5759

Simply, Yehudah interceded on Yosef’s behalf, asserting that the brothers would not benefit from killing him.  Pituchei Chosam cites the pasuk in Yeshaya 1:15 wherein the Navi laments, “Even when you pray very much I (Hashem) do not listen to you because your hands are full of blood.”  We infer from here that the tefillos, prayers, of one who “spills blood,” i.e., a murderer, are of no value.  Ostensibly, the Shevatim, tribes, brothers, prayed three times each day since the tefillos had been introduced by the Patriarchs.  The word “betza“, bais, tzaddik, ayin, is an acronym for the three tefillos…

Yosef was a ben zekunim, born to Yaakov Avinu when the latter had advanced in age.  Is this a reason for Yaakov to love Yosef more than Binyamin, who was the “baby” of the family?  The Chizkuni responds that since Rachel died during Binyamin’s birth, Yaakov Avinu did not love him as much.  While we can understand that Binyamin brought back memories of the tragic death of his beloved Rachel, one would think that the Patriarch was beyond such emotions.  Indeed, one would think that the memory of the mother of his orphaned son would enhance his love towards his…