Genesis 43:11

(2) "From the praises of the land" -- From [the translation known as] Targum, "from the praised [produce] of the land," that all [of the praised produce] praises [the land of Israel] when it comes into the world.

And Israel their father said to them, If it must be so, do this: Take of the praiseworthy things of the land, and put them in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little gum and a little honey, wax and ladanum, the oil of nuts, and the oil of almonds,

אם כן, if the matter is indeed as you have said that although the man harassed you he is a G’d-fearing individual,

איפוא, then it is quite clear what you have to do;

קחו מזמרת הארץ מעט צרי, although when one presents a gift to an ordinary person it is important to impress him with the quantity of the gift so that he can feast his eyes on it, this man who has everything will only be impressed with the quality of the gift instead of the quantity; therefore take rare items but only in appropriately small quantities to emphasise their rareness. All the items sent to Joseph were of this nature, as opposed to the gift Yaakov had sent to his brother Esau on a previous occasion.

הורידוהו לאיש מנחה, before you will actually meet him face to face again. This will enable you to judge if he receives your gift with goodwill. If he does, you will have reason to be confident that he will receive you also with goodwill. This thought has also been expressed in Judges 13,23 when the wife of Manoach, in trying to calm her husband’s fears, said to him: “if G’d had wanted to kill us He would not have accepted our burnt-offering and our gift-offering first.” After this conversation,

אם כן אפוא, if the situation is such that I cannot detain Binyamin here,

זאת עשו, in order to curry favour with the ruler of the land;

מזמרת הארץ, of the produce which this land is especially famous for;

מעט צרי ומעט דבש, both of these products were known as exports from the land of Canaan. as is spelled out specifically in Ezekiel 27,17 יהודה וארץ ישראל המה רוכליך בחטי מנית ופגג ודבש ושמן וצרי, Yehudah and the Land of Israel, they were your peddlers. With wheat from Minis, balsam oil, honey, oil and balm, etc.” צרי is known as “balsam” nowadays.

נכאת, according to Bereshit Rabbah 91,11 this is wax. In the same paragraph there דבש is understood as “hard as stone.” Rabbi Saadyah Gaon explains the word צרי, as Triaki, and נכאת as some kind of cabbage (cauliflower), and לוט as lotononis, something better known today as armon, chestnut.

בטנים, which are known in Arabic as piniulash. Apparently this nut was known in Spain as tzenuvar.

ושקדים, almonds, something familiar to all of us. In Bereshit Rabbah 91,11 both the words בטנים and שקדים are understood as referring to an ointment based on the oil of these nuts. [why would Yaakov send something as common as peanuts and almonds? Ed.]