After Yosef accused his brothers of spying and imprisoned them for three days, the brothers said to one another:
[132] " 'We are indeed guilty with regard to our brother [Yosef], for he pleaded with us and we did not listen to him. This is why this misfortune has now befallen us.'
"Reuven responded: 'Didn't I tell you not to commit a crime against the boy?' he said. You wouldn't listen. Now a [divine] accounting is being demanded for his blood.'"
The commentators explain the brothers' conversation and Reuven's response in the following manner:[133]
According to the brothers, Yosef was deserving of the Torah punishment of death [as the commentators explain at length]. They therefore stressed in their lament that their main guilt lay not in seeking to kill him and selling him, but in their not heeding his entreaties for mercy.
Reuven therefore said to them: "Didn't I tell you not to commit a crime against the boy?" Reuven said to them: since Yosef is still a boy and is not as yet subject to punishment in the celestial courts, he is therefore not subject to the death penalty.
Thus Reuven explained to his brothers that they had on their hands not one, but two sins. Not only the sin of cruelty, but more importantly, also the sin of Yosef's death. Which is why, "a [divine] accounting is being demanded for his blood."
But what benefit was Reuven seeking to derive by telling them this now. The brothers were in the midst of confessing their sins and justifying G-d's judgment. What is the sense in adding an additional sin to their previous sins (for which reason, their punishment is more severe)?
After all, when one is in the midst of a woeful and distressing situation that leads to a broken heart and the recognition that he himself is responsible for what has transpired, elemental decency demands that you soothe and comfort that individual.
Surely, one should not make the pain more acute by adding yet another measure of guilt. And most assuredly, this manner of conduct was not befitting Reuven, the first-born of Israel, particularly so, in relation to his conduct with his brothers.
One may answer that Reuven was simply trying to get his brothers to own up to their more grievous sin, so that they would repent for it as well.[134] But if this were Reuven's sole desire he should have simply said, "You have committed a sin against the boy. Now a [divine] accounting is being demanded for his blood." Why add the phrases "Didn't I tell you" and "You didn't listen"?
The implication here is that Reuven is admonishing his brothers and trying to show them how righteous he was. But at this point the brothers themselves were well aware of their failings. How can Reuven possibly use this time of contrition and self-flagellation to demonstrate his own righteousness and castigate his brothers for not listening to him?
In fact, the brothers were not simply involved in self-recriminations, their main purpose was that by stating these words they were repenting, or "doing teshuvah." By stating "Didn't I tell you" and "You didn't listen," Reuven meant to explain to them the most proper manner of teshuvah:
The purest form of teshuvah results from the person's self-arousal to return to G-d, rather than some outside force that impels, or at least leads him to teshuvah, such as when one does teshuvah out of fear of punishment and the like.[135]
For inasmuch as the degree of teshuvah must ultimately be such[136] that G-d is completely sure that the person will not commit this sin again, then if there was an external factor or force that served as the motivation for the person's teshuvah, then this assurance does not exist.
Thus, while "we are indeed guilty" is a form of teshuvah and confession of sin, this was a teshuvah that resulted from their travails -- "This is why this misfortune has now befallen us."
Reuven therefore told his brothers that since their teshuvah was caused by misfortune befalling them, it was not the most proper and most authentic form of teshuvah. Rather, they are to remember what he had said to them regarding this entire incident: "Didn't I tell you not to commit a crime against the boy?"
Which is to say, Reuven informed them that their teshuvah should be entirely out of their free choice to repent -- a choice dictated entirely by their desire to repent and return to G-d -- rather than external circumstances, such as the adversity that had befallen them.
Moreover, in order for teshuvah to be complete the person must realize that the fault in sinning was entirely his, rather than blaming it on extenuating factors.[137]
In order to make all this clear to his brothers, Reuven also said, "You wouldn't listen," i.e., the choice was entirely yours. Once Reuven notified them of all the above, the brothers' teshuvah could then be complete.
Based on Likkutei Sichos, Vol. XXX, pp. 198-202.
Notes:
- (Back to text) Bereishis, 42:21-22.
- (Back to text) See Klei Yakar, Seforno and Ohr HaChayim. See also Ramban verse 21 and Alshich.
- (Back to text) See Radak, ibid.
- (Back to text) See Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah, 5:1-2.
- (Back to text) See Rambam, ibid. 2:2.
- (Back to text) See Midrash Tehillim, Chapter 100.
Vayeishev