And Yehuda drew near to him and he said, “Please my master, allow your servant to say something now in my master’s ears, and you shall not get angry with your servant, for you are like Par’oh.
The Ohr Hachaim asks why Yehuda had to draw near to Yosef, was he not standing close to him the whole time?
The Ohr Hachaim quotes a possuk in Mishlei: כַּמַּיִם הַּפָּנִים לַּפָּנִים כֵּן לֵּב הָּאָּדָּם לָּאָּדָּם - like water shows a face to a face, so too the heart of a person to a person. A person can change someone else’s heart and mindset, by changing his own.
Yehuda wished to influence Yosef and to change his mind about Binyomin. Yosef was greatly angered by the chutzpah of the person who stole his goblet, and he was adamant to punish the perpetrator. Yehuda was not a natural friend of Mitzri ministers. They were idol worshippers and Yehuda was someone who had overthrown the yoke of any idols, and had no connection to the worship, beliefs, or purported powers of any of these idols. By nature, he had to hate Yosef and all that Yosef stood for, because of this strong wall between Yehuda and the idols.
Now, Yehuda made a decision to draw close to Yosef, overcoming his natural inclinations. This is the meaning of this possuk. Yehuda did not draw physically close to Yosef, because he was standing right there. But he did draw emotionally close to him, in order to feel a connection that he could use to change Yosef’s mind.
