“And we said unto my lord: We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother [Yosef] is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him” (Breisheet 44:20).
Yosef’s brothers – especially Yehuda – are in a real bind. They had convinced their father to allow them to take Binyamin to Egypt. Despite that being the only way to get enough food for the family Yaakov was more than reluctant to allow this. Yehuda managed to convince Yaakov to do so – by promising to safeguard Binyamin. Now Binyamin had been caught with a Royal Goblet in his sack and faced jail time and presumably death for his “theft”.
Unless they i.e. Yehuda, could convince the Viceroy that they had been framed[1] or somehow appeal for clemency, they would be condemning their father to death and themselves to years of guilt and torment[2]. This was the most important speech of Yehuda’s life, a matter of life and death , and Yehuda pulled out all the stops – including not being fully truthful. Hence Rashi, commenting on the above-mentioned verse notes, “He uttered devar sheker, lying words out of fear. He [Yehuda] thought: if I tell him [the Viceroy] that he [Yosef] is alive he may say ‘bring him to me’”.
Rashi seems difficult to understand. Presumably, Yehuda believed Yosef was dead. After all, they had sold him into slavery some 22 years earlier and the chances of him having survived these many years is not great. It may have been inaccurate, but it is a bit hard to call that a lie. This is especially so when we look at the verse in context, that of the pain their father “an old man” is suffering. Surely Yaakov, for good reason, believed his beloved son to be dead.
Rashi, it seems to me, is teaching a deep truth. It may be that this particular lie at this particular moment is not a classic lie. However, this untruth was only uttered because of what the brothers had done to this “dead” brother years ago. Their initial sin led to the situation – even years later – where they were forced to utter untruths. They are responsible for this lie even if they did not mean it that way. We all know that a liar has to have a great memory as that first lie inevitably leads to more lies.
Perhaps this is what the Torah means when it commands "midevar sheker tirchak, stay far away from a lie", a formulation used by no other Torah prohibition. Stay far away from any activity that may lead to lying down the road. That action and the lie may be separated by many years and circumstances – it may be far away – but it is the basis of the lie. By selling their brother, the brothers years later were “forced” to lie and whether they knew it was a lie matters little. Our Sages were on to something when they taught "aveirah gorreret aveirah, one sin begets another".
Yet there seems to be another lie Yehuda makes, and this one quite deliberately, that Rashi does not comment on. “And thy servant my father [Yaakov] said unto us: Ye know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said: Surely he is torn in pieces; and I have not seen him since; and if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”
This is the first time we hear of such a conversation – and for good reason. Is it really possible that Yaakov would tell his children that his wife bore him two children? Were the brother’s mothers not his wives? After all the problem of favouritism that the family had suffered why would one say to one’s children that I don’t really consider you my children. While this was undoubtedly how Yaakov felt – let us recall that Shimon is being held hostage in Egypt and Yaakov has expressed little concern for him – could he really say such a thing to his other children? Presumably Yehuda made it up hoping it would open the heart of the Viceroy – and the strategy, the lie, actually worked.
That is surely one way to understand Yehuda’s words. Presumably, Rashi had a different understanding. Yehuda was speaking the truth. Yaakov really did say that. He was so distraught at what had happened to Yosef that he did not think through how his other children would be impacted by his words.
Or perhaps he did realize but at this point it mattered little. It was clear to all that Yaakov loved Yosef and Binyamin more than the other sons. That is how they got into this whole mess in the first place: “A person should never favour one of his sons from among the other sons. Due to the weight of two sela of fine wool that Jacob gave to Joseph, beyond what he gave the rest of his sons,his brothers became jealous of him and the matter unfolded and our forefathers descended to Egypt” (Shabbat 10b). Everyone knew that Yaakov loved Yosef more and at this point there was no point sugar-coating this. Just as Yehuda was forced to lie because of the brother's earlier mistakes, so too Yaakov’s early acts of favouritism haunted him his entire life[3]. Yaakov really did tell his children that “his wife bore him two children” and Yehuda wisely told that to the Viceroy, moving him to reveal that he is Yosef.
It matters little whether Yaakov actually said those words. What matters is that we learn to use our words wisely and such includes speaking an untruth for the sake of peace.
[1] Yehuda did not attempt this approach. This attests to Yehuda’s brilliant and ultimately successful strategy. It is not a smart idea to accuse the Viceroy of Egypt, Pharoahs’ right hand man, of framing someone, of being a liar. Such a move would normally condemn not only Binyamin and not only Yehuda but likely all the brothers to death. Appealing to one’s mercy is a much better and the only possible effective strategy.
[2] Let us recall that when they are first accused of being spies “they said one to another: ‘We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us”. If Binyamin does not make it home their guilt would undoubtedly be much greater.
[3] Sadly, but apparently with no negative results, Yosef did not learn this lesson as “To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver, and five changes of raiment” (Breisheet 45:22).
