בראשית, פרק מ״ז, פסוק י״ג

Following the emotional reunion between Joseph, his brothers, and his father, the narrative pauses the family story to confront the harsh, agonizing reality of the regional famine. Commentators debate the exact timing of these events. The primary approach among commentators is that the account flashes back to the early years of the famine [רש״י, הכתב והקבלה, דברי דוד ועוד]. According to tradition, the famine ended the moment Jacob arrived in Egypt due to his blessing. Therefore, the story steps back to detail Joseph's actions during the initial two years of the crisis before his father's arrival. Conversely, others maintain that the events follow a straightforward chronological order [שד״ל, אבן עזרא]. In this view, after five years of purchasing grain, the Egyptians had exhausted their financial resources, and the situation devolved into the advanced, desperate stages of starvation.

The lack of food was not necessarily an absolute absence of grain, but rather a reality where it was impossible to bake proper, edible bread. The meager amount of grain that remained was mixed with bran and agricultural waste, resulting in a poor, unsatisfying loaf [העמק דבר]. The famine was so severe that it created an unnatural physical condition; even when individuals consumed massive quantities of food, they were left with an internal sense of agonizing emptiness and starvation [אור החיים].

This profound deprivation triggered a severe physical and mental decline among the population. Many commentators understand this deterioration as an overwhelming fatigue and weakness [רש״י, רשב״ם, רב סעדיה גאון]. This was not the ordinary tiredness born of hard labor, but a deep withering of the body and a draining of life force caused by severe malnourishment [ביאור יש״ר, רש״ר הירש]. In a broader sense, even the earth itself appeared exhausted, as the brutal drought prevented anything from growing [ביאור שטיינזלץ].

Beyond physical weakness, the crisis induced a state of utter helplessness, leaving people entirely lost and unsure of how to save themselves [אבן עזרא, רלב״ג]. Taking this distress a step further, the extreme starvation drove people to the brink of madness, causing them to lose their sanity, behave irrationally, and exhibit erratic movements [רד״ק, העמק דבר].

Ultimately, this devastation was most pronounced in the lands of Egypt and Canaan. Other surrounding countries are omitted from the account either because they were simply too far away for their inhabitants to journey to Egypt for grain, or because the famine was far less destructive in those distant regions [רשב״ם, ביאור יש״ר].