How can I go up to my Father in heaven "and the lad is not with me"

And his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified at his presence (literally "his face") (Gen. 45:3)
When Joseph revealed himself to them, he no longer hid the light of his face from them. At that moment they truly recognized him, and were dumfounded by the light in his face.


(Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen)


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And behold, your own eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you (Gen. 45:12)

This was the first time that Joseph was speaking to his brothers in their native language. Prior to this time the brothers had spoken to him in Hebrew, but Joseph had answered in the Egyptian tongue. The only time a person can recognize another through his voice is when he has previously heard him speak the same language. When a person speaks a different language, his accent is different and it is difficult to identify him. Because Joseph was now speaking Hebrew his brothers would be able to recognize him.


(Our Sages)


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For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad is not with me (Gen. 44:34)

Every Jew must ask himself: How can I go up to my Father in heaven "and the lad is not with me" - without bringing the days of my youth? A person must be especially vigilant that he not squander away his younger years.


(Ma'ayana Shel Torah)


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And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my wanderings are one hundred and thirty years; the days of the years of my life were few and bad" (Gen. 47:9)

How could Jacob have said this when the average life span after the generation of the flood was one hundred and twenty years? Jacob was the third of the Patriarchs and thus most intimately bound up with the third and eternal Holy Temple, to be built by Moshiach. All his life Jacob yearned for the everlasting peace and tranquility of the Messianic era. For as long, then, as the Redemption did not come, Jacob regarded the years of his life as qualitatively few and meager, because they did not contain that which is most important of all.


(The Rebbe, Shabbat Parshat Mikeitz, 5752)