Shabbat Parashat Mikeitz - 5786

Shabbat Parashat Mikeitz - 5786

Rabbi Hal Miller

   And the seven years of famine began to approach, just as Yosef had said,

  and there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was

  bread. [Bereishit 41:54]

  All the land of Egypt hungered, and the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread.

  So Pharaoh said to all of Egypt, "Go to Yosef. Whatever he says to you, you

  should do." [Bereishit 41:55]

The first of these two verses ends by telling us that in all of Egypt there was bread, but the next verse begins with all of Egypt being hungry. This seems inconsistent.

On Yosef's advice, everyone in Egypt saved grain from the years of plenty to ensure they would have food during the upcoming famine, so Bereishit Rabbah [91:5] wonders what became of this grain. The answer is that all of it rotted, thus although there was bread, it was inedible and everyone hungered. Rashi adds that all rotted "except for that of Yosef". Talelei Oros expands on Rashi that our question on the two verses proves this rotting must have happened immediately upon the beginning of the famine. All of this indicates that a clear miracle occurred on behalf of Yosef, beyond just fulfilling his predictions, so Pharaoh and his people would be impressed by the power of God.

But not everybody takes that approach. Bereishit Rabbah [90:6] expounds on our first verse "there was famine in all the lands", saying that this means "in three countries, Phoenicia, Arabia and Palestine". Ramban explains that "all the lands" means only ones "that were in the vicinity of Egypt, for what would distant places do if a famine like this had affected them?" Certainly the whole world could not have been stricken because most peoples would not be able to make it to Egypt for food, and may not have been aware of Yosef to begin with.

Radak sees our second verse as applying only to Egypt. During the years of plenty, all the surrounding lands copied Yosef and stored away the abundance against the upcoming famine so they were not hungry immediately upon the beginning of the famine. Only in Egypt did the privately stored grain rot so that every Egyptian was hungry immediately. The way to read our verses under this opinion is that the famine struck everywhere in the region, and that there was bread in Egypt, but only in the storehouses of Yosef. The two verses are then consistent. Yosef had the bread in every city, but until the people came to him, they were hungry.