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Created: 02 January 2025

In many scientific experiments, especially social experiments, the subjects are led to believe that they are doing one thing, when in reality, researchers are studying something else. It could be students who are participating in a sport while researchers analyze behavior in certain situations or students given food choices in a cafeteria not realizing that there are researchers studying eating habits. There are many such examples.

Ramban in this week’s parasha (42:9) suggests that the interactions between Yosef and his brothers before he revealed himself were a type of social experiment. He wanted to see whether the brothers really changed. That is why he brought Binyamin into the equation.

Accordingly, when we read Yehuda’s plea at the beginning of the parasha that he should remain in Egypt instead of Binyamin, there’s a text and a subtext. The text is Yehuda trying to tap into the mercy of the viceroy of Egypt. The subtext is Yehuda unknowingly providing Yosef with an update on the family dynamic over the last 22 years.

Yosef’s emotions overwhelmed him, and he revealed himself to his brothers, perhaps before he was planning to do so. What was the trigger? You could say it was the discussion about Yaakov’s fragile state. However, if that’s the case, why didn’t Yosef’s emotional reaction take place when Yehuda said ונפשו קשורה בנפשו – his [Ya’akov’s] soul is bound with his [Binyamin’s] soul? Or when he said והורידו עבדיך את שיבת עבדך אבינו ביגון שאלה - and your servants will send the white head of your servant our father down to the grave in grief [if they don’t return with Binyamin]?

Why was Yosef’s emotional response triggered by Yehuda saying that he was a guarantor for Binyamin? 

Perhaps the answer is that Yosef’s experiment didn’t go exactly as planned. He never intended to harm anyone, but he didn’t realize that the request to bring Binyamin to Egypt would cause so much pain for his father, Yaakov. 

When Yehuda was describing the toll that imprisoning Binyamin would have on Yaakov, Yosef was feeling guilty about the pain and suffering that his absence had caused his father, and that guilt overshadowed the other emotions that he was feeling. But when Yehuda mentioned the guarantee that he gave to bring Binyamin back and the sin that he would bear to his father for not bringing Binyamin back, there was a shift. 

In last week’s parasha Yosef had already overheard his brothers say that they attributed all their problems with the Egyptian viceroy to the sale of their brother. So, when Yosef heard Yehuda say וחטאתי לאבי כל הימים - I shall be guilty before my father for all the days,” (regarding not bringing Binyamin back to Ya’akov - were that to be the case) - what Yosef heard was Yehuda taking full responsibility for his sale and everything that came about as a result. 

At this point, Yosef realizes that it is not his fault that Yaakov had to go through this suffering. It is all a result of brothers selling him and they bear full responsibility. There is no reason for Yosef to feel guilty, and that is when the other emotions kicked in. 

Unfortunately, since October 7th, 2023, we have seen too many accidents where people were killed by friendly fire (for lack of a better term). It is natural to feel a sense of guilt on a collective level. What this exchange between Yosef and Yehuda teaches us is that when an act of evil is perpetrated, all the tragedies that come about as a result fall squarely on the perpetrators. Of course, corrective actions need to be made to prevent future accidents. Yet the emotions that drive these events should be sadness, not guilt, and we should take comfort in knowing that we all want to do better in the future and take responsibility for one another.