Which of his brothers did Yosef present to Pharaoh?
Rashi #1 (citing the Midrash Rabah): The weaker-looking ones 1 - which were Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yisachar and Binyamin. 2
Rashi #2 (citing Bava Kama 92a): Gad, Naftali, Dan, Zevulun and Asher - they were the weaker-looking ones. 3
See also Ba'al ha'Turim. (According to Midrashim, all were super-strong. Yehudah gauged that each of nine brothers could wipe out one of the 12 gates of Egypt all by himself. Also, Yosef had called the 70 Giborim of Egypt, and they were terrified of Shimon and Yehudah! Presumably, nobody told Pharaoh about this. (PF)
Rashi: Whose names Moshe did not mention twice in his Berachos to the Shevatim (Devarim 33:6-25).
Rashi: And whose names Moshe mentioned twice in his Berachos (Devarim 33:6-25) in order to strengthen them (with the exception of Yehudah, whose name is doubled for the reason mentioned there (see Rashi to Devarim 33:7). Rashi cites a Sifrei that substantiates this explanation.
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "'From amongst his brothers' - From the least mighty among them... Reuven, Shimon, etc., ... whose names Moshe did not say twice when blessing them (Devarim 33) -- That is according to Bereishis Rabah as taught in Eretz Yisrael; but according to Talmud Bavli, the names Moshe doubled were the weak ones..." What is this disagreement based on?
Gur Aryeh: The repetition of the name of a tribe indicates might. The question is if it shows that these tribes were already mighty, or if Moshe's blessing was intended to strengthen those tribes that needed it.
Rashi writes that Yosef brought his weaker-looking brothers in front of Pharaoh. Why did he find it necessary to do that?
Rashi and Seforno: To convince Pharaoh that their sole profession was shepherding. 1
Rashi: To dissuade him from taking them into the army.
Rashi writes that Moshe doubled the names of the weak Shevatim in his Berachos (Devarim 33:6-25); whereas according to another opinion, he doubled the strong ones. But elsewhere, Rashi (to Bamidbar 32:17) wrote that Reuven and Gad were both strong. This is unlike either opinion!
Perhaps Moshe repeated names of Shevatim prone to be weak because they come from a weaker son of Yaakov, even if in Moshe's time, the men of the Shevet were strong. (PF)
