Free translation of a talk by the Rebbe from this section, Vaigash, from 1951.
This week's section is a continuation of last week's. The state of relations between Joseph and his brothers was that Joseph wanted to keep Benjamin, his half-brother, and send the others to their father, Jacob. At the height of the tension, Judah stepped forward to approach Joseph and speak with him personally. Our sages say that in this approach, Judah was also prepared to wage war against Joseph. Now, why did Judah sacrifice so much for Benjamin? The Torah tells us that Judah had acted as Benjamin's guarantor before Jacob, and therefore he was prepared for anything.
It seems to make no sense how Judah was prepared to fight Joseph, considering that he and his brothers were so few compared to Joseph, the Viceroy of Egypt. It is true that our sages recount that when Judah stamped his feet as a demonstration of power, the entire land of Egypt shook. However, Joseph also demonstrated his power, to the point that Judah himself acknowledged, "He is stronger than I am." So, how did he even consider waging war against Joseph?
The reason for this is that since Judah had taken responsibility for his brother Benjamin, that he was going to return him alive to his father Jacob, then, regardless of the fact that he still had other brothers, he gave his life for even a single Jewish child.
And this is the lesson and moral for every father and mother in every generation and every place on earth: God entrusted them with the responsibility for each boy and girl, so that they must sacrifice their own lives even for a single child, so that nothing that should never happen to a Jewish child will happen to them. And through the sacrifice for the education of Jewish boys and girls in purity and holiness, we will come to fulfill the end of this section (Genesis 47:27): "and they were fruitful," and even more, "and they multiplied," until "they were very numerous.".