וַיֹּ֤אמֶר אֲלֵהֶם֙ יַעֲקֹ֣ב אֲבִיהֶ֔ם אֹתִ֖י שִׁכַּלְתֶּ֑ם יוֹסֵ֤ף אֵינֶ֙נּוּ֙ וְשִׁמְע֣וֹן אֵינֶ֔נּוּ וְאֶת־בִּנְיָמִ֣ן תִּקָּ֔חוּ עָלַ֖י הָי֥וּ כֻלָּֽנָה׃
Jacob, leur père, leur dit: "Vous m’arrachez mes enfants! Joseph a disparu, Siméon a disparu et vous voulez m’ôter Benjamin! C’est sur moi que tout cela tombe."
Allegorical Interpretation of Genesis
[61] What then must we say? That this tree is both in the garden and outside it, in literal fact in it, virtually outside it. How so? Our dominant part is all-receptive and resembles wax that receives all impressions fair and ugly; accordingly the supplanter Jacob makes acknowledgement saying, “Upon me came all these things” (Gen. 42:36); for upon the soul, one as it is, the countless impressions of all things in the universe are borne. Whenever, then, it shall have received the stamp of perfect virtue, it straightway becomes the tree of life, but when it receives that of wickedness, it straightway becomes the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But wickedness has been exiled from the divine choir. The ruling part in us therefore that has received it is actually in the garden, for it has in it likewise the stamp of virtue, properly belonging to the garden; but on the other hand it is virtually not in it, because the impress of wickedness is alien to a place of divine sunrising.
On Dreams
[207] “I thought,” it says, “that I lifted three baskets of wheaten loaves on my head” (Gen. 40:16). “Head” we interpret allegorically to mean the ruling part of the soul, the mind on which all things lie, and once indeed that mind cried out loudly and bitterly, “All these things have been upon me” (Gen. 42:36).