After revealing his identity to his brothers, Yosef presents them with gifts: "To each of them he gave a change of clothing; but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing" (45:22). In light of Yosef's family history, his conduct in this regard seems startling. He suffered so bitterly as a result of the preferential treatment afforded him by his father. Is he now ready to make the same mistake? Does he not fear the repercussions of adding to Binyamin's gift? What more, the Gemara in Megila (16) views the special offering to Binyamin as an allusion to the royal garments to be worn many centuries later by Binyamin's descendant, Mordekhai. Does Yosef wish to start the trouble all over again, foretelling the royal future of his only full brother, Binyamin? Was not the brothers' hatred initially kindled as a result of Yosef's dreams of kingship?
One answer suggested takes a closer look at the brothers' feelings of jealousy of which we read two weeks ago. The brothers did not resent Yosef's ambitions per se; rather, they felt that he deserved royalty no more than they did. In their eyes, he had no basis by which to single himself out for family leadership. In Parashat Vayigash, however, they realize their mistake: sure enough, Yosef was destined to rule over the family. As Yosef himself explains when revealing his true identity, God planned his ascent to royalty in order to sustain the family during the dreadful famine. The brothers at this point acknowledge their error and accept Yosef's leadership. And why shouldn't they? After all, their resentment all along evolved only from their assumption that Yosef did not deserve leadership. Now that they come face-to-face with the reality that in truth Yosef did, they humbly submit to his authority.
With full reconciliation achieved, Yosef has no qualms about affording preferential treatment to Binyamin. Leaving aside the reasons for this treatment, we can now understand why this posed no danger to family harmony at this point. Just as the brothers fully accept Yosef's role as leader, they would feel no jealousy towards a similar role assumed by Binyamin or his progeny.
Acknowledging the different roles assigned to different individuals could help alleviate so much jealousy that plagues society. When everyone longs for leadership and positions of influence, when no one accepts the role of "led" but rather insists upon the position of "leader," mutual resentment erupts. Though we rarely think of Yosef's brothers as representing the quality of submission to authority, in fact they do. Once they see that this is indeed Yosef's role, they accept his leadership wholeheartedly. The lesson for us is to concentrate on fulfilling our individual roles in the world and serving mankind as best we can, rather than looking around us to see how we can outdo everyone else.