פירוש על בראשית 42:11

כלנו בני איש אחד נחנו WE ARE ALL ONE MAN’S SONS — The Holy Spirit was enkindled in them and they included him with themselves (by using the word “We”) that he, also, was the son of their father (Genesis Rabbah 91:7).

WE ARE ALL ONE MAN’s SONS. It is possible to explain this plea as follows: They said that “since we are brothers, one man’s sons, who do not separate from each other for such is our father’s will, we all came to buy food, and we did not send one of us with his servants.” This indeed was the truth, for why should Jacob have sent them all, except that it was not their wish to be separated from one another. It is also possible that they did so because of the extreme famine, lest the grain brought by their servants be robbed from them on the way.
It is also possible that they said to him: “We are all one man’s sons. You can investigate him, for he is known in the gates by the vastness of his wealth and the multitude of his children. And if you will inquire and investigate, you will know that we are trustworthy, righteous men, sons of a righteous one, and not spies.”

כולנו בני איש אחד נחנו, this is why we always keep together, not because we are spies.

כלנו בני איש אחד יחנו, if we were spies we would have to be in the employ of some king. No king would select as his spies all members of the same family. The only reason why we arrived together is because we are all members of the same family.

כלנו בני איש אחד, "we are all the sons of one man." There is no reason to suspect us of being spies. Spies are always from different branches of a community. Moses sent out spies from all the twelve tribes; even the two spies Joshua despatched were not sons of the same man. It is in the nature of things that spies should be representative of the people on whose behalf they spy. It would not make sense to appoint ten members of the same family as spies. They added: כנים אנחנו, "we are honest men," meaning that after we have identified ourselves it should be obvious that we are honest. Spies would never identify themselves voluntarily.

כלנו בני איש אחד, if you claimed that the fact that we stick together is proof that we are spies, consider that the reason why we stick together is because we are all sons of the same father. This is why we always ask our questions in unison. We belong to the same family, and are honest upright people.

כלנו בני איש אחד, “we are all the sons of the same father.” They answered the question why all of them had come, saying that they were brothers, and that their father did not want them to separate from one another. It is also possible that they answered that the reason why they had all come was due to the severity of the famine, and their fear that Joseph would sell only to one family head at a time. Moreover, had they sent their servants, they could not be sure that these servants would not sell of part of the purchase at higher prices to people who had not taken the trouble to journey to Egypt. The brothers may even have assumed a provocative posture, telling Joseph that he could examine them minutely as they were so sure of being upright and that they were well known as such in their hometown, in Chevron.

(11-12) Längst ist es bemerkt worden, dass er daraus, dass sie doch ein jeder für sich zu kaufen hatten und doch alle zusammen gekommen, den Anlass genommen habe, ihnen andere Gründe unterzuschieben, sie für Spione zu erklären. Wenn dem so ist, dass sonst nicht Familien zusammen gekommen sind, so wäre es ein charakteristisches Zeichen des Einflusses, den eine so allgemeine Kalamität geübt. Man sagt sonst, Not verbindet. Aber wie lange? So lange man in dem andern einen Helfer erblickt. Aber sodald dieses aufhört, die höchste Not isoliert. Jeder sucht dann nur sich selbst zu retten. Dass nun בני יעקב in dieser allerhöchsten Not zusammenhielten, das ist kein unedles Merkzeichen des jüdischen Familiengeistes, der sie auch in der höchsten Not, wo keiner mehr etwas von dem andern zu erwarten hatte, ja, wo jeder in dem andern nur einen Konkurrenten erblicken durfte, zusammen hielt. Keiner drängte sich vor. Sie wollten alles, das sie doch nur einzeln erhalten konnten, gleichzeitig und gemeinschaftlich erhalten. — אנחנו — נחנו. In der Angabe ihrer sozialen Stellung sprechen sie bescheiden: נחנו. Allein, in ihrem Charakter angegriffen, mit vollem, stolzem Bewusstsein: אנחנו. Redlichkeit und Unbescholtenheit wiegen mehr als כן — .יחוס, von כון: das, was so ist, wie es sein soll: der sich durch keine Rück- noch Absichten vom Rechten abwendig machen lässt, wir waren nie Kundschafter. Es liegt dies gar nicht in unserer Sinnesart, Spionage zu treiben.

כולנו בני איש אחד, “we are all the sons of the same father.” How was this revelation an appropriate answer to the accusation that they were spies? Presumably they meant to say that if indeed they had been spies the spies that were sent were people that did not know one another. (Attributed to Rav Meir.)

כנים means TRUE MEN — Similar examples of כן in sense of true, right, are (Exodus 10:29) “Thou hast spoken right (כן)”; (Numbers 27:7) “The daughters of Zelophechad speak (כן) right”; (Isaiah 16:6) “and his wrath, his untruthful (לא־כן) boastings”.

THY SERVANTS HAVE NOT BEEN SPIES. The meaning of this expression is: “We have been trustworthy in all our affairs from our youth on. Your servants have not been spies from then till now.” Similarly, We have not been spies,¹⁴³Further in Verse 31. means: “We have never been spies.”
Now our Rabbis have been aroused by the matter we have discussed,¹⁴⁴Namely, what did the brothers do to justify Joseph’s accusation that they were spies? and they have expounded¹⁴⁵Bereshith Rabbah 91:6. that they entered the city by ten different gates in the manner of spies, and it was for this reason that he accused them. Now this is plausible; however, Scripture does not mention it! Moreover, at the very outset, the brothers said to him in defense of themselves, We are all one man’s sons, and [if, as the Midrash has it, the basis of his accusation was that they entered by ten different gates], this itself indicates their guilt.¹⁴⁶Since brothers as a rule stay together, the fact that they did not enter by the same gate indicates that they are spies.
Now it is possible to say in explanation of the Midrash that Joseph originally said to them, “you entered by ten gates, and now you are all gathering in one place and conspiring together. This is nothing other than the behavior of spies.” Thereupon they said to him, “It is because we are brothers that we are gathered together.” But he said, “Not so, but you have come to find out the condition of the land.¹⁴⁷Verse 12 here. If you were brothers you should have entered by one gate, just as you are now together.” Then they told him that one of them is gone,¹⁴⁸Verse 13 here. and that they had gone in search of him, [which was why they entered by different gates]. Scripture, however, does not care to prolong the discussion of the motivation of their arguments.

כנים אנחנו, not only are we 100% above board in all our dealings, but

לא היו עבריך מרגלים, "your servants have never been spies." They chose the past tense to indicate that they had not even been spies before they had been identified. Naturally, now, that they were known, they could not be spies even if they wanted to.

לא היו עבדיך מרגלים, we have never been spies in the past either, and there is no reason at all of suspecting us to be spies now.