Then Yehudah said to Yisroel his father, ‘Send the lad with me and let us arise and go I will guarantee him: of my own hand you can demand him, if I do not bring him back to you and stand him before you, then I will have sinned to you for all time. (43:8) What did Yehuda’s statement and pledge to Yaakov really mean? Yehuda was going to do the best he could to protect Binyamin from harm without this pledge. When a person promises to do all he can in any given situation, he gives it his all. And Yehuda was no different. But as much as a person does, he could always do more if his life depended on it. There is extra hidden strength that a person can harness if he is forced to. By telling Yaakov that he will guarantee Binyamin’s safe return, and if not then he ‘will have sinned to Yaakov for all time’, Yaakov was confident that Yehuda will use this extra power - because his life does depend on it. (Shem Mishmuel)
Reprinted from the Parshat Mikeitz 5784 email of whY I Matter parsha sheet edited by R’ Yedidye Hirtenfeld for the Young Israel of Midwood in Brooklyn
