Bereshis 43,16
וטבוח טבח, “and have meat slaughtered.”
Joseph commanded Menashe his eldest son to do the slaughtering seeing that the sons of Yaakov were careful not to eat meat which had not been slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law.
והכן, and prepare it. This is either a reference to the removal of forbidden fat parts of the animal (חלב ), or that he invited the brothers on the Sabbath eve to be his guests on the Sabbath. The word הכן is used in such a context in Shmos 16,5 where the Israelites are instructed to make preparation on Sabbath eve for consuming the manna which fell on that day on the Sabbath. Bereshis Rabbah 92,4 also states that the word הכן is invariably used with preparations for the Sabbath. The use of the word הכן here would prove that Joseph observed the Sabbath prior to it having been legislated for the Jewish people.
Bereshis 44,12
באמתחת בנימין וימצא הגביע, “the goblet was discovered in the feeding bag of Binyamin.”
His other brothers began to shame him by calling him “thief,” and other disparaging names, referring to his mother who had stolen the teraphim of her father Lavan (Bereshis 31,19). They also struck him on his shoulders. Seeing that Binyamin had been unjustly suspected by his brothers of being a thief he was compensated by G’d in that the Holy Temple was erected on his tribal territory. This is what Moses meant in his blessing of Binyamin (Devarim 33,12) when he said ובין כתיפיו ישכון that G’d’s Presence would reside between “the shoulders of Binyamin.” He also became the ancestor of Mordechai, who had torn his garments in lament for the fate that threatened the Jewish people at the hands of Haman (Esther 4,1). The brothers deserved to have to rend their garments (verse 13) seeing they had caused their father to rend his garments (Bereshis 37,34) when he mourned the presumed death of Joseph. Everything that befell the brothers was in the nature of the punishment fitting the crime.
Menashe, Joseph’s firstborn, acted as his father’s emissary in all these matters as the Torah describes him as “in charge of Joseph’s palace” (verse 1) and Targum Yonatan writes that Menashe was the individual the Torah referred to. Seeing that Menashe allowed himself to become part of this deception and caused the brothers to rend their clothing in frustration, his tribal territory was rent, i.e. was divided, part of it being on the East Bank of the river Jordan.
Bereshis 44,17
אחד ולא נדונו כולן ביחד.
You are acquainted with the fact that the entire Joseph tragedy began when his father Yaakov made a colored coat for him which Joseph wore as a sign of distinction. The fact that the brothers dipped the colored coat of Joseph in the blood of a male goat which they specially slaughtered for that purpose telling their father: “this is what we have found,” was considered an act of great cruelty on their part. This is why their punishment which involved their bodies commenced immediately after Joseph’s death. Eventually, during the time of the Romans and after the destruction of the second Temple [which was destroyed due to an excess of groundless hatred between Jew and Jew. Ed.] the ten martyrs paid the last installment of that penalty with their deaths. As a reminder of all this, our Parshah mentions the word אנשים or האנשים a total of ten times when describing the brothers. Had it not been for this consideration, the Torah would have called them אחי יוסף, “Joseph’s brothers” or “the sons of Yaakov” each time. [The author lists the ten instances.] It is important to realize that contrary to a perception that all the ten martyrs listed in our prayers commemorating their death as martyrs occurred at one and the same time, this is simply not so.
