Comentario sobre Génesis 45:4

גשו נא אלי STEP NEAR TO ME, I PRAY YOU — He saw that they recoiled and he said to himself “Now my brothers feel ashamed”. He therefore called to them and showed them that he was circumcised. (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

Yosef said "גשו נא אלי"-"come close to me". He showed them that he was circumcised. By doing this he wanted to show them his righteousness - that even though he was among people who were indulged with forbidden marriages, he didn't do the same. We find that it says in Tehillim "שישראל נגאלו ממצרים בזכות ד' דברים"- "that Bnei Yisrael got redeemed from Mitzrayim in the merit of 4 things" (1) they didn't change their clothes (2) they didn't change their names (3) they didn't speak Loshon Hara (4) they didn't intermarry. So too, here, Yosef let his brothers know in which merits they would be taken out of the future Galus and he is hinting to them that he is complete in all of those 4 matters. He didn't change his name, as he said: "I am Yosef". He didn't change his language, as he spoke to them in Loshon Hakodesh. He didn't intermarry, as he showed them that he was circumcised. He didn't speak Loshon Hara, as he said "come close to me "- because he didn't want Benyamin to hear about the selling and he didn't tell his father anything either. Yosef is also hinting to them that because of their sin of selling him, their children will be strangers. Like it says: "and now dont be sad", meaning, specifically NOW because in the future you will be sad. Therefore Yosef is also hinting to them about the Geula and the things that will bring the Geula. Some say that he is hinting to the ten killed leaders, that in the future they will be sad over the selling.

גשו נא אלי, so that not all the people hearing me cry can see that it is I who is crying.

ויאמר יוסף אל אחיו גשו נא אלי, Joseph said to his brothers: "please come closer to me." The reason he asked them to come close was so that when he would mention the fact that they had sold him he could whisper. Only after they had come closer did he say: "I am your brother Joseph whom you sold, etc." Joseph was careful to say all this in a whisper although he had sent everybody outside. He was familiar with the proverb that walls have ears.

גשו נא אלי, seeing his brothers in a state of shock, Joseph called to them and encouraged them to come closer and to stop being afraid of him. According to Bereshit Rabbah 93,8 he showed them that he was circumcised in order that they should believe him when he claimed to be their brother. Everything else he told them is quite clear and does not require further explanation.

גשו נא אלי, “please come closer to me.” He now changed his demeanour and spoke to them as an equal, in a friendly manner. It is also possible that he did not want to remind them aloud of the fact that they had sold him, and therefore he made them approach him closely so that he could whisper to them. He did not want the people in the courtyard to overhear this part of their conversation. According to Rashi, the reason he wanted them to approach him closely was to show them that he was circumcised, just like them, to prove that he was who he had just said that he was. I do not think this would have proved anything as all the male descendants of Yishmael were also in the habit of performing circumcision on themselves, albeit at the age of 13. Moreover, according to the Midrash, the Egyptians had adopted the rite of circumcision at the advice of Joseph.

And showed them that he was circumcised. You might ask: How does Rashi know that he said “Come near to me” because he wanted to show them the circumcision? Perhaps he saw them moving back, so he said, “Come near.” The answer is: Rashi infers this because it is written גשו אלי rather than קרבו אלי, and גשו means coming close. Why did they have to come so near to him? Perforce, because he showed them the circumcision. We need not ask: How does Rashi know that he saw them recoiling backwards? Perhaps he said “come close” only to show them the circumcision. For [the answer is:] If so, why did he say, “Please?” It is understandable if he saw them recoiling backwards, and he said “please” in order to speak to them tenderly so they would not feel ashamed. But if they stayed in place, why did he say “please” to them, using an expression of pleading?

גשו נא אלי, ויגשו, “please come physically closer to me; they did so.” Seeing that prior to this Joseph had ordered everybody in the hall with them to leave the hall, (45,1) and the Egyptians outside now trying very hard to listen to what went on inside, Joseph now tried to put more physical distance between them and himself and the brothers. He did not mind them to hear him ask the brothers: “is my father still alive?” He did not want them to hear the words: “you have sold me,” however, in order not to embarrass them publicly, and because he intended to settle Yaakov’s whole family in Egypt. If his employees had heard him refer to this, they would have objected to such wicked people settling in Egypt. They would conclude that if these people had been capable of selling their own brother, how much worse would they deal with Egyptian neighbours that were not related to them by blood? This is why he asked them to step closer so that the balance of the conversation could be conducted in whispers. An alternate interpretation: first Joseph told his brothers that he was their brother; next he asked if his father was still alive; He did not want to raise the subject of their having sold him in the presence of his brother Binyamin who had been unaware of that. He knew that this would greatly embarrass his brothers, and that Binyamin upon hearing of this would surely report it to their father. He therefore motioned the brothers to move over so that he could continue the conversation where Binyamin could not overhear it. [This editor cannot believe that Binyamin was in the same hall, as surely he had been taken into custody after the goblet had been found in his sack. He only released him in verse 13 when he instructed the brothers to return forthwith to the land of Canaan. Ed.]

גשו נא אלי “please come closer to me.” He told them about the subject of how he had been sold, in a whisper, so that bystanders could not hear him. A different exegesis of these words: they were asked to approach him as they could do so; he, Joseph, being only one, could not come closer to some of them without at the same time distancing himself from some others. Besides, he was not concerned about his dignity but more about theirs. According to Rashi, he asked them to come near, so that he could show them, and them only, that he had been circumcised. There was no chance that this could have been misinterpreted as causing the brothers to believe that he was a Yishmaelite, who also perform the rite of circumcision on themselves, as they only performed this rite at the age of 13, as had their forefather Yishmael, and who leave a membrane around the glans untouched as distinct from the Hebrews who through being circumcised at an early age remove it when the fact that it has been removed remains clearly visible. Even though, according to Rashi, the Egyptians at that time also had been circumcised by a decree from Joseph, but this was done primarily by the poor who needed to purchase grain from him, but since Joseph was wealthy, the only reason why he was circumcised would be because he was a Hebrew. Another exegesis, since the brothers did not know that the Egyptians had been circumcised by Joseph, this mark would identify him as a Hebrew beyond doubt.

אשר מכרתם, the one whom you have sold! By mentioning this episode you will realise that I can be none other than your brother Joseph, for who else knows about this? The people who bought me as a slave had no idea that I was the sellers’ brother.

אני יוסף אחיכם, "I am your brother Joseph." The reason he repeated the fact that he was Joseph a second time was that he felt there were two reasons why the brothers had not yet responded to him. 1) They were afraid of him and could not answer him just as a thief cannot answer when he is found out suddenly. 2) They simply did not believe him when he claimed to be Joseph. He said: "I am Joseph your brother, does my father still live, etc.?" in order to dispel their fear of him. He stressed the word your brother in that sentence. In the next sentence, after he had formed the impression that they did not believe him, he stressed the words your brother whom you have sold, indicating that even at the time they had sold him he had not ceased feeling like a brother towards them. He added the words "whom you have sold to Egypt" as proof that it was he, Joseph, for not even a prophet could have knowledge of that fact except he himself (compare Yalkut Shimoni 142).