פירוש על בראשית 43:10

לולא התמהמהנו EXCEPT WE HAD LINGERED — through you, we would have already come back with Simeon and you would not have had this anxiety all these days.

כי לולא התמהמנו, the reason I volunteered to consider myself as having sinned against you forever if I fail to bring back Binyamin is only because it is absolutely clear to me that if we had not procrastinated ever since we told you what the man had said to us, or since we ran out of food,

כי לולא התמהמהנו, “for if we had not delayed, etc.” According to Rabbeinu Chananel the brothers made do with eating as little as possible until their father would raise the subject of a return trip to Egypt. The sons of Yaakov were very sensitive in their respect for the feelings of their father and did not brow beat him with their arguments, preferring to wait until Yaakov made the first move. Once Yaakov had shown willingness to let Binyamin travel, he also suggested five ways to help that trip become successful. First, he prepared a gift for the ruler of such a mighty country. Secondly, he told his sons to return the money which they had found in their sacks. It could have been an oversight on the part of a manager in Joseph’s household. Thirdly, he insisted that the money be returned for reasons of establishing their integrity as G’d-fearing people even if Joseph had never missed that money. Fourth, he authorised the brothers to take Binyamin with them. Fifth and last, he prayed that the Almighty would grant the brothers mercy when they would face the ruler of Egypt.

You would not have had to suffer all these days. Otherwise, what difference does it make that they could have returned twice? Perforce, it means we would have returned with Shimon and you would have been spared all your suffering until now.

כי לולא התמהמנו, the verse teaches us that in the interval the sons had all severely restricted the amount of food that they had been consuming without raising objections to their father’s ruling not to take Binyamin with them. They waited until their father would himself realise that he had to change his attitude and would agree for Binyamin to accompany his brothers. Once he had become agreeable, he suggested five steps to increase their chances of success. They were: 1) “take a gift along for the ruler of that land.” 2) “take twice the amount of money you had taken the first time.” 3) the amount of money found in their bags they should return as independent of any money taken to pay for purchases. Joseph’s official might have made a mistake. It would be a sanctification of the Lord’s name for people believing in Him being seen as so honest. 4) take along your younger brother. 5). Prayer. He told the brothers that he had prayed to G’d that He should exercise His mercy toward them when they would confront the Egyptian ruler. (as quoted by Rabbeinu Bachya)

Hätten wir nur nicht gezögert, so könntest du schon längst aus dieser quälenden Ungewissheit sein. Die Reise ist gar nicht so groß. לולא von לול, ein verschlungener Aufgang, und לולאות zusammenhaltende Schleifen. Unsere Zögerung war die לולאות, war das, was uns zurückgehalten; unser ganzes Unrecht und Unglück war das התמהמה, die Unentschlossenheit; sonst wäre schon alles heiter gelöst.

כי עתה שבנו זה פעמים, we could have been back already twice for the man would not have detained us at all, seeing that he described himself as G’d-fearing. He would not continue to harass us once he realised that we had told him the truth.

התמהמה von מהה, rad von מה: was; das unentschiedene Sachliche. מי: das unentschiedene Persönliche, von מגג ,מיי usw die ein ins Unbestimmte übergehendes Zerfließen bedeuten. Ebenso התמהמה ,מהה sich unentschieden, unentschlossen halten; zögern, sich in dem Zustand des מה halten, wo man noch nicht weiß, ob rechts oder links.