Commentaire de citation sur La Genèse 41:56

V. 6. אכל תשברו, nicht mehr als für den augenblicklichen Bedarf (siehe Bereschit 41, 56). וגם מים, selbst Wasser, das doch seiner Natur nach mehr der freien Natur, als der Menschenbotmässigkeit angehört. (תכרו siehe Bereschit 49, 5).

You shall not bend judgment, you shall not recognize faces, and you shall not take bribes. From the fact that it does not say “and you shall not recognize faces” with a vav [conjunction] but does say and you shall not take bribes with a vav, we can infer that you shall not bend and you shall not recognize are each independent matters, but you shall not take bribes is a consequence of you shall not recognize faces. This is because the wealthy are called “the faces of the land,” as Rashi explained in Parashat Miketz (41:56). When it says you shall not recognize faces, it refers to the wealthy who are called “the faces of the land,” and when you do not recognize them, then naturally you will not take bribes. For one who recognizes the faces of the wealthy does so because of the expectation of bribes that he hopes to receive from them. The language of “bending” indicates that the two litigants should be equal in his eyes, as if both were placed on equal scales, without any tilt or inclination to either side. This is the meaning of you shall not recognize faces — that it should seem as if he recognizes neither of them.

הנה שבע שנים באות שבע גדול, "There are seven years coming of great plenty, etc." Joseph stressed that these plentiful harvests would be experienced "in the whole land of Egypt," and again mentioned בארץ מצרים, in the land of Egypt in the following verse, whereas he could have simply that בארץ, "on earth." He wanted to make it clear that whereas the plenty would be found only in the land of Egypt, the subsequent famine would be world wide. This is why he said וכלה הרעב את הארץ, "the famine will destroy the earth," when he described the effect of the famine. We find confirmation of all this (41,56) where the Torah describes the famine as extending all over the earth. When describing the effect of the years of plenty, however, the Torah merely speaks of "the seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt came to an end (41,53)." This shows clearly that the abundant harvests occurred only in Egypt itself. Were it not so the words "in the land of Egypt" would be misleading. Joseph realised all this by the appearance of the cows. When the lean cows were described as so exceptionally thin and poorly, this could not have been so if the whole earth had experienced abundance in the years preceding the famine. Egypt could then have imported food which the other countries had accumulated during the years of plenty. It was therefore clear to Joseph that the famine would be world wide whereas the plentiful years would be restricted to the land of Egypt.