Bereshit 42:36 records that after Yaakov saw the money that his sons had inadvertently brought back from Egypt, he said, “Yosef is not, Shimon is not, and you will take Binyamin – upon me has all this come.” Reuven then volunteered to kill his two sons if he did not return Binyamin, 42:37, and then Yosef stated that he would not send Binyamin with his other sons, “for his brother (Yosef) is dead, and he alone is left,” 42:38.
This last verse is surprising. In 42:36 Yaakov referred to Yosef and Shimon in an equivalent manner, which means that he thought Yosef was alive since he knew that Shimon was alive, while in 42:38 Yaakov appears to have stated that Yosef was dead. Also, why does Yaakov refer to Binyamin as being “the only one left?” Alter (2004, p. 245) writes: "The extravagant insensitivity of Yaakov’s paternal favoritism continues to be breathtaking. He speaks of Binyamin as ‘my son’ almost as though the ones he is addressing were not his sons. This unconscious disavowal of the ten sons is sharpened when Yaakov says ‘he alone remains’ failing to add ‘from his mother.’
In order to understand 42:38, we need to attempt to understand Yaakov’s psyche with regard to Yosef, and this relates to two questions. One, did Yaakov think that Yosef was dead and two, did Yaakov think the brothers were responsible for Yosef’s fate?
With regard to the first question, N. Leibowitz (1976, pp. 476-482) notes that 43:14 records that Yaakov told his sons that he prayed that G-d would help them free “your brother another, and Binyamin,” and Rashi explains that the phrase “your brother” refers to Shimon and the word “another” refers to Yosef. Thus, she writes that this word “reveals Yaakov’s state of mind, aware that his son had been torn by wild beasts yet refusing to accept it, reflecting his hope in his despair, his fortifying himself in his prayers to make an oblique allusion to what he dared not make public reference to.” While this inference from 43:14 is not clear-cut since the phrase can be translated as “your other brother” (see Fox, 1995, p. 206) and the point is that Yaakov was trying to impress on his sons that Binyamin was also their brother, I agree that Yaakov always hoped that Yosef was alive for three reasons.
One, when a child is missing, all parents hope the child is alive as long as the body is not produced. For instance, The New York Times reported (December 22, 2008, In Rhode Island, an old mobster lets go of a long-kept secret, by Dan Barry) that a person named Mr. Scanlon has been missing since 1978, and was believed to have been dead even though his body was never found. After 30 years, a Mr. Pari admitted to killing Mr. Scanlon and he revealed where Mr. Scanlon’s body was buried before he died. A police officer said that even though 30 years have passed the Scanlon family had always hoped that Mr. Scanlon was not dead.
Two, 37:11 records that Yaakov shamor (remembered) Yosef's dreams, which means that Yaakov thought that they would be actualized, see Rashbam on 37:11.
Three, 44:28 records that when Yehuda was speaking to Yosef he quoted Yaakov as saying that, "For sure he (Yosef) is torn, torn to pieces. And, I have not seen him again thus far," (Fox 1995 translation). The end of the verse implies that Yaakov did not believe that Yosef was dead since if Yosef had been torn to pieces, then of course he would not have seen him again. Instead, Yaakov still had hope of seeing Yosef, but he had not yet seen him again, see our discussion below on 45:3,"The end of the game."
With this idea, Yaakov's initial re-action to seeing the blood drenched coat (37:33,34) caused him to think that Yosef was dead but over time he began to hope and really believe that Yosef was alive. One would then assume that Yaakov did look for Yosef, although this is not recorded in the Torah, but the trail went cold, possibly since he did not begin to search right away.
With regard to the question as to whether Yaakov thought that the brothers were responsible for Yosef’s fate there is no definitive answer. Yaakov knew that they hated Yosef, and he must surely have been disappointed in their actions after they returned. They returned home without Yosef, but with Yosef’s garment, and all they said was, 37:32, “do you recognize the garment?” Did they say that after they found the garment that they investigated to find out about Yosef? Even if they did not have CSI then, they still could have found out some information. However, there is no record of them reporting anything to their father. Yaakov also knew that they were capable of killing as they did in Shekhem and he knew from his own experience with his brother, Esav, that a person can want to kill his brother. Yet, he did not know if his children would be capable of killing their brother and as a father he would want to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe his suspicion of them is why he did not initially believe them when they told him that Yosef was alive, 45:26.
Most likely, Yaakov lived with these two questions, hoping that Yosef was alive and trying to convince himself that his sons were innocent of whatever happened to Yosef. Thus, in 42:36, Yaakov did not state that Yosef was dead only that he was not with them similar to Shimon. However, Reuven’s words in 42:37 jarred these hopes. Reuven said that he would kill his two sons which is not only foolish (see Rashi), but extremely callous. How can a father even think of possibly killing his children? Yaakov realized that if Reuven was willing to kill his sons, then he also would have been willing to kill his brother. This shattered his main basis for believing that his sons were innocent. Thus, in response, Yaakov disowned his other sons since at that moment he perceived them as murders, 42:38. Furthermore, he stated that Yosef was dead since if they were murderers then Yosef was dead. Finally, if Yaakov thought that his sons killed Yosef, then he would not agree to send Binyamin with them to Egypt.
Accordingly, there was nothing for the brothers to say to Yaakov, and the conversation ends. The conversation only resumed with the passage of time and the worsening of the famine, and it is Yaakov who begins the conversation, 43:1,2. Furthermore, the hope that Yosef was alive was probably re-kindled in Yaakov, and maybe 43:14 was a reference to Yosef as argued by Rashi and N. Leibowitz.
Bibliography:
Alter, Robert, 2004, The five books of Moses: A translation and commentary, New York: W. W. Norton and Company.
Fox, Everett, 1995, The Five Books of Moses: A new translation, New York: Schocken Books.
Leibowitz, Nehama (1905-1997), 1976, Studies in Bereshit, translated by Aryeh Newman, Jerusalem: The World Zionist Organization.
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