וַיָּכִינוּ אֶת הַמִּנְחָה עַד בּוֹא יוֹסֵף בַּצָּהֳרָיִם (מג, כה)
They prepared the tribute before Yosef’s coming at noon (43:25)
Rashi explains: This means they prepared; they decorated it with pretty vessels.
In the posuk before us and in Rashi‘s commentary upon it there is an illumination that has the power to straighten the crookedness in the heart. For behold, at times the Torah imposes upon a person a certain obligation, and the yetzer, who seeks to dissuade him from fulfilling it, tries to frighten him with all kinds of fears. At times it shows him that the matter involves enormous humiliation that is very difficult to withstand, and at times it tries to blur his mind and entice him that the matter also involves danger or tremendous loss, and as a result his will to fulfill his obligation weakens. However, when he understands that this is only a “stratagem” on the part of the yetzer, he will no longer feel its prattle. And this is what the holy tribes revealed to us in their conduct as stated in the posuk before us.
For behold, earlier (posuk 11) Yaakov commanded his sons, ‘קחו מזמרת הארץ והורידו לאיש מנחה’ - “Take of the choice produce of the land and bring down to the man a gift.” At a superficial glance it appears to us that Yaakov Avinu chose a simple step that any shrewd person would choose. A shrewd person who sees that someone has attached himself to him and is harassing him with claims that have no basis does not try to remove him from himself by “ways of justice,” meaning arguments that convince that the justice is with him. He understands that if the nuisance who attached himself to him were an upright person, he would not dare at all to come with claims that have no beginning, and since uprightness did not restrain their beginning, it will also not influence their end. Therefore, he does not choose the path of “be just,” but rather the path of “be wise,” and he removes him from himself with a certain gift that honors the one who receives it. He understands that this is what will already find the way to bring a swift end to his claims. Thus, we would have thought that Yaakov Avinu also acted in this manner. Behold, he heard from his sons that the ruler of Egypt attached himself to them without any wrongdoing on their part, and without any justified proof accused them with a libel of being spies, and in addition mocked them and returned to each of them his money in the mouth of his sack. From all this he understood that this was not a person whose claims are a means to seek justice, but rather a means to arouse strife and contention. And he understood that it was necessary to do an act and to give that man a gift, and thereby to improve the relationship between him and his sons.
However, when one sees what was the content of the gift that he demanded to bring before the strange ruler, we see that Yaakov Avinu had a different view with him, and beings of material like us did not merit to grasp it. For the aforementioned “shrewd” person would not give a gift to Yosef of “the choice produce of the land.” In his opinion, this would not be considered a “gift” for so great a ruler who merited storehouses filled with all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruits and vegetables. And furthermore, Yaakov requested to give of each thing only “a little,” ’דבשמעט צרי ומעט‘ - “a little balm and a little honey.” And in the opinion of the aforementioned “understanding” person, there is not in such a simple gift enough to influence such a great and wealthy ruler to change his attitude toward the giver. What a gift of this sort could do, “in his opinion,” is humiliation and disgrace to the one who brings it. And who knows, the understanding one will continue and say, if this will not also be a reason to add sorrow upon the sorrow of the giver, for the ruler will become angry that they are belittling him and sending him gifts of this sort, and he will seek to punish their givers.
All this the shivtei Kah also knew. And as we see in these portions, the sons of Yaakov were not quick to seek to use their supernatural powers to fight with the one who was harassing them. And it was a reason and a decree from Hashem that they would not be able to overcome him. And in any event they sought to conduct themselves with him as nature requires. And it is therefore possible to estimate that they too would not have chosen from the outset a gift of this sort, and presumably their desire was that their father send to the ruler some object of great value hidden in the house of his treasures. However, in practice they did not remark anything to their father. They understood that their obligation to honor their father has force in every situation, and their fear of the ruler of Egypt is not a reason to nullify it in order to explain to their father that he is not “understanding” what needs to be done at such a time.
And after they conducted themselves with honor toward their father, and as a result their father did not change his instruction, they were also compelled to fulfill it as it was. And indeed we see that in this as well they did not recoil. And in the words of Rashi before us we see that not only did they not refrain from fulfilling it, they further saw fit to adorn it and crown it with fine vessels. In the way that a person does with an object with which one performs a mitzvah, that one beautifies it at the time of its performance in order to express that the mitzvah is beloved to him, so did the shivtei Kah beautify this gift, through whose giving they fulfilled the mitzvah of honoring a father, despite the fact that they feared very much the consequences of such a mitzvah. For they understood that no calculation stands in the face of the fulfillment of a mitzvah.
And what was the truth? They did not at all imagine how happy Yosef was with this gift. They did not at all imagine that the ruler standing beside them valued this modest gift a thousandfold more than all the honorable benefactions of royalty to which he had merited. They did not at all imagine how far the true reality is from the reality that the yetzer shows to the eyes of the flesh.
This is what we said, that here the Torah illuminates for the person, and teaches him what is the path that he should choose at this hour when his yetzer causes him anguish and threatens him if he will fulfill the commandments. There is no need to multiply words to explain how much the yetzer causes the person anguish with these threats. It brings the person into doubts that pressure him greatly. On the one hand he wants to fulfill his obligation, and on the other hand he does not know if it is fitting for him to fulfill it, or perhaps by it he brings himself into unbearable situations. How many are the sighs of a person at times such as these, his entire being says, “Woe is me from my Maker, woe is me from my inclination”...
And what indeed should a person do at this difficult hour? At the outset he must know that “the deeds of the fathers are a sign for the children,” and he must go in the footsteps of these forefathers, these holy tribes. Just as they ignored the threats of the yetzer, so too must he ignore the threats of the yetzer, even if there is truth in the mouth of the yetzer that the mitzvah that he wishes to do will not benefit him, for still this is not a justified reason to refrain from his obligation. However, in addition he can also strengthen himself and understand from the experiences of the holy tribes that in truth “one who guards a mitzvah will not know any evil,” and there is no truth whatsoever in the claims of the yetzer, even if in the eyes of the flesh one sees black upon white that it is impossible to deny.
And after he too will give over his soul to fulfill the will of Hashem, he will also see tangibly that all the words of the yetzer are vanity. And as we say among the thirteen principles of faith, that HaKadosh Baruch Hu bestows good upon those who guard His commandments.
