פירוש על בראשית 50:4

וידבר יוסף אל בית פרעה, he used intermediaries as a mourner in garments of mourning is not allowed to appear so before the King

אל בית פרעה לאמור, to the household of Pharaoh to tell him, etc. This means that Joseph wanted the members of Pharaoh's household to tell the king not only the facts, but also the manner in which Joseph had related these facts. Joseph had pleaded with Pharaoh's advisers hoping that they in turn would assist him to have his wish approved. Alternatively, the Torah merely mentions the fact that Joseph asked the members of Pharaoh's household to speak to him because we learned in Yuma 4 that unless one gives express permission to relate something one has been told (even if not in confidence), it is forbidden to do so. We know this from when G'd Himself gave permission to relate what He had said (Leviticus 1,1).

דברו נא באזני פרעה, “please tell Pharaoh the following:” the reason why Joseph did not tell this to Pharaoh personally, was that it was forbidden to appear in the King’s palace dressed in mourner’s garb.

ויעברו ימי בכיתו, “when the days of weeping for him passed.” This verse teaches that one must not spend more than thirty days mourning for the loss of even the greatest leaders of Israel. We certainly did not have a greater leader than Moses and he too was mourned for thirty days, no more (Deut. 34,8). There is a tradition that the sages at the time of the death of Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nassi first wanted to observe a whole year of mourning until they found these verses and deduced that this would be excessive and disrespectful to both Yaakov and Moses (compare Ketuvot 103).

(4-7) Es ist eigentümlich, dass Josef bei seiner mächtigen Stellung, die ihn dem Pharao so nahe sein ließ, in so indirekter Weise die Bewilligung seines Gesuches anstrebte. Es scheint, Josef müsse der Bewilligung seines Gesuches nicht so sicher gewesen sein, und habe deshalb diese indirekte Weise vorgezogen. Ein durch einen dritten gegebener und erhaltener Abschlag lässt sich beiderseits leichter ignorieren. Es mochte dies mit der vorhandenen Antipathie gegen Ausländer zusammenhängen, der es wohl sehr unliebsam gewesen sein mag, einen Ausländer an der Spitze des Staates zu wissen, und noch dazu aus Kanaan! Josefs Herkunft musste durch dieses Begräbnis des Vaters in Kanaan wieder sehr frisch ins Bewusstsein treten.

דברו נא באזני פרעה, “please intercede on my behalf with Pharaoh;” seeing that some nineteen years earlier Pharaoh had decreed that no one in Egypt could undertake anything new until it had been approved by Joseph, Pharaoh would not look kindly at the prolonged absence from Egypt of his general manager on whom he depended so much. (Compare Genesis 41,44). Moreover, Pharaoh might be afraid that Joseph would not even return to Egypt at all. Seeing that he was familiar with all the military and political secrets of Egypt, he would be a potentially dangerous adversary.

אם נא מצאתי חן, "If I may have found favour, etc." In this instance the word נא means both "please" and a reference to a specific time frame. Joseph meant that if Pharaoh really wanted to show his affection for Joseph, the time was right then when Pharaoh did not want anything from Joseph in return.

"וידבר - "אם נא מצאתי eine Zusammenstellung, die den vollendeten Staatsmann in dem Verkehr mit Pharaos Hofleuten bezeichnet. וידבר drückt die Entschiedenheit des Tones, אם נא וגו׳ die Höflichkeit der Form aus. Die Form der Rede, in der ein hoher Staatsmann spricht, ist außerordentlich höflich, in dem Tone liegt das ganze Bewusstsein seiner Stellung. Ahnlich bei Abraham in seiner Bitte an die Söhne Chets. Gemessen im Tone, höflich in der Form. Er wusste, dass sie es ihm nicht abschlagen würden, im Gegenteil, sehr erfreut sein dürften, einem so mächtigen Staatsmann einen Gefallen tun zu können.

דברו נא, "please tell, etc." The meaning is "immediately." Joseph did not want to be tardy in fulfilling the oath he had sworn to his father.

באזני פרעה לאמור, "in Pharaoh's hearing, saying, etc." The reason that the word לאמור appears here again was that Joseph wanted these advisers of Pharaoh to volunteer such an appeal, not merely to be Joseph's messengers.