Then Yehudah approached him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.”
English: Another interpretation of “Yehudah approached him”: Rabbi Yehudah says an approach for war; Rabbi Nechemyah says an approach for conciliation; the Rabbis say an approach for prayer. Rabbi Elazar combines them: if for war — I come; if for conciliation — I come; if for prayer — I come.
On the daf / in context: Bereishis Rabbah reads the single verb “vayigash” through three biblical parallels and presents Yehudah as ready for whichever response the confrontation requires.
Type of Learning
Derash on the verse (midrash — multiple scriptural parallels for one verb) — not a formal named middah of the 13.
What Is Learned
Yehudah’s approach is presented as encompassing readiness for war, conciliation, and prayer.