רבינו בחיי — ויגש אליו יהודה

Q — The Torah uses the unusual verb "ויגש" — Yehudah drew near to Yosef. Why this specific word, and what mode is Yehudah entering when he steps up to face the ruler of Egypt?

A — Rabbeinu Bachya: the root נג"ש in Tanach denotes three completely different postures. נגש לדין (drawing near for judgment, as in "ונגשו אל המשפט"), נגש לפיוס (approaching for conciliation, as in "ויגשו בני יהודה אל יהושע"), and נגש למלחמה (advancing for battle, as in "ויגש יואב והעם אשר עמו למלחמה"). Yehudah's single act of הגשה is meant to do all three at once. His opening words "בי אדני" already encode it: "in me you will find whatever you choose to take — judgment, conciliation, or war." The chiddush: when a Yehudah approaches a power that holds his brother captive, he doesn't choose his mode in advance; he keeps all three open simultaneously and lets the adversary decide which posture he prefers. This is the descendant of Yaakov's milchama-tefillah-doron template; the same triad recurs whenever Yehudah-faces-Yosef is replayed.