ויקח מאתם שמעון ויאסר אתו לעיניהם
Yosef took Shimon as a hostage until the brothers would return with Binyamin. Rashi explains that it was Shimon who had thrown Yosef into the well, and he was the one who had contemptuously referred to Yosef as the baal ha’chalomos, “the dreamer.” Alternatively, Rashi explains that allowing Shimon and Levi to be together could have been dangerous. As the ones who slew the entire city of Shechem, he feared that their companionship could lead to a lethal conspiracy against him. In any event, Yosef felt he had reason to fear Shimon. In his inimitable manner, Horav Aryeh Leib Heyman,…