136. HE INSISTED AGAIN, YET we learned that when Joseph asked Benjamin "Have you a wife?," he answered, "Yes." He asked him, "Have you sons?" He replied, "Yes." He then asked him, "What are their names?" He replied, "They are named after my brothers, Gera and Na'aman..." as it is written, "And the sons of Benjamin were Bela and Becher..." (Beresheet 46:21). But you say he did not have conjugal intercourse.

137. He replied, I do say that. At that time, he did not yet have sons. HE THUS DISAGREES WITH THAT AGGADAH. And if you say IT IS EXPLICIT FROM THE VERSE, "And the sons of Benjamin were Bela and Becher," when they came to Egypt, this is surely so, FOR HE ALREADY HAD SONS. Yet as long as Jacob mourned for Joseph, Benjamin did not perform his marital duty or beget any children. Benjamin said, My brother Joseph was the sign of the Covenant of my Father, AS JACOB IS TIFERET, WHICH INCLUDES CHESED, GVURAH, TIFERET, NETZACH, HOD AND YESOD, AND JOSEPH IS YESOD OF JACOB, because the Covenant, YESOD, is the final part of the body, TIFERET. Because he is lost, I will guard my brother's place, THAT IS, I WILL BE THE ASPECT OF THE RIGHTEOUS YESOD, THE ENDING OF TIFERET, LIKE JOSEPH.