פרשת ויגש תש"ט - יוסף כמנהיג

And Joseph sustained his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to the want of their little ones.

לחם לפי הטף. Even though Joseph was in a position to allocate generous rations to the members of his family, he did not show them any preference and treated them on the basis of need, each family according to the number of souls. Our sages have stated that at a time when the general population suffers shortage even those who have ample are to limit themselves.

And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine.

And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said: ‘Give us bread; for why should we die in thy presence? for our money faileth.’

And when that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him: ‘We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s; there is nought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

ולחם אין בכל הארץ AND THERE WAS NO BREAD IN ALL THE LAND — Scripture reverts now to the original subject, viz, to the account of the beginning of the years of famine.

בשנה השנית IN THE SECOND YEAR — of the famine.

ויבאו כל מצרים, the people living in the land of Canaan went elsewhere to secure their food supplies. By now the Torah speaks of conditions during the sixth year of the famine. During that year Joseph distributed food and accepted livestock as payment. In the seventh year he handed over food in return for the local land owners renouncing their title to their land in favour of Pharaoh. He distributed seed so that there would be a harvest during the eight’s year when the famine was supposed to have ended. Our sages, quoted by Rashi, claim that the famine ceased with the arrival of Yaakov in Egypt and his blessing to Pharaoh which resulted in the Nile once again overflowing its banks and providing irrigation for the fields. One can raise serious reservations about this approach. If the famine did indeed stop already in the second year or at the end thereof, when did all the measures Joseph is described as taking in verses 14-22 take place?

בשנה השנית, the second year after the money had run out. This was the seventh year of the famine.

And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine.

ולחם אין בכל הארץ AND THERE WAS NO BREAD IN ALL THE LAND — Scripture reverts now to the original subject, viz, to the account of the beginning of the years of famine.

כי 'אם תם הכסף וגו is the same as כי אשר תם הכסף and the meaning is: but (כי) it is a fact that (אשר) the money and the herds of cattle are exhausted, and everything has now come into my lord's hands.

ותן זרע GIVE US SEED — to sow in the ground. Although Joseph had said (Genesis 45:6) “And there are yet five years when there will be no plowing and sowing”, as soon as Jacob came to Egypt a blessing came with his arrival: they began to sow and the famine came to an end. Thus do we read in the Tosefta of Sotah (Tosefta Sotah 10:3).

לא תשם means it shall not be desolate. The Targum renders it by לא תבור shall not be uncultivated, which has the same meaning as (Mishnah Peah 2:1) שדה בור an uncultivated field — one which is not ploughed.

וקוץ ודרדר תצמיח לך THORNS ALSO AND THISTLES SHALL IT BRING FORTH TO THEE— תצמיח has for subject the earth; when you sow it with various kinds of grain, it shall bring forth thorns and thistles — artichokes and cardoon — which are fit for food only after special preparation (Genesis Rabbah 20:10).

ותהי הארץ לפרעה SO THE LAND BECAME PHARAOH’S — possessed by him.

נמצא חן LET US FIND FAVOUR — [IN THE EYES OF MY LORD] in that you should do for us as you have said.

וישב ישראל בארץ מצרים AND ISRAEL ABODE IN THE LAND OF EGYPT — and where in the land of Egypt? בארץ גשן IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN which is a part of the land Egypt.