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Then Judah went up to him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not be impatient with your servant, you who are the equal of Pharaoh.

(30) “Now, if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us—since his own life is so bound up with his— (31) when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will send the white head of your servant our father down to Sheol in grief. (32) Now your servant has pledged himself for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I shall stand guilty before my father forever.’ (33) Therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers.

My son, if you have stood surety Our Sages explained this as referring to surety in monetary matters, according to its apparent meaning. go, humble yourself Heb. התרפס [a combination of two words, התר פס], open the palm of your hand for him to pay him his money. and give your fellow superiority Heb. ורהב. And if he has no money with you, only that you were trapped with the sayings of your mouth by speaking harshly to him, bring many friends to him to beg him to forgive you. Another explanation: [1] My son, if you stood surety for your Friend After you stood surety for the Holy One, blessed be He, Who is your “friend,” as it is written (Song 5:16): “This is my beloved and this is my friend”; you undertook at Sinai and in the plains of Moab with a curse and with an oath to observe His commandments. have given your hand to a stranger You have repented and turned from His ways and clung to the disbelievers to go in their ways. [2] you have been trapped by the sayings of your mouth You have given your hand to cling to strangers. [3] Do this, then, my son, and be saved Since you have come into the palm of your Friend at Sinai and you have accepted His Godliness over you, go, humble yourself Heb. התרפס. Humble yourself before Him like a threshold, which is trodden (נרפסת) and stepped on. and increase your friends Bring many friends who will pray for you before Him. In this manner it is expounded on in Midrash Psalms. Save yourself like a deer from the hand Hasten and extricate yourself from there like a deer that extricates itself from a man’s hand.

Apropos declarations that take effect even if they were stated conditionally and the condition was not fulfilled, Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Ostracism that was declared conditionally requires nullification, even though the condition was not fulfilled. From where do we derive this? It is derived from Judah, as it is written with regard to his request that his father allow the brothers to take Benjamin to Egypt: “If I do not bring him to you…I would have sinned to you for all days” (Genesis 43:9), i.e., I will remain ostracized as a sinner. And Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani says that Rabbi Yonatan says: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Let Reuben live and not die” (Deuteronomy 33:6), followed immediately by the verse: “And this for Judah” (Deuteronomy 33:7)? Why was the blessing of Judah linked to that of Reuben?

Throughout those forty years that the children of Israel were in the wilderness, Judah’s bones were rattling in the coffin, detached from one another, because the ostracism that he declared upon himself remained in effect, until Moses stood and entreated God to have mercy upon him. Moses said before Him: Master of the Universe, who caused Reuben to confess his sin with Bilhah? It was Judah. Judah’s confession to his sin with Tamar led Reuben to confess to his own sin. Moses continued: “And this is for Judah…hear God, the voice of Judah” (Deuteronomy 33:7).

At that point his limbs entered their designated place [leshafa] and no longer rattled, but the Heavenly court still would not allow him to enter the heavenly academy. Moses continued: “And bring him to his people” (Deuteronomy 33:7), so that he may join the other righteous people in Heaven. That request was also granted, but Judah did not know how to engage in the give-and-take of halakha with the Sages in the heavenly academy. Moses continued: “His hands shall contend for him” (Deuteronomy 33:7). That request was also granted, but Judah did not know how to resolve any difficulty raised to reject his opinion until Moses prayed: “And You shall be a help against his adversaries” (Deuteronomy 33:7).

as it was taught in a baraita: What part of the Temple was located in the portion of the tribe of Judah? It was the part including the entire Temple Mount, excluding those areas in the portion of Benjamin, the chambers, and the courtyards. And what part of the Temple was in the portion of the tribe of Benjamin? It was the part including the Entrance Hall of the Sanctuary, and the Sanctuary, and the Holy of Holies. And a strip of land emerges from the portion of Judah and enters the portion of Benjamin on which the altar is built. And Benjamin the righteous would suffer longing to engulf it every day. The tribe of Benjamin was disappointed that the strip belonging to the tribe of Judah intersected its tribal land and wanted Judah to transfer ownership so that the land with the altar would belong to Benjamin.

כמפני חרב AS IT WERE BEFORE THE SWORD...A Midrashic explanation of וכשלו איש באחיו is: one will stumble by reason of the sin of the other (באחיו is taken in the sense of: on account of the other), for all Israelites are held responsible for one another (Sifra, Bechukotai, Chapter 7 5; Sanhedrin 27b).