[Avodah] Water during a drought

[Liron Kopinsky]

Me Originally:

Ber 43:24
 וַיָּבֵא הָאִישׁ אֶת-הָאֲנָשִׁים, בֵּיתָה יוֹסֵף; וַיִּתֶּן-מַיִם
וַיִּרְחֲצוּ רַגְלֵיהֶם, וַיִּתֵּן מִסְפּוֹא לַחֲמֹרֵיהֶם. *24* And the man
brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed
their feet; and he gave their asses provender.

Does anyone comment on the use of water here to wash their feet during the
drought? I don't see anything in the Mikraot Gedolot I have here.


On Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 7:33 AM, <t613k at aol.com> wrote
>
> What makes you think there was a drought?  There was a famine -- presumably a crop failure -- but the cause of the crop failure is not mentioned -- maybe insects or some kind of blight?  At any rate, Egypt never has a drought because it is not dependent on rain, it is dependent on the Nile
>
>
This is the most common comment that I have received on my question, and it
is a good one. There are two reasons why I am bothered by it:
1) The famine reached well beyond Egypt, into areas that have nothing
agriculturally to do with the Nile. Theoretically insects or crop disease
is possible, but I have never heard any mention of those in the past.
2) Pharoah's dream mentions that he was standing Al Sefat haYeor. It seems
to me that both the years of plenty and years of drought are tied to the
production of the Nile. But then why would the famine extend beyond the
reach of the Nile? I would suppose that it would be due to a general lack
of rain in the whole area, which in turn caused the Nile to not overflow
its banks.

One answer to my question that I thought of is that in general crops grow
on certain cycles, taking all of their water during particular times of the
year. So if the brothers were coming to Yosef after this years (failed)
crops would have taken their water, then there is no need for any
subsequent water and no issue with using the surplus.

Kol Tuv,
Liron

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