The Torah relates that when Yosef reveals his identity to his brothers, he gives them gifts: “To each one he gave a garment, and to Binyomin he gave 300 ma’os of silver and five garments.” (Bereshis 45:22) Although it was natural for Yosef to feel a greater closeness to Binyomin, who was his full brother and was not involved in his sale as a slave, it strikes one as paradoxical that the reconciliation of Yosef and his brothers after 22 years of separation and prior animosity – in part due to Yaakov’s favoring of Yosef – is marked by Yosef showing apparent favoritism to Binyomin! It would seem that the last thing that Yosef would seek to do here is to again cultivate a sense of unequal treatment and the ill will it generated. Why, therefore, does Yosef overtly give Binyomin extra gifts – especially in light of the history and circumstances?

Yosef quite carefully crafted the path for his brothers to do teshuva for having hated and sold him. He placed them in a very similar situation regarding Binyomin, such that they had to deal with Binyomin’s favored status and needed to be willing to risk everything to save him specifically due to that status – the opposite of how they acted when this scenario presented itself in the case of Yosef 22 years prior. If we look very carefully at the exchange between Yosef and Yehuda, however, we detect a major omission. Yehuda pleads to Yosef, “And it will be that when I return to my father without Binyomin…my father will die of grief; for I have personally guaranteed Binyomin’s safety… Let me instead be your slave, and allow Binyomin to return home, for how can I return to my father without Binyomin, and observe my father’s immense suffering?” (44:30-35) Yehuda pleads with Yosef for the sake of Yaakov Avinu – to spare Yaakov from untold anguish, which would surely cause his demise. However, Yehuda does not at all address the potential suffering of Binyomin, should Binyomin be kept as a slave! Yehuda’s supplication to Yosef focuses on the effect that Binyomin’s absence would have on their father Yaakov; the second part of the equation, that enslaving Binyomin would be super-cruel to Binyomin himself (and Binyomin’s large family), is not included in Yehuda’s plea. (It is very likely that Yehuda planned to address this as well, but Yosef revealed his identity in the middle of Yehuda’s words, leaving them unfinished.)

This omission enables us to understand exactly why Yosef gave Binyomin extra gifts. By doing so, Yosef sought for the brothers to accept that despite Binyomin’s perceived favored status, they had to love him and not act with or feel animosity towards him. It was not enough to be willing to protect Yaakov as a result of Binyomin’s favored status; rather, the brothers had to be able to love and feel as one with Binyomin himself, and not resent him due to the fact that someone else favored him.

This is why Yosef, immediately after embracing and kissing all of his brothers and appealing to them with equal warmth and love (45:12,15 with Rashi), bestows extra gifts upon Binyomin, for Yosef had to lead the brothers to the second part of their teshuva: not to harbor animosity toward the favored, in particular when he did not seek favoritism.

By enabling his brothers to do teshuva by their showing a willingness to sacrifice for Yaakov due to circumstances of favoritism and by their demonstrating equal love to a favored brother, Yosef elevated his entire family’s spiritual level and restored the glory to Beis Yisroel for perpetuity.