being treated cruelly ourselves by the ruler of this land.

ויאמרו….אבל אשמים אנחנו, They said:…"but we are guilty (of something else)." The word אבל, "but" does not appear to have any meaning here. Onkelos translates it as "truthfully;" I do not agree with this translation either. There was no need for the brothers to say: "truthfully," as if they had so far not spoken truthfully. Besides, why did the brothers have to add: "when we saw his anguish, etc,? All they had to say was that they were guilty of having sold their brother into slavery. This was the essence of their guilt.

ויאמרו, after Joseph had finished speaking with them and had left, the interpreter who had acted to preserve the impression that Joseph did not understand Hebrew also left the room where the encounter between Joseph and his brothers had taken place. In the absence of the interpreter the brothers acknowledged their sin against Joseph, seeing in their incarceration and in their position as accused, G’d’s punishment for their conduct against Joseph. They knew that they had been discriminated against by Joseph, knowing that they had been subjected to a far more intense questioning than other travelers who had come to Egypt to buy food. This is why they connected their present predicament to their behaviour against Joseph. However, they saw the nature of their sin not in their basic attitude to Joseph but

אשר ראינו צרת נפשו בהתחננו אלינו, “when we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, etc.” Although the Torah had not written about this, it is impossible to imagine that Joseph did not plead for mercy with his brothers when they threw him into the pit. The Torah condensed the scene in order not to unnecessarily portray the brothers as heartless monsters.

(21-22) אבל tritt immer einer früheren Annahme entgegen, verdunkelt (,אפל אול ,אבל) was früher klar und entschieden geschienen. Indem die Brüder hier אבל sagen, müssen sie sich bisher nicht für schuldig gehalten haben. Sie werfen sich auch jetzt nur Grausamkeit und Härte vor, bisher auch dies nicht, sie hatten es als Notwehr betrachtet. Reuben aber sieht ihre Schuld nicht nur in Hartherzigkeit, er hatte ihnen von anfang gesagt: ihr begeht ein Unrecht; er hatte in Josef nur ein Kind gesehen und seine Pläne, vor denen ihnen graute, als Kindereien betrachtet. Er sagte ihnen daher: Ihr habt euch nicht nur vorzuwerfen, dass ihr nicht Gnade für Recht habt ergehen lassen, sondern ihr habt euch schwer an ihm versündigt. — אשם und אשם .חטא: die mit א׳ beginnenden Wurzeln individualisieren den Begriff, der mit dem zweiten und dritten Wurzelbuchstaben ausgedrückt wird, wie א בר ,א כל ,א הב usw. So auch .א שם שמם heißt: ein leerer Raum sein, daher שָם: die Hinweisung auf einen Raum, den etwas einnimmt, oder einnehmen soll. שממה: ein des Inhalts vollkommen entleerter Raum, die Öde. Auch die Geistesöde, in welcher kein Gedanke aufdämmert, heißt שמם, eine Geistesleere ohne Vorstellung und Gedanken. אשם demgemäß: in sich selbst den Grund der Verödung tragen, in der eigenen Persönlichkeit den Grund der שממה haben. Es können jemandem alle Güter ohne sein Verschulden geraubt werden, dann ist es שממה ohne אשם. Wenn aber der Persönlichkeit selbst der Grund der Entziehung von Gütern und Freuden innewohnt, so ist das Bewusstsein davon: אשם .אשם ist also das Bewusstsein, dass man eine Verödung an Lebensgütern und Freuden verdiene. חטא ist, wie wir gesehen haben, eine "Verdunkelung" unseres sittlichen Wesens, Entziehung dessen, das ׳לחם אשה ד sein sollte, diesem göttlichen Einflusse. חטא bezeichnet somit das Vergehen nach seinem Ursprunge in unserem Innern und nach seiner Wirkung auf unser Inneres. חטא ist die unausbleibliche, sofort im Entstehen eintretende innere Folge der Sünde: unser Fernwerden von dem Göttlichen, während אשם die zu er- wartende äußere Folge der Sünde bezeichnet. אָשֵם ist die Stimme des Gewissens, die dem חוטֵא die שממה in Aussicht stellt. dass אשם mehr in Beziehung zu den äußeren als inneren Momenten der Sünde steht, sehen wir an den Opfern. אשם גזלות und מעילות stehen schon durch das Vergehen selbst in Beziehung zu äußeren Gütern. Spezifisch ist dafür איל der Ausdruck der besitzmächtigen Persönlichkeit, und nur אשם hat ein Minimum bestimmten Wertes. הטאות und אשמות treten vorzugsweise für שגג ein, und stets steht dabei ואָשֵם, "er verdient שממה" und dies hängt tief mit dem Begriff שכך) שגג), ja eigentlich "Sorglosigkeit" zusammen. שגגה entsteht aus Sorglosigkeit und sittlicher Gleichgültigkeit und hat nur ein geringes, sich leicht entschuldigendes Schuldbewusstsein zur Folge. Während daher für מזיד auch die irdische Gerechtigkeit eintritt, gehört es mit zur erziehenden göttlichen Waltung, unser in שגגה eingeschläfertes Bewusstsein durch יסורין, durch äußere Leiden, durch angehende "Verödung", aufmerksam zu machen, dass etwas in unserer Lebensweise fehl ist und der Änderung bedarf. Dieses Wecken und Betätigen des Schuldbewusstseins ist Zweck der Sündenopfer, die somit die Leidenserziehung vertreten, und tritt dieses מגין על היסורין bei אשם תלוי שבא על הספק um so bedeutender hervor, als eben bei der zweifelhaften שגגה das Schuldbewusstsein am meisten schlummert und der ernsten Weckung in noch höherem Grade bedarf. So auch hier: Seit 20 Jahren haben sie bei sich plädiert und sich entschuldigt, jetzt aber werden sie durch Leiden erschüttert, und es tritt das אבל אשמים אנחנו hervor: es lastet dennoch ein ungesühntes Unrecht noch auf uns, das uns und den Unsrigen Gefahr und Untergang, שממה, Verödung droht — die Stimme des Gewissens lässt sich nicht ersticken, man kann Asche auf die Kohlen schütten, aber noch nach fünfzig Jahren schlägt die Flamme hell hervor — אבל! Es ist doch alles unwahr, was wir uns vorgesprochen. das strafende Verhängnis ist erst im Anzuge, die gegenwärtige :עלינו nicht ,באה אלינו Not nur der Anfang. —

באה אלינו [THIS DISTRESS] IS COME UPON US — The word באה has the accent upon the ב because it is the perfect tense — for it had already come upon them. The Targum therefore renders it by אתת which is a perfect tense in Aramaic — it has come.

בהתחננו אלינו¸ their turning a deaf ear to Joseph’s pleas for mercy after he had been thrown into the pit. Joseph had started pleading already when they stripped him of the coloured coat his father had had made for him especially. The entire episode is described in detail by the Torah to teach the reader that if and when apparently undeserved troubles befall him, that he is to examine his past deeds to find out what sin, intentional or unintentional, could have caused G’d to bring this to his attention in such a manner so that he would repent his error. He is to exploit his troubles to ask G’d for forgiveness for his wrongdoing. [even if the major act of penitence has to be performed toward the person against whom he had sinned and from whom he must ask for a pardon. Ed.]

ולא שמענו, “and we did not listen.” They now realized that their cruelty deserved harsh punishment, much more so than the sale of him to the Ishmaelites. Reuven told them that he had already told them at the time not to become guilty of a sin against the “child.” Reuven had argued that Joseph’s conduct stemmed from youthful immaturity, and not from a thirst for power over his brothers. Now, they are being paid back by G’d not only for their cruelty, but also for his death, i.e. “his blood.” In G’d’s eyes, although they had not killed him with their hands, they had still been the cause of his death. He had probably not been able to perform the duties a slave has to perform just because he had been physically still a child.

Perhaps they still considered that Joseph had been guilty of the death penalty and if they had only sold him they had actually performed an act of kindness. As to the grief they had caused their father at the time, they were certain that at the present time G'd would not heap further grief upon their father as a result of their having sold Joseph at that time. The only thing they did feel guilty of was not displaying a sense of compassion when they saw Joseph's anguish when he pleaded for his life and they proved cruel. It is not becoming for people who consider themselves as righteous to conduct themselves in such a heartless manner.

אל תחטאו בילד, indem ihr euch an dem Kinde vergreift, handelt ihr schlecht, es ist nicht das göttliche Feuer, das in euch lodert, ihr fallet aus dem göttlichen Feuer der Sünde in die Hand.

It is also possible that when the brothers saw that they were all being jailed, they began to think which one of them was the cause of the disaster that had befallen them. The common denominator up to that point had been the fact that they had sold Joseph. Since Reuben had been innocent of that crime, not having been present when both the suggestion and the implementation of selling Joseph had been made, they had to search for something that both they and Reuben were guilty of. They concluded therefore that it must have been their heartlessness. Reuben too had not responded to Joseph's pleas as he had suggested that the brothers throw him in the pit instead of killing him outright. No doubt Joseph had pleaded with all the brothers not to do that to him. In fact, slow death in the pit was a more frightening prospect to Joseph than a relatively swift death. The words על כן באה אלינו are an acknowledgement that they all, Reuben included, were guilty of a lack of compassion. Presumably, the brothers must have said these things as soon as they were being led to prison, whereas the Torah reports them as if they had been said after they had all been in prison for three days. Why does the Torah make it appear as if the brothers had only come to this realisation after three days in prison? Presumably, the Torah did not want to diminish the impact Joseph's words and deeds are to make upon the reader. Any diversion would detract us from the clever way Joseph set about creating the scenario he had planned.

Besides, if we were to assume that the brothers acknowledged their guilt only after they had themselves agreed that Shimon would remain in prison as the hostage, why did it take them so long to acknowledge that Shimon had been more guilty than they?

Perhaps up to the time when Joseph had said that one of their number had to remain in prison as hostage, they had not related their present experience to the sale of Joseph at all. They had thought that inasmuch as man is a free agent that whatever had happened to them was in retribution for freely committed wrongs. They had not considered what they had done to Joseph as a wrong at all. When Joseph pointedly said: "one of your brothers has to stay here," they suddenly realised that their situation was connected to what they had done to another one of their brothers. The words ויעשו כן then mean that they singled out Shimon. They suddenly realised that the painful experience they now underwent of leaving one of their brothers with a stranger was tit for tat for having abandoned Joseph to a fate with strangers at the time of the sale. I have frequently alluded to the fact that guilt somehow creates situations in which the retribution experienced reminds one of the nature of one's sin. David has mentioned this in Psalms 62,13: כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו, "for You repay each man according to his deeds." The brothers saying אבל may therefore be understood thus: "If our present experience had been even slightly different we would not have realised why we are now being punished; but the very fact that our punishment corresponds to the nature of our sin convinces us of our guilt. Now we are absolutely certain that we are guilty of lack of compassion."

The very fact that it was Shimon who was being detained convinced them; after all, according to Tanchuma Parshat Vayechi, it had been Shimon who had made the suggestion to kill Joseph; he and Levi were the subject of 37,19 "one said to his brother." Shimon the elder said to his brother Levi the younger. They had been a team already when they wiped out the men in the city of Shechem.