Commento su Genesi 44:20

ונאמר אל אדני WE SAID TO MY LORD — we kept nothing back from you (Genesis Rabbah 93:8).

ואביו אהבו, more than he loves all (any) of us combined. Therefore he did not allow him to come to Egypt the first time we came here in order to buy food for our families. The reason was not that we came on a spying mission, as you appear to have thought

ואחיו מת, “and his full brother is dead.” According to Rashi fear prompted him to lie and to declare his brother Joseph as “dead.” Even so, it is hard to understand how he dared refer to Joseph as dead when previously he had only described him as missing, i.e. האחד איננו, (42,13).

He thought, “If I tell him that he is alive, he will say, ‘Bring him to me.’” You might ask: On the contrary, was Yehudah not contradicting himself? When they had come previously to Yoseif, they said he was still alive but had been sold, as it says, “And one is no more” (42:13). The answer is: The first time they came, they said, “And one is no more.” But the second time they came, they were saying that he had died, and this verse pertains to [what they were saying] the second time. Although it is not expressly written that Yoseif asked [now for details] about their lost brother, we can still say that he asked, as we anyway have to say [something similar to] this. It is written here that Yoseif had said to them, “Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.” But we do not find it written previously that Yoseif had said this to them. Perforce, he must have said it to them although it is not written previously. And the same is true here: the second time they came, when he asked about their father, he inquired also about their lost brother — and they replied that he had died. [They so replied] out of fear. They saw he had told them to bring Binyomin, and perhaps he would tell them to search for the lost brother and bring him. So they replied that after having searched for him, they received word that he had died.

ואחיו מת AND HIS BROTHER IS DEAD — He uttered this untruth out of fear. He thought: if I tell him that he is alive he may say “Bring him to me”.

From that mother he has no other brother. I.e., לאמו means “of his mother,” [not “to his mother”]. This is because “to his mother” can be said only if the mother is alive. But after her death, one says that he remains “of his mother.”

לבדו לאמו [HE] ALONE [IS LEFT] OF HIS MOTHER — of that mother he has no other brother.