[Avodah] The Jews fed the Mitzrim During Makas Choshech

[Micha Berger]

OK, I saw this idea, I thought in the Yalqut Reuveini:

During the 3 days of choshekh in which the Mitzriim could not move, how
did they eat? After all, a shevu'ah not to eat for 3 days is assumed to
be violated even at the beginning, since a person can't live three days
without food. So, if the Mitzriim didn't die, how did they eat?

So, the answer I riffed on in a devar Torah at R' Mordechai Machles's
home was that the Jews fed them. This leading into a whole bein adam
lachaveiro message about lo siqom, relating to non-Jews, etc... How the
Mitzriim didn't come help (at least not in numbers enough to be recorded
in the Torah) when vayiz'aqu min ha'avodah, but we came when they needed
us. Bein or lachoshekh, bein Yisrael la'amim.

I didn't say, but was thinking that perhaps this could answer another
question I had... HQBH promised Avraham we would leave with a rechush
gadol. I'm sure AA would be happy we would end up rich, but is this
really the greatest thing a tzadiq would hope for? So, I once offered a
chassidishe style answer, repunctuating a pasuq from after makas Choshekh
(11:2): Daber na be'zanei ha'am -- that they should ask, every man of
their neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, gold utensils and silver
utensils. And Chazal say that HQBH said "na" because He "needed a favor"
(kavayachol-quotes) in order to fulfil His promise. I suggested they meant
that Avraham's "rechush gadol" could only be in his middah, chessed. The
wealth was that Moshe put the word "na" in the ears of the people --
teaching them to say "please", even in this situation. But now I could
answer without playing with the punctuation: that Avraham's rechush
gadol of chesed was sustaining the Mitzrim during the makkah!

Problem is, RMM didn't find the core idea from which I built this vort.
So he called me up last night (which I just realized means he was learning
at 3:03 am, his time) and asked me to help him find it. And I also failed.
The YR on Bo doesn't say anything about the Jews feeding the Mitzriim.
So, where did I see it; does anyone want to help me look?

Hint: probably a sefer with similar visuals...

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "And you shall love H' your G-d with your whole
micha at aishdas.org        heart, your entire soul, and all you own."
http://www.aishdas.org   Love is not two who look at each other,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      It is two who look in the same direction.