Bitter Weeping

And he (Joseph) fell on the shoulders of his brother Benjamin, and he wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulders. Genesis 45:14

Joseph wept for the destruction of the two temples which were destined to be built in Benjamin’s portion and destroyed. Rashi

Sfat Emet comments that the Temple served to unite the tribes of Israel. While there were certainly great differences in the approaches of the different tribes, all were united in serving God’s will, which ultimately was revealed through the Temple.

Joseph had tested his brothers to determine if they had repented for their hatred of him, and revealed himself only when they demonstrated their willingness to suffer in order to save Benjamin.

Joseph’s brothers’ expression of unity allowed him to realize that they indeed had repented and that they were now ready to face the travails of the Egyptian exile.

Thus, when Joseph prophetically saw that the temples would be destroyed, his joy over the reunion of his brothers was mitigated by the realization that the Temple, an agent of that unity would be destroyed.

No doubt Joseph wept more bitterly over the destruction of the second Temple, since that destruction resulted from baseless hatred among the Children of Israel. [Babylonian Talmud Yoma 9b]