B"H

Rob,

Your arguments are well taken.

This past Shabbos, I browsed through this weeks Parashah (Parashas Vayachi) in the "Midrash Hagadol." There it brings down a very interesting "Kal ve'chomer" - inference from minor to major premise. The Torah, it says, mentions the priests of Egypt who were exempt from selling off their land to Pharaoh in order to purchase grain, and yet were they supplied with grain free of charge. The Midrash says that they (i.e. the priests of Egypt) were idol worshippers, and yet were they given grain freely. The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jaco, who are not idol worshippers, besides being a nation of priests, should they not be supplied with grain free of charge?!

Sincerely,
David

B"H David

quote:

The children of Abraham, Isaac and Jaco, who are not idol worshippers, besides being a nation of priests, should they not be supplied with grain free of charge?!

That is a very nice argument indeed!

Now, would this have been an effective argument against the Egytians whom Ramban said would have complained had Yoseif sent grain outside of Egypt to his family in Eretz Canaan?

And furthermore, the stipend of grain negotiated ahead of time for the Egytian priests, how abundant a stipend was that?

Rashi's comment (on Yoseif giving grain according to the young ones within B'nei Yisrael) on 47:12 as Artscroll reports is explained by Mizrachi and Sifsei Chachamim...

indicates that Yoseif gave his family sufficient grain to account for the wasted food of little children eating and dropping crumbs and otherwise.

Would Yoseif have been permitted to shower them with this much food in a time of famine if they were in Eretz Canaan?

Was this the stipend of the Egyptian idolatrous priests?

B"H

Was there any way the Egyptians would have known about Yoseph giving to his brothers free of charge?

David

B"H

A few responses...

Was there any way that Moshe Rabeinu thought that the Egyptians, other than the one he killed, would have known about the matter?

Does it matter to Yoseif HaTzadik? If only Hashem would know, and Yoseif knows that it is not something that the Egyptian people would like, is that not sufficient for him to avoid the spector of improper personal gain?

Ramban doesn't seem to be bothered by your logistical question in his comment about why Yoseif could not take so much grain out of Egypt to feed his family in Eretz Canaan, so that must not be the issue.