Commentaire sur La Genèse 41:55

ותרעב כל ארץ מצרים AND THE LAND OF EGYPT WAS FAMISHED — for all the grain they had stored up rotted except that of Joseph (cf. Genesis Rabbah 91:5)

ותרעב, each one had used up his private hoard either by eating it or selling it. Besides, they could not store a great deal, having had to surrender twenty per cent of their annual harvests to Joseph’s officials.

ותרעב כל ארץ מצרים, “The whole land of Egypt was famished, etc.” This verse speaks of the second year of the famine. It teaches that G’d had proclaimed that Egypt should suffer the pangs of hunger. We have a similar incidence in Kings II 8,1 כי קרא ה' לרעב, “for G’d has decreed famine.” Another verse in which the expression קרא is used in connection with famine is found in Psalms 105,16 קרא רעב על הארץ כל מטה לחם שבר, “He called down a famine on the land; destroyed every staff of bread.”
As a result the famine was being felt by the people, ויקרא העם אל פרעה ללחם, “the people called out to Pharaoh for food.” It is in the nature of people to cry out to those in whose power it is to satisfy their needs. We find a verse in Psalms 107,5 רעבים גם צמאים נפשם בהם תתעטף, “the hungry and thirsty, their spirit failed”. On the other hand: ויצעקו אל ה' בצר להם, “they cried out to G’d (after) they were in distress, etc.”

Because Yoseif was telling them to be circumcised... Rashi deduced this because it is written אשר יאמר לכם תעשו. Why is it written אשר יאמר (“whatever he says”), rather than אשר יצוה )“whatever he commands”)? Perforce, אמירה implies circumcision, as David says (Tehillim 119:162): “I rejoice over Your word (אמרתך),” [referring to circumcision]. The commentators discussed this at length; see there.

ויצעק העם לפרעה ללחם, “the people cried out to Pharaoh for food.” They wanted him to sell them food which they knew had been stored. It was below the king’s dignity to become a merchant selling food; in order to remain in good standing with his people, he sent them to Joseph who would tell them how to act. He would share out food according to prices determined by him, the proceeds being delivered to Pharaoh’s treasury.

אשר יאמר לכם תעשו WHAT HE SAITH TO YOU, DO — He gave them this order because Joseph had told them to be circumcised. When they came to Pharaoh and said, “Thus he bids us do otherwise he will give us no corn”, he asked them, “Why did you yourselves not lay up corn? Did he not publicly announce that years of famine were coming?” They answered him, “We gathered in much, but it has rotted”. He said to them, “If this be so — what he saith to you, do. See, he laid a decree upon the produce and it rotted; what will happen if he lays a decree upon us that we should die!” (cf. Genesis Rabbah 91:5)

ויצעק העם, they knew that Joseph had stored up their twenty percent contributions each year. They appealed to Pharaoh knowing that the food which had been stored was intended to be sold back to the people during the famine.