Commento su Genesi 43:16

וטבח טבח והכן AND SLAUGHTER THE BEASTS AND MAKE READY — The Hebrew is the same as ולטבח טבח ולהכין (infinitives) “and to slaughter… and to prepare”. The word וּטְבֹחַ is not an imperative, for this should be וּטְבַח (as from שָׁלַח the imperative is שְׁלַח).

ויאמר לאשר על ביתו, he himself did not want to speak to his brothers until all the other people present had left the room, in order for him to have more time to speak to them.

בצהרים. At midday, the hour of day at which princes, judges, the nobility, all people who look after public affairs consume their main meal, as we know from Kohelet 10,17 ושריך בעת יאכלו, “and your ministers eat at a proper time.” Joseph belonged to this category of people, seeing that all public affairs were under his control.

וטבוח טבח, “and have meat slaughtered.” Joseph commanded Menashe his eldest son to do the slaughtering seeing that the sons of Yaakov were careful not to eat meat which had not been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law.

טבוח is not an imperative for then it should have said וטבח. And then it would be like (Shemos 4:4): שלח ידך (Stretch out your hand), and (Shemos 9:19): שלח העז (Now send word and gather), which are imperatives.

Dass Josef sich nicht sogleich zu erkennen gab, war um so motivierter, als er Benjamin sah und nicht wissen konnte, ob er dem Vater nicht vielleicht geraubt worden. Er musste sie vielmehr erst durch Benjamins Zurückhaltung auf die Probe stellen.

בצהרים AT NOON — This word is rendered in the Targum by בשירותא which in Aramaic denotes the first meal during the day ; in old French disner. It occurs frequently in the Talmud: (Taanit 11a, lib) “He threw the dog שירותיה his meal; (Berakhot 39b) “he cut bread for the whole of שירותא his meal.” But wherever צהרים means noon it is translated in the Targum by טיהרא.

הבא את האנשים הביתה, into the living quarters as opposed to the offices reserved for official functions. Up until now Joseph had been in a location where he conducted state business.

Which, in Aramaic, means the first meal... I.e., in the morning. Onkelos does not explain צהרים here as he does elsewhere because people usually eat at the fourth hour, [the middle of the morning]. Even Torah scholars, [who wait the longest,] usually eat at the beginning of the sixth hour, [an hour before noon] — as it says in Shabbos 10a.

צהר .צהרים eigentümlich verwandt mit צער, gering, beschränkt sein. Daher viel ,- leicht צהר nicht Glanz, Schein, Strahl, sondern vielleicht jene Helle, in welcher jedes Wesen in den schärfsten Umrissen, somit in den beschränktesten, engsten Grenzen seiner Gestalt dasteht, wo auch das Kleinste in seiner Geschiedenheit sichtbar ist. Nach der Verschiedenheit dieser Erkennbarkeit der Gegenstände werden ja die verschiedenen Tageszeiten ערב ,בקר ,ליל genannt. Daher denn auch הנהר, sich klar der Grenzen seiner Befugnisse bewusst halten, sich in schärfstem Lichte sehen; sich warnen lassen, sich in acht nehmen. צהרים eine verständigere Bezeichnung als Mittag; Mittag ist nur ein Punkt. Kein Mensch speist zu Mittag. Allein bis zum Mittag überwindet das Licht immer mehr die Nacht, von da immer mehr die Nacht das Licht. צהרים ist die Stunde, die zur Hälfte von dem aufsteigenden, zur anderen Hälfte von dem absteigenden Lichte ausgefüllt wird.

כי אתי יאכלו, he invited them to a meal in order to observe how they related to Binyamin, and to test them how they would react when he would shower gifts of so much greater value on Binyamin