BAIS HAVAAD ON THE PARSHA 5772 PARSHAS VAYIGASH Communal Expenditures

At the end of this week's parsha the Torah tells us how Yosef ruled Egypt. Following the famine that decimated Egypt, Yosef set up a taxation system whereby all citizens were obligated to pay one-fifth of their agricultural income to the government. However, Yosef exempted all priests from this taxation. One will note that the Torah uses a double expression when mentioning that the priests were exempt. The Torah writes "only the priests' land alone did not become Pharaoh's." Feature Shiur Parshas Vayigash. Community & Taxation. by: Rav Yehonoson Dovid Hool Rabbeinu Saadia Gaon explains that the Torah is stressing that Yosef's exemption applied strictly to the priests. Although many others tried to avoid the tax as well, Yosef only exempted the priests whose lands were legally entitled to be under the legal title of the priest himself. PRINT VERSION HERE PARSHA PERSPECTIVES VAYIGASH