Comentario sobre Génesis 42:24

ויסב מעליהם AND HE TURNED AWAY FROM THEM — He moved some distance away from them so that they should not see him weeping.

את שמעון. In order to separate him from Levi, so that the two between them would not hatch a plot to cause major damage as they had done in Shechem at the time.

ויבך, when he noted their distress.

ויקה מאתם את שמעון, He took Shimon from them. The brothers had singled out Shimon, or Shimon had volunteered to be the hostage as I have explained on verse 19.

ויבך. Overhearing the brothers confess their sin against him caused Joseph to weep.

ויקח מהם את שמעון, “he took Shimon away from them.” Actually, he should have taken Reuven, seeing that he was the oldest. Usually, the oldest is taken as hostage for the younger ones. Seeing that it had been Reuven who had saved him from imminent death at the time, Joseph kept Shimon as hostage.

ויקח מאתם את שמעון, “he took from amongst them Shimon.” He kept Shimon in jail longer than the other brothers in order to keep him apart from Levi. He remembered that when it came to killing the males of the town of Shechem, Shimon and Levi had acted as a team. Yaakov referred to the matter on his deathbed when he said (Genesis 49,5-6) “Shimon and Levi are brothers (comrades), violence is their stock-in trade.”
When the Torah writes in 42, 27: “The one opened his sack,” the words “the one” are a reference to Levi the other half of that team of brothers. Seeing the brothers had not been prepared to select one of their number who should remain behind as a hostage that they would return with Binyamin, Joseph had to make the selection himself. From this incident our sages derived an important ruling, i.e. that when Gentiles demand from Israelites that they hand over one of their number without specifying which person they are to hand over, that the Israelites must not make such a selection but must rather all face death than to condemn someone in their midst. (If however, the Gentiles selected a particular individual from amongst the Israelites and they threaten to kill all the Israelites unless that individual is handed over, the Israelites (in order to save their lives) must hand over the individual demanded from them) (Jerusalem Talmud Terumot 5,4).
There is a well known example in Samuel II 20, 1-22 when Sheva ben Bichri, a rebel against the regime of King David, happened to be trapped amongst other Jews and David had given orders to liquidate this Sheva ben Bichri as a dangerous rebel. His commander-in-chief Yoav and his brother Avishai had surrounded the town in which Sheva ben Bichri found himself. A woman in that town saved the other townsfolk by persuading them to hand over the rebel and thus to save the inhabitants of the town from becoming victims of Yoav’s army. [This was during the period of Avshalom’s uprising against his father. Ed.]

Because he heard that they had regrets. Rashi is answering the question: Why did he cry? He should have been angry with them, as he heard that they themselves admitted that they did wrong. Therefore Rashi explains that he cried because he heard that they had regrets. (Maharshal)

סבב eine Kreislinie um etwas bilden. חִסוֹב eine Kreislinie um sich selber bilden, sich um sich selber drehen, d. h. sich ganz umwenden.

ויבך AND HE WEPT because he heard that they regretted their past conduct to him.

את שמעון, he shackled him for it had been Shimon who had thrown him into the pit.

The one that threw him into the pit, he was the one who said to Leivi... Rashi deduced this because it is written [prior to throwing him into the pit]: “A man said to his brother, ‘Here comes the dreamer...’” (37:19). And it is written in 49:5, “Shimon and Leivi are brothers.” (Re’m) [You might object: Did Shimon alone throw him in?] Is it not written (37:24), “They took him (ויקחהו) and threw him into the pit,” in the plural form? The answer is: ויקחהו is written with the middle ו missing, so we [could] read it ויקחֵהו, in the singular form.

את שמען SIMEON — he had cast him into the pit and it was he who had said to Levi “Behold, this dreamer cometh” (Tanchuma Yashan 1:10:17). Another explanation is: It was Joseph’s intention to separate him from Levi lest the two of them might conspire to kill him.

ויאסור, he brought him back to jail in front of their eyes. In Bereshit Rabbah 91,8 Rabbi Chani points out that the restrictive addition of the word לעיניהם, “in their presence,” means that Shimon remained tied up only while the brothers could see him. As soon as the brothers started their home-bound journey Shimon was released by Joseph. He fed him, bathed him, anointed him, in other words treated him like a V.I.P not like a suspected criminal.

He bound him only while he was seen by them... Otherwise, why does it say, “Before their eyes?”

ויאסור אתו לעיניהם AND HE BOUND HIM BEFORE THEIR EYES — He only kept him in bonds whilst he was before their eyes, but as soon as they departed he freed him and gave him food and drink (Genesis Rabbah 91:8).