Quick Summary
- Joseph is called upon to interpret Pharaoh’s two dreams
- He predicts seven upcoming years of famine and advises Pharaoh to begin storing grain.
- Joseph is rewarded, is put in a leadership position over the land
- Famine strikes in Egypt and Jacob sends his sons, minus Benjamin to Egypt.
- His ten brothers travel to Egypt to buy food, and they do not recognize him.
- Joseph accuses them of being spies and thieves. He seizes Shimon as a hostage, tells them he will not go free until they bring their younger brother to him.
- Jacob agrees to send Benjamin after Judah assumes personal responsibility for him.
- Joseph tests his brothers...Benjamin is threatened with staying behind as his slave.
We'll continue to explore the Torah's vision of Joseph's spiritual journey and the ways in which he changes over time, toward becoming 'shleymut'/whole. How might the use of dreams weigh in on this?
We read parshiot Vayeishev, Mikeitz and Vayigash (all relate the story of Joseph and his brothers) either before, during or immediately after Chanukah. Looking at time
as a spiral of time, and not in a linear fashion, what are we to learn from this?
To the extent that inner perfection is lacking, nature will strive for exterior perfection. The drive for self-glorification before others will only awaken from a state of baseness of spirit, whether in what the spirit really has or in what it doesn't have. Therefore, a person must increase the impression of their inner perfection, and then his words when speaking of himself before others will always be properly balanced. ~Rav Kook, Middot HaRe’eiya, Kavod 4]
~ Bereshit has many dreams:
- Avimelech's dream - Sarah is Abraham's wife (Genesis 20:3-7)
- Jacob's dream of a ladder (Genesis 28:10-15)
- Jacob's sheep (Genesis 31:10-13)
- Laban's dream - don't harm or do good to Jacob (Genesis 31:22-24)
- Joseph's dreams regarding his brothers and parents (sheaves of wheat bowing down; sun and moon (Genesis 37:5-9)
- Cupbearer's and Chief Baker's dreams (Genesis 40:9-17)
- Pharaoh's dreams - cows / stalks (Genesis 41:1-7)
Freud took as the motto for his pathbreaking Interpretation of Dreams, published at the end of 1899, a line from Virgil’s Aeneid: “If I cannot bend the higher powers, I will move the infernal regions,” which summarized his thesis. Desires censored by the defenses of our “higher mental authorities” would resort to the realm of our “mental underworld (the unconscious)” to achieve their ends (Peter Gay, Freud: A Life for our Time, p. 105). Nowhere does the secularization of the modern mind find more striking articulation than in the view that dreams are no longer regarded as an emanation from above but rather as an eruption from below. ~Ismar Schorsch, Vayeshev
(א) וַיְהִ֕י מִקֵּ֖ץ שְׁנָתַ֣יִם יָמִ֑ים וּפַרְעֹ֣ה חֹלֵ֔ם וְהִנֵּ֖ה עֹמֵ֥ד עַל־הַיְאֹֽר׃ (ב) וְהִנֵּ֣ה מִן־הַיְאֹ֗ר עֹלֹת֙ שֶׁ֣בַע פָּר֔וֹת יְפ֥וֹת מַרְאֶ֖ה וּבְרִיאֹ֣ת בָּשָׂ֑ר וַתִּרְעֶ֖ינָה בָּאָֽחוּ׃ (ג) וְהִנֵּ֞ה שֶׁ֧בַע פָּר֣וֹת אֲחֵר֗וֹת עֹל֤וֹת אַחֲרֵיהֶן֙ מִן־הַיְאֹ֔ר רָע֥וֹת מַרְאֶ֖ה וְדַקּ֣וֹת בָּשָׂ֑ר וַֽתַּעֲמֹ֛דְנָה אֵ֥צֶל הַפָּר֖וֹת עַל־שְׂפַ֥ת הַיְאֹֽר׃ (ד) וַתֹּאכַ֣לְנָה הַפָּר֗וֹת רָע֤וֹת הַמַּרְאֶה֙ וְדַקֹּ֣ת הַבָּשָׂ֔ר אֵ֚ת שֶׁ֣בַע הַפָּר֔וֹת יְפֹ֥ת הַמַּרְאֶ֖ה וְהַבְּרִיאֹ֑ת וַיִּיקַ֖ץ פַּרְעֹֽה׃ (ה) וַיִּישָׁ֕ן וַֽיַּחֲלֹ֖ם שֵׁנִ֑ית וְהִנֵּ֣ה ׀ שֶׁ֣בַע שִׁבֳּלִ֗ים עֹל֛וֹת בְּקָנֶ֥ה אֶחָ֖ד בְּרִיא֥וֹת וְטֹבֽוֹת׃ (ו) וְהִנֵּה֙ שֶׁ֣בַע שִׁבֳּלִ֔ים דַּקּ֖וֹת וּשְׁדוּפֹ֣ת קָדִ֑ים צֹמְח֖וֹת אַחֲרֵיהֶֽן׃ (ז) וַתִּבְלַ֙עְנָה֙ הַשִּׁבֳּלִ֣ים הַדַּקּ֔וֹת אֵ֚ת שֶׁ֣בַע הַֽשִּׁבֳּלִ֔ים הַבְּרִיא֖וֹת וְהַמְּלֵא֑וֹת וַיִּיקַ֥ץ פַּרְעֹ֖ה וְהִנֵּ֥ה חֲלֽוֹם׃
(1) After two years’ time, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, (2) when out of the Nile there came up seven cows, handsome and sturdy, and they grazed in the reed grass. (3) But presently, seven other cows came up from the Nile close behind them, ugly and gaunt, and stood beside the cows on the bank of the Nile; (4) and the ugly gaunt cows ate up the seven handsome sturdy cows. And Pharaoh awoke. (5) He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven ears of grain, solid and healthy, grew on a single stalk. (6) But close behind them sprouted seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind. (7) And the thin ears swallowed up the seven solid and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke: it was a dream!
קֵץ (n-m) end, at the end of (time), the end (of space)
יפות מראה. סִימָן הוּא לִימֵי שֹׂבַע, שֶׁהַבְּרִיּוֹת נִרְאוֹת יָפוֹת זוֹ לָזוֹ, שֶׁאֵין עֵין בְּרִיָּה צָרָה בַחֲבֶרְתָּהּ:
“In every sorrow there is profit” (Proverbs 14:23). This too is said in regard to Joseph, who suffered in prison and then profited from it [in becoming] ruler over Egypt . . . ~Midrash Tanchuma
ויהי מקץ..ופרעה חולם, while he was dreaming about all kinds of matters of no relevance, matters reflecting what he had experienced during the course of the previous day, he also dreamt something totally unrelated to matters he could relate to, i.e. he saw himself standing on the banks of the river. The word חולם in the present tense, as opposed to חלם in the past, recalls Daniel’s statement as well as the Talmud’s statement in Berachot 55 that generally the subjects one dreams about are unfinished business of what one had been thinking of in the course of the previous day.
איתא בגמרא (פסחים נ:) לעולם ילמוד אדם אפילו שלא לשמה שמתוך שלא לשמה בא לשמה. ואיתא בגמרא (ע' ברכות יז.) כל העוסק בתורה שלא לשמה נוח לו שלא נברא. והתוספות (פסחים נ. ד"ה וכאן) הקשו אהדדי.
And the essence of the trait of humility is that one contemplates that all the accomplishments that he has are not from the angle of his deeds and his wisdom, but rather that the Creator, blessed be He, effects this accomplishment from the angle of His kindness. And then he merits the aspect of inspiration from the Divine Presence, the aspect of prophecy. And that is [the meaning of] that which is written (Genesis 41:16), “Not I, God will address the peace of Pharaoh.” And Onkelos translates [it as], “It is not from my wisdom; rather the address to the peace of Pharoah will come from before God.” [Its] explanation is that Yosef had the aspect of humility, so he merited the aspect of inspiration from the Divine Presence, the aspect of prophecy.
(8) Next morning, his spirit was agitated, and he sent for all the magician-priests of Egypt, and all its sages; and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but none could interpret them for Pharaoh. (9) The chief cupbearer then spoke up and said to Pharaoh, “I must make mention today of my offenses. (10) Once Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and placed me in custody in the house of the prefect, together with the chief baker. (11) We had dreams the same night, he and I, each of us a dream with a meaning of its own. (12) A Hebrew youth was there with us, a servant of the prefect; and when we told him our dreams, he interpreted them for us, telling each of the meaning of his dream.
And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream (Gen. 41:7), when a person awakes from a sleeping time and behold, it was a dream [halom], which suggests “He returned and healed [halim].” Based on this reason, we read the Torah portion in question on Hanukkah, because the Torah is advice as is written, I have advice [and sound wisdom; I am insight, I have strength] (Proverbs 8:14) – it advises a person how to serve God and to return to [God] (omitted)[*The notation נשמט ("omitted") appears in the Hebrew text in all editions.]. Therefore it is forbidden to use [the Hanukkah candles’] light, since a person can turn in no direction other than to God alone – not for the sake of this world and also not for the sake of the next world.
The awareness of the true nature of one’s skills and capacities is in no way incompatible with humility. ~Rabbi Abraham Twerski, Let Us Make Man, p.19
Then spoke the chief butler to Pharaoh . . . “There was there with us a lad, a Hebrew, a slave . . . and he interpreted to us our dreams” (41:9–12). Accursed are the wicked, for they never do a kindness thoroughly. In mentioning Joseph, the chief butler speaks of him in disparaging language: “a lad”—unwise, and unfitted for a high position; “a Hebrew,” who does not even know our language; “a slave,” and it is written in the bylaws of Egypt that a slave may neither become a ruler nor dress in princely robes. ~Rashi
Rabbi Yochanan said: All dreams are dependent on the interpretation given to them, except for a dream about wine. Sometimes a dream of drinking wine bodes well, and sometimes it spells misfortune. When a scholar drinks, it is a good sign; when an ignoramus drinks, it spells misfortune. ~Midrash Rabbah
Abarbanel (Genesis 40:24) writes that dreams are the revelation of disorganized thoughts that are suppressed during waking hours and released during sleep. Such dreams are vain, have no meaning and have no effect one way or the other.
(יג) וַיְהִ֛י כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר פָּֽתַר־לָ֖נוּ כֵּ֣ן הָיָ֑ה אֹתִ֛י הֵשִׁ֥יב עַל־כַּנִּ֖י וְאֹת֥וֹ תָלָֽה׃ (יד) וַיִּשְׁלַ֤ח פַּרְעֹה֙ וַיִּקְרָ֣א אֶת־יוֹסֵ֔ף וַיְרִיצֻ֖הוּ מִן־הַבּ֑וֹר וַיְגַלַּח֙ וַיְחַלֵּ֣ף שִׂמְלֹתָ֔יו וַיָּבֹ֖א אֶל־פַּרְעֹֽה׃ (טו) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר פַּרְעֹה֙ אֶל־יוֹסֵ֔ף חֲל֣וֹם חָלַ֔מְתִּי וּפֹתֵ֖ר אֵ֣ין אֹת֑וֹ וַאֲנִ֗י שָׁמַ֤עְתִּי עָלֶ֙יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר תִּשְׁמַ֥ע חֲל֖וֹם לִפְתֹּ֥ר אֹתֽוֹ׃ (טז) וַיַּ֨עַן יוֹסֵ֧ף אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֛ה לֵאמֹ֖ר בִּלְעָדָ֑י אֱלֹהִ֕ים יַעֲנֶ֖ה אֶת־שְׁל֥וֹם פַּרְעֹֽה׃
(13) And as he interpreted for us, so it came to pass: I was restored to my post, and the other was impaled.” (14) Thereupon Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and he was rushed from the dungeon. He had his hair cut and changed his clothes, and he appeared before Pharaoh. (15) And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, but no one can interpret it. Now I have heard it said of you that for you to hear a dream is to tell its meaning.” (16) Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “Not I! God will see to Pharaoh’s welfare.”
IT IS NOT IN ME. Biladai (it is not in me) is a compound of two words. It is not in me refers to And I have heard say of thee that when thou hearest a dream thou canst interpret it (v. 15). When Joseph heard Pharaoh say this he replied, it is not in me, but God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace via my interpretation. Others say that when Joseph heard Pharaoh say, thou canst interpret dreams, Jospeh replied, I am not (it is not in me) the interpreter; God is, and He will give the king an answer of peace.
We now understand that Yosef counseled Pharaoh because this advice was included in the dream. Not only does the dream foresee the future, but it also provides a way to handle it. Yosef understands that a dream is meant not only to predict the future, but also to hint at how it can be influenced. This understanding is based on two assumptions: First, Yosef understands that if God reveals Himself to a person in a dream and tells him something, there is a need for that revelation. If a person can do nothing, God does not reveal Himself to him and tell him about the future. Second, Yosef knows that the dream will not necessarily come true. We have already seen with Avraham that even when he was explicitly promised inheritance of the land, he feared that his sins would be a factor, and so he asks: "How shall I know that I shall inherit it" (15:8). All the more so is it possible that a dream will not be realized; the purpose of a dream is to direct a person toward its fulfillment. www.etzion.org
מִי שֶׁרוֹצֶה שֶׁיִּתְקַיְּמוּ חֲלוֹמוֹתָיו, יִכְתּב אוֹתָם בְּפִנְקָסוֹ וְאֶת הַיּוֹם וְאֶת הַשָּׁעָה וְאֶת הַמָּקוֹם.
A person who wants his dreams to be fulfilled should record them in a notebook, including the date, time and place they occurred. ~Sefer HaMiddot, Dreams, Part II (Rebbe Nachman of Breslov).
As Maimonides (Laws of Repentance, Ch. 5) explains, free will is one of the most fundamental principles of Judaism. Our actions are in our own hands. We can determine our future. There is no predestination in the eyes of the Torah. Our future is indeterminate. Every day of our lives we can wake up and decide if we want to be good or wicked. ~www.aish.com
A dream not interpreted will be manifest in the world, but the dreamer will not know it…all that is to be in the world is revealed to us…but if we do not access it, it will remain in the cosmos and pass us by. Zohar - regarding Rabbi Hisdah
Prophecy means that a prophet is standing here today being told what will occur tomorrow. “Tomorrow” is thus no longer indeterminate. It has been established already today; free will has been compromised. Dreams, by contrast, are an experience in which the dreamer actually experiences the future. Dreams are a beyond-time experience. The future has not been announced and brought down to the present. It is still the inchoate future, and so by definition – since free will exists – it can happen in more than one way.
This is the intent of the Talmud when it states that dreams follow their interpretation. A dream by definition can come true in more than one way. It is still a “future” experience, not yet compromised by entering the world of time. Thus, until an interpretation is offered – whether good or bad – a dream by its very nature must have two possible outcomes. www.aish.com
You should appreciate that dreams are caused by one or several of three factors. 1) because of the food a person consumed prior to going to sleep. 2) because of certain thoughts which he entertained before dropping off to sleep. 3) in order to reinforce and provide encouragement to a person’s emotional balance.
The food a person consumed produces a sense of haughtiness and results in some kind of vapour rising to a person’s brain. Dreams which are engendered through this phenomenon are to be totally disregarded; they do not contain any message to the person who dreams them. When a dream is the continuation, albeit in his subconscious, of thoughts he had entertained on an ongoing basis prior to dropping off to sleep, such dreams are the type which were dreamt by Nebuchadnezzar as mentioned by Daniel 2,29 when he said to the King that his thoughts came to him while he was contemplating the future. Seeing he had done so, G’d used this as the appropriate time to reveal some of the future to the King in his dream. Finally, the third cause of a dream, the cause we have termed חזוק הנפש. This is the kind of dream to which it always pays to pay attention as it is a reflection of the dreamer’s personality. Dreams which are the result of a person’s imagination draw images for him during his sleep of matters which had already been the subject of his thinking and planning during his waking hours, matters which had already coalesced in his planning and thinking. During sleep, when a person’s emotions are not interfering with his thought-processes, the factors which prompted him to pursue a certain course of action while he was fully awake are reinforced and engraved in his imagination. Such dreams are not the result of wishful thinking, but are in the nature of a minor prophetic vision. This is what the sages had in mind when they said (Berachot 57) that a dream is 1/60th prophecy. These kinds of prophecies are granted to young children and feeble minded persons (Baba Batra 12) precisely because their minds have not yet been filled with all kinds of images during their waking hours which would have left an impression on their minds even while they were asleep and as a result of which it would be impossible to tell whether such dreams are inspirational or a continuation of what they thought while awake. Dreams of such a nature are granted both to the righteous and to the wicked; they are not due to the dreamer having been immersed in thoughts of such a nature previously; they are not self-induced. G’d wanted to let Pharaoh have such a dream in order to frustrate his advisers and professional dream-interpreters in order to elevate Joseph to the position of viceroy of Egypt, i.e. King, except in name.
"Dreams sometimes speak from an intelligence that seems wiser than our waking selves... a dream can offer advice but rarely in a direct way a, the way a friend or therapist does. Mostly dreams express themselves through images, bending characters and narratives into strange shapes we wouldn't see in waking life... We might say that dreams are the poems we and Divine send one another." ~Rabbi Jill Hammer
"When we dream the logic centers in our brain - the frontal lobes- go dark, and chemicals associated with self-control drop. At the same time the emotion centers light up: we have a perfect chemical canvas for dramatic, psychologically intense visions." ~ Alice Robb, Science journalist
The numbers five, six, and ten are mnemonics for the categories to follow. The Gemara says: There are five matters in our world which are one-sixtieth of their most extreme manifestations. They are: Fire, honey, Shabbat, sleep, and a dream. The Gemara elaborates: Our fire is one-sixtieth of the fire of Gehenna; honey is one-sixtieth of manna; Shabbat is one-sixtieth of the World-to-Come; sleep is one-sixtieth of death; and a dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy.
The Rabbis, who transformed the religion of ancient Israel into Judaism, retain a modicum of belief that dreams or any state of unfocused consciousness may serve as a mediator of the divine will. For example, if you rise early and a specific verse of the Torah comes to mind, there is a touch of prophecy at work here (B.T. Berakhot 57b). The content of the verse carries some kind of divine message. Similarly, if at a critical juncture, you turn to a youngster studying Scripture and ask her what specific verse she is reading at the moment, that verse bears some relationship to your life (B.T. Hagiga 15a). ~Ismar Schorsch, Vayeshev
[I]n the post Bar-Kochba era in the latter half of the second century, the Rabbis curbed prophecy itself. The era of prophetic communication was over, having ended some 700 years before with the last of the minor prophets – Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. In their own period, the Rabbis dared to avow that “the sage was to be preferred to the prophet,” by which they meant to vindicate their own leadership (B.T. Bava Batra 12a). God’s voice was no longer accessible directly, but only indirectly. The interpretation of Scripture through painstaking study became the only valid manner of detecting God’s will. In third-century Palestine, Rabbi Yochanan went so far as to declaim that since the destruction of the Temple (i.e. the Second), prophecy was to be found only among fools and children (B.T. Bava Batra 12b). ~Ismar Schorsch, Vayeshev