Shabbos Parashas Vayigash - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Vayigash - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

Then Yehudah approached him and said, "If you please, my lord, may your

servant speak a word in my lord's ears and may your anger not flare up at

your servant, for you are like Pharaoh. [Bereishis 44:18]

How did Yehudah have the chutzpah to go whispering in the ear of the viceroy

of Egypt, especially when it was a time of confrontation in which the sons of

Yaakov were obviously in serious trouble? What was Yehudah thinking?

Some commentators interpret this verse with regard to how the communication

was taking place. Ramban explains that Yehudah wanted to say something

short, not to burden the viceroy with a long-winded speech.

Rashi thinks that Yehudah merely wanted his words to enter into the viceroy's

ears, meaning to be understood. It does not mean a literal whispering in the

ear, as that would be disrespectful. However, at this point, Yehudah was still

under the impression that the viceroy did not understand Hebrew, so this

explanation seems stilted. Further, Rashi notes the part of our verse that

indicates Yehudah trying to placate any anger, which indicates that he

intended to speak harshly or he wouldn't have been worried to say this.

Rav Hirsch calls this a request for Yosef to consider Yehudah's words carefully,

not from an emotional standpoint, but from a logical one. But this too suffers

from the perceived language barrier problem.

Others, such as Sforno, Bereishis Rabbah, and Rabbi Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik

understand our verse in terms of the purpose, rather than method, of Yehudah's

upcoming speech, but they see that purpose very differently.

Rav Soloveitchik solves our language barrier problem. Yehudah wanted to speak

directly to the viceroy, without an interpreter, because instead of pleading the

innocence of Binyamin, Yehudah was arguing for clemency, which comes from the

heart and can be understood without words, rather with emotion. His case was yes,

Binyamin is guilty, but you shouldn't punish him because of the impact on Yaakov.

Bereishis Rabbah sees this verse as complete preparation, like Yaakov's meeting

with Eisav. Yehudah here came to plead for clemency, he offered himself in trade,

and he prepared for battle. The whispering was going to be that Pharaoh is not an

honest ruler, and that by extrapolation the viceroy must not be either. Yehudah was

second to Yaakov, king in Canaan, just as the viceroy was second to Pharaoh, and

Yehudah was prepared to fight both of the Egyptian leaders.

Sforno looks at the last pasuk of last week's parsha, where Yosef rejected Yehudah's

offer to take Binyamin's place: "It would be sacrilegious for me to do this. The man in

whose possession the goblet was found, only he shall be my slave, and as for you, go

up in peace to your father." Yehudah is now saying, if you want to avoid doing damage

that was not deserved, this isn't how to do it. Let me tell you about the damage that will

be caused by your keeping Binyamin.

Although not yet, Yehudah was destined to become the king of Israel, and will be again

soon, may God permit. Our verse is a demonstration of the proper behavior of a king,

from each of the viewpoints of the commentators, showing that Yehudah in fact had

developed to the point Yaakov knew was necessary for that prophecy.