ויאמר גם עתה כדבריכם כן הוא עשרה בני אדם שנמצא אחד מהן בגניבה אין כולם באסירה אני איני עושה כן אלא אשר ימצא אתו יהיה לי עבד
And he said, “Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my bondman, and ye shall be blameless.”
Bereishis Rabbah 92:8.
Sefaria · Bereishis Rabbah 92:8
אֲשֶׁר יִמָּצֵא אִתּוֹ יִהְיֶה לִּי עָבֶד וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ נְקִיִּים. הָעֶבֶד מֵקֵל אֶת הַגְּזֵרָה שֶׁל הָאַחִים.
English: Bereishis Rabbah 92:8 explains Yosef’s moderated judgment: although the brothers had proposed a collective punishment, he would enslave only the one with whom the cup was found.
On the daf / in context: The midrash notes that the steward (acting under Yosef’s instructions) deliberately reduces the penalty from death to servitude and exempts the others, setting up the precise pressure that will fall on Binyamin alone.
Type of Learning: Derash on the verse (classic midrash) — not a formal named middah of the 13.
What Is Learned: By moderating the brothers’ extreme self-imposed sentence, the steward isolates the test onto Binyamin and thereby creates the conditions for Yehudah’s final speech.