parshaמפרשי הפרשה

אלשיך — וימהרו ויורדו איש את אמתחתו / ויחפש בגדול החל

A familiar derashah explains why the servant searched 'בגדול החל ובקטן כלה' — so as not to be suspected of knowing where the goblet was. But the Alshich asks a different question: each sack also still contained the brothers' returned silver. If they had searched their own sacks freely, they would have noticed the silver — and immediately accused Yosef's people of planting both the silver and the g

התנכל האיש ההוא בדבר אחד, והוא כי הלא בכל אחד מהאמתחות היה כסף שברו של כל איש מהם, והלא קשה איך סכרו פיהם ולא אמרו... אם כן מי ששם גם עתה כספינו באמתחותינו שם הגביע גם הוא... אך זאת היתה חכמת האיש שלא הניחם רק להוריד ולפתוח איש אמתחתו לא לחפש, פן ימצאו הכסף, כי אם 'ויחפש' הוא בידו, והמה לא ידעו, והוא גלה הגביע בלבד.

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אלשיך

Alshekh on Torah, Genesis 44:5

Q — A familiar derashah explains why the servant searched 'בגדול החל ובקטן כלה' — so as not to be suspected of knowing where the goblet was. But the Alshich asks a different question: each sack also still contained the brothers' returned silver. If they had searched their own sacks freely, they would have noticed the silver — and immediately accused Yosef's people of planting both the silver and the goblet. So why didn't this happen?

A — The servant's cleverness was procedural. The verse says 'וימהרו ויורידו איש את אמתחתו' — the brothers only *opened* their sacks; they did not search them. The searching was done by the servant alone, and he revealed only the goblet — never letting them discover the silver still inside. Once the goblet was found, no one bothered to look at anything else. Without this maneuver, the brothers would have rejected Yosef's earlier explanation that 'אלהיכם נתן לכם מטמון' and the entire plan would have unraveled.

התנכל האיש ההוא בדבר אחד, והוא כי הלא בכל אחד מהאמתחות היה כסף שברו של כל איש מהם, והלא קשה איך סכרו פיהם ולא אמרו... אם כן מי ששם גם עתה כספינו באמתחותינו שם הגביע גם הוא... אך זאת היתה חכמת האיש שלא הניחם רק להוריד ולפתוח איש אמתחתו לא לחפש, פן ימצאו הכסף, כי אם 'ויחפש' הוא בידו, והמה לא ידעו, והוא גלה הגביע בלבד.

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