Happy Hanukkah to all! Every year when we read parasha Yayeishev (from last week) and this week’s Miketz I scratch my head and ask; what is this section about dreams supposed to teach us? I rarely share them, and almost never get into details, but 30 years ago I had two dreams that still have relevance for me today so I certainly relate to this section personally. The Talmudic sage, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, said, “Just like there can be no grain without straw there can be no dream without meaning,” and that is what I’d like to do today; look at the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream now and Joseph’s dream then, but also now.
After having his own (Gen. 37-5-11), and then interpreting
the dreams of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker while he was in prison (Gen.
40-1-23), this week Joseph interprets Pharaohs dreams (Gen. 41:1-7). Pharaoh dreamed about seven healthy and seven
unhealthy cows and ears of grain with the unhealthy devouring the healthy. Joseph
tells Pharaoh that the seven healthy cows and ears of grain represent seven
prosperous years of gathering grain in Egypt whereas the seven unhealthy cows
and ears of grain represent seven years of famine. To address this matter, the unhealthy
not devouring the healthy, Joseph comes up with a plan to store up the grain
for food during the prosperous seven years so during the seven years of famine there
will be enough food for all of Egypt; but also Egypt would have the ability and
prosper financially by feeding the rest of the world. Pharaoh then
elevates Joseph to the second most powerful person in Egypt.
There was a very big difference between their dreams however.
Joseph was only 17 years old when he had his two dreams that would not make sense
for another 20 years. Pharaoh had his two dreams interpreted within
a few days, dreams having to do with his immediate rule (Gen.
41:14-37). Maybe because he knew his role the meaning of Pharaoh’s
dreams came quickly, whereas for Joseph not so much. Joseph would
go through heartache and pain, family disappointments and difficulties, sold
into slavery, falsely accused of a crime that landed him in prison, only then becoming the second most powerful person in the world before marrying a daughter of
Pharaoh’s nobility, taking on the responsibilities as a husband and then a
father. Yet, when his brothers appeared before him 20 years later to
buy food during the famine ONLY in that moment did his dreams make sense that
he’d rule over his brothers (Gen.
48:8).
What would Joseph’s rule look like? He could
have ruled with an iron fist based on what his brothers did, in fact he surely toyed with them to see how
much they had changed if at all. But he also saw them with eyes of love and
compassion that we encounter at various times when he wept (Gen. 42:44, 43:30
and also 45:1). The first time Joseph weeps is in response to his brother
Reuven’s fear that they would all suffer for their sin against their brother
all those years ago, but the Joseph they did not recognize “noted their
distress” per the words of the Sfrono (Gen.
42:22-23). Those emotions hit Joseph even harder when he saw his
younger brother Benjamin for the first time, his compassion being “stirred up”
unlike the first encounter with his brothers.
Again according to the Sfrono,
Joseph felt the “the anguish his father and his brothers had
experienced all these years” rather than his own hardships (Gen.
43:30). Perhaps Joseph had to go through all that he did so when the revelation
of his dreams became known to him he would be a leader of compassion and care and not
a dictator who is harsh. It took a long time for Joseph to become
the man he needed to be in order to become the ruler he needed to be, only then could his dreams be fulfilled.
Regarding dreams we learn in the Talmud (Ber. 55b) that each
person is “shown a dream only by their own thoughts,” ala Freud and the
human subconscious, although the Talmud also teaches (Ber. 57b), “a dream is
worthy of having the Divine Presence rest upon him,” or as in says in
a Midrash (Gen. Rabbah 17:5), “a dream is a variety of prophecy,”
meaning there is a divine element to it. The Jewish mystical tradition believes
that good dreams stem from the higher worlds as we learn from Rabbi Moshe Chaim
Luzzatto (18th-century kabbalist). R’Luzzatto writes that dreams have a
scientific approach that impacts our thoughts and emotions but also agrees with
the Talmudic sages that dreams can have prophetic significance as well
(see Derech Hashem 3:1:6). For Luzzatto when asleep the human soul
interacts with external spiritual forces that in turn enters the subconscious
awareness and affects the content of our dreams. Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, in the
19th century, explains that the relationship between the physical and spiritual
aspects of dreams are made known by speech that bridges the spiritual and the
physical worlds, speech articulates a dream-state into a reality.
Therefore, one of the takeaways in parasha Miketz is about valuing our dreams and the journey to understand them. Okay maybe not everyone dreams, and maybe not everyone believes that dreams come from God, but we all have modes to create and process from another dimension or the sense of other, meaning that there are those who do believe that their dreams come from a divine source and/or inspiration; dreams you will know tomorrow or maybe not for another 20 years like Joseph. A word of wisdom from Torah, which I value because of my own experiences, comes from Jacob, Joseph’s father. When Joseph shared his dreams to rule over his family he angered his father Jacob who responded with nothing but a thought; Jacob “kept the matter in mind” because he knew dreams, reminding us that dreams have purpose - so don't be quick to dismiss them.
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Adam
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