The following is a summary of a fascinating shiur that R' Mansour said last night which I wanted to briefly summarize in a pre-Shabbos post. Same ground rules as always apply. Any perceived inconsistencies are the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Mansour.
Rabbi Mansour began with a discussion of events from the end of Parshas Mikeitz, where Yosef ordered his son Menashe to put the silver cup in Binyamin's sack. Why would he do this as it already looked like he had made peace with them as they sat and ate together?
Rabbi Mansour quoted the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh who says that this was done as an atonement for their sin - they would be embarrassed by being accused of being thieves and this would atone for their selling him. This also relates to Yosef throwing Shimon into a pit when he was required to stay behind - this atoned for Shimon throwing Yosef into the pit before he was sold.
The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh also says a second answer - this was to set them up in the same situation they were in before. Will they abandon Binyamin or will they stand up for him?
The third answer was the most intriguing - he wanted to let them know that he knew what they did.
R' Mansour developed this thought by continuing the discussion from last week's parsha. After they left Egypt with the sacks full of food and a sack with the cup, he sent Menashe to ask them - why are you being ingrates לָ֛מָּה שִׁלַּמְתֶּ֥ם רָעָ֖ה תַּ֥חַת טוֹבָֽה (Bereishis 44:7). However afterwards he goes one step further and states in Bereishis 44:8 - הֲרֵֽעֹתֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עֲשִׂיתֶֽם - you have done evil in the way you acted. Why did he add this as well?
R' Mansour noted that the brothers then said back to him - we are honest! When we returned we gave you the money that you sent back with us in our sacks on our first. The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh said that Menashe anticipated this. Sometimes people make a gesture of honesty to set themselves up for the big score. This is why he said הֲרֵֽעֹתֶ֖ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עֲשִׂיתֶֽם - you did evil by returning the money becuase this was a way to set yourselves up to steal the cup.
At the end of last week's parsha, the brothers come to Yosef and admit their guilt and say that they we will be slaves. Yosef then says, only the one who sinned should stay and the rest should go home. And then the parsha ends.
But this week's parsha then begins with Yehuda asking to speak with Yosef and he wants to speak privately. But what is the new information? This was already all known! And all of the information is a recounting of the story from their first meeting until Binyamin comes down.
The Alshich explains that the brothers had started to believe that this was all occurring as a punishment for the sale of Yosef. But when Binyamin was singled out they realized that it could not be - since Binyamin was not involved in the sale!
R' Mansour also quoted an unnamed sefer which said that the brothers knew of prophecy at Bris Ben HaBisarim and they said - we are becoming slaves because that was the prophecy. But not just Binyamin!
The Ramban states that Yehuda was rehashing the story to try to strike a chord of mercy and if he chose the right words he could succeed by hitting Yosef's sensitivity as he said that he was G-d fearing.
The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh explains that the reason that the parsha says וַיִּגַּ֨שׁ אֵלָ֜יו יְהוּדָ֗ה is because the rules of etiquette did not allow commoners to speak face to face with the king. And Yehuda uses the words בִּ֣י אֲדֹנִי֒ יְדַבֶּר־נָ֨א עַבְדְּךָ֤ דָבָר֙ בְּאָזְנֵ֣י אֲדֹנִ֔י וְאַל־יִ֥חַר אַפְּךָ֖ בְּעַבְדֶּ֑ךָ - is because he is going to whisper this and that will show the king is wrong. In the king's court, one who proves the king wrong is killed - so Yehuda is asking nicely to speak privately.
What was he going to say? R' Mansour's first answer was that the language shows that he recounted the story, but Yehuda says - you accused us of being spies, but spies never offer personal information. And you know our story, even though our father got mad at us for telling you that we had another brother. So how can you call us spies?
The second answer was based on the medrash that the cup was used by Yosef in a magic trick to show who the oldest to youngest were. Now Yehuda is defiant - why did you ask us about our father and our brother? You should have used the cup to learn all this information!
Rabbi Mansour told a story in the name of Rabbi Rosenblum (I dont know which one) that there was a king who had a Jewish advisor who was accused of stealing from the king. The advisor was approached and denied it, and said that I can prove who the thief is. The king agreed. The advisor took a chicken and dyed it black and brought it to the king. He told the king - this is a lie detector - each person should tap the chicken on the head and if the chicken makes noise, we know he is the thief. Each person went in and tapped the chicken - from the treasurer to the Jewish advisor to the galach. The chicken did not make any noise and the king said - this did not work. Then the advisor said - look at everyone's hands. They were all black, except the galach - he did not touch it because he did not want it to scream.
Yehuda said - this cup has no power, so you are looking to throw us in jail for stealing this?
R' Mansour then quoted "chazal" who said that Yehuda was giving Yosef a history of the family. We had a father who was a big tzaddik and worked for his father in law for many years and had many children. And when he left his father in law's house, his favorite wife, the mother of Binyamin, died. And he had to raise him Binyamin all by himself. And our father is afraid of sending anyone on the road as his son Yosef was sent on the road and he was lost. And with all this, Binyamin who knew that his mother and brother died on the road, still came down to Egypt. Do you think he would steal? Not only that, my brother Reuven offered to give up two of his sons as a guaranty to our father and he would not take it. It was not until I offered my eternity that our father said OK.
And with all that, Binyamin went down because this was a mitzva and we have a rule that a shaliach mitzva does not have issues.
To this, Yosef could not control himself. Why? He needed to reveal to them - I am Yosef, is my father still alive? He sent me and I followed his directive and then you threw me in the it and then sold me. I was a shaliach mitzva and doing my father's wishes just like Binyamin. What happened to me?
There was more to the shiur which I will IYH summarize in a moztei shabbos post.
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