Vayigash | "And Yosef Could No Longer Restrain Himself"

Vayigash | "And Yosef Could No Longer Restrain Himself", by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom

Why does the text add the phrase לכל הנצבים עליו when defining Yosef's inability to restrain his outburst? 

When Yosef is finally ready to reveal his identity to his brothers, the text uses a rare word - להתאפק - and tells us that ולא יכל יוסף להתאפק לכל הנצבים עליו. This latter phrase is enigmatic and the Rishonim take a number of varied approaches to explain the role of the bystanders in his decision to empty the room before "the big reveal". We survey these approaches and suggest two more - one based on the well-known article by R. Yoel Bin-Nun about Yosef's thinking during this entire episode - and another, new approach to this specific phrase, which curiously leads us to the latter-day story which is heavily reliant on the Yosef-in-Egypt narrative - Megilat Esther, pitting Yosef's ויתאפק against that of Haman.

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