Parashat Miketz (Chanukah): Dreams

Many years ago, a school friend told me something I've never forgotten, and it's directly related to the start of this week's Parasha. He said he'd heard that a recent archaeological expedition had made an astounding discovery in Egypt. Apparently, they had found the skeletons of seven cows buried one next to the other and had dated the remains to around the time of Joseph's sojourn in the land. My eyes almost popped out in excitement. He waited a moment and then with a wry smile added: 'but it was a dream, remember?' To my amusement (which should really be 'shame'), I've subsequently repeated the same joke to many other people and everyone falls for it! 

 This week's Parasha of Miketz tells us that:

Two years passed. Then Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing by the Nile when seven handsome, healthy cows came up out of the river and grazed among the reeds. Then seven other cows came up from the river after them, ugly and gaunt and stood beside them on the riverbank. The ugly gaunt cows ate up the seven handsome healthy cows. Pharaoh awoke. (Translation by Rabbi Sacks ztl in the Koren Magerman Tanach) Bereshit 41:1-4

After relating the contents of the next dream (which I will discuss later), the Torah tells us that a very troubled Pharaoh tried to understand the meaning of his dream but none of Egypt's finest astrologers or sages could 'offer an interpretation that satisfied him.' Whereupon the chief cupbearer related his experiences in prison with a young Hebrew slave. We know what happened next.

Like you, I've read this story countless times and I can even sing the song from the musical, but have you ever wondered how Joseph instinctively knew that the seven cows and the seven sheaves of corn from the King's second dream related to time - namely the years of plenty and famine that would overtake the country?

I will be referring to a fascinating series of shiurim given by Rabbi David Fohrman on the topic of Joseph's dreams, some of which are described in this week's Parasha (you can find out more at http://www.alephbeta.org)

Rabbi Fohrman makes the point that the astrologers were unable to interpolate the idea of time from those dreams. Our commentators explain that they believed that the seven cows could be representing a number of different elements in the Kingdom such as the number of crops or how many daughters had been fathered by Pharaoh. 'Time' never entered their thoughts.

If we put this to one side for a moment, let us examine the situation that 30-year-old Joseph found himself in. Over a period of 13 years, he had been sold at the age of 17 and was now standing before the throne. The following had taken place:

·         Joseph interpreted his dreams to his family.

·         He was given a beautiful coat by his father.

·         He was sent by Jacob to find out what had happened to his brothers and their flocks.

·         The brothers removed his coat and shortly afterwards, tore it to shreds.

·         Joseph was thrown into the pit (which is called a 'be'or' in Hebrew).

·         He was sold to Potiphar and thrown into prison after a wrongful accusation of rape by his master’s wife. He stayed there for up to 12 years (according to the Mishna Tanchuma Chapter 9), which also factors in the two additional years he received as punishment for asking the butler to request his release.

·         After Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph was rescued from prison (for which the Torah also uses the word 'be'or') by Pharaoh

·         He was given new clothes to wear.

·         He interpreted Pharaoh's dreams.

In shorthand, we can order these events as follows:

Dreams - given coat - sent away by his father - coat removed - thrown into the pit - removed, sold, thrown into prison - rescued from the 'pit' by Pharaoh - given new clothes - interpreted the King's dreams. 

The story detailed in Parshiot Vayeishev and Mikeitz can be seen to form a textual structure called a chiasm, where the events at the beginning are mirrored in reverse at the end. In Hebrew, this is called an ATBASH which is an acronym for:

Aleph, Tav, Bet, Shin, followed by Gimmel/Resh, Dalet/Kuf etc).

How is this relevant to our topic of Joseph connecting the dots in his master's dreams to come up with the answer he does (i.e., the seven cows representing seven years)?

The clue lies in the language that Pharaoh used to describe the cows. Referring back to the text, he said that he saw 'seven handsome (or 'beautiful of form') healthy cows'. The word the Torah uses to describe 'handsome' is v’yifot to’ar.

As Rabbi Fohrman likes to say: 'where have we seen this before'?

In fact, only two people in the entire Torah are referred to as being yafeh to'ar and yafeh mareh (literally, 'beautiful to behold') and these are Joseph and his mother, Rachel.

In Parashat Vayetzei, The Torah tells us that 'v'Rachel hayetah yefat toar vi’fat mareh, and Rachel was beautiful of form and had beautiful appearance'

We also know that Jacob loved Rachel and initially agreed to work seven years for his deceitful uncle in order to gain her hand in marriage. After the sisters were swapped, he worked another seven years. The first seven years ended up in his marrying Leah and the second period was undertaken for Rachel's hand.

Coming to the second set of Pharaoh's cows, the King describes them:

'Vehineh sheva-parot acherot olot achareihen, so after this, seven really ugly cows came out of the river too. Dalot v’Ra’ot to’ar, they were poor and really ugly, v’rakot basar, they were thin and gaunt.'

The word 'rakot' though spelled differently in Hebrew, is a homonym and the only other time it is used in the Torah is when describing Leah, in the same verse as the one I quoted regarding Rachel.

'v'einei Leah rakot - and Leah's eyes were thin (or soft).'

It is entirely conceivable that Joseph related the two periods of seven years to his father's experience labouring for his uncle (not including the final six years which followed the fourteen and were not connected to the marriages.)

Initially in Pharaoh's dream, for a short while, seven well-fed cows grazed alongside seven emaciated ones. Then, something remarkable happened, the seven thin cows feasted on the others until the first set had been entirely swallowed up and astonishingly, the gaunt cows didn't change their shape or form as a result of this action.

It is very likely that in trying to interpret the dreams, Joseph's thoughts would have focused on what his brothers (of whom, the majority were the children of Leah) did to him. They threw their sibling into the pit. It was as though he too had been swallowed up. He was sold on and disappeared and as far as he was concerned, it was as though he'd never existed in their lives. This being despite his own dreams that they would bow down to him (as described at the start of Vayeishev). Nobody, looking at the brothers, would realise that they had carried out this crime which bordered on fratricide. Like the cows, the brothers did not change their appearance or demeanour.

One could even say that the Leah cows had swallowed the Rachel cow. 

Returning to Jacob who had worked for seven years to marry Rachel, can you imagine how he must have felt when he woke up next to her sister, Leah? I would guess that he probably questioned the validity of his previous seven years’ labour. He'd no doubt believed that all his work had been for naught, as it were, swallowed up. Jacob married Rachel a week later but had to work for another seven years, to pay his uncle for his youngest daughter’s hand.

The result of Jacob's efforts in winning his beloved's hand in marriage is through the birth of Joseph which the Torah described in last week’s parasha as yefat to’ar vi’fe mareh (can you see the language is nearly identical to Rachel’s description?)

If we summarise the strands we've discussed, we have a situation where Joseph sees Pharaoh as a father figure who has rescued him from the 'pit' and in the process has brought to an end the cycle he has endured over the last 13 years. When he hears Pharaoh's first dream, he relates to it through his own family history and the challenging situation that concerned his father's efforts – the two seven year periods spent winning his mother's hand in marriage. He adds to this, how he sees himself as the 'fat cow' that was swallowed by his brothers, the thin cows. 

As far as he is concerned, explaining Pharaoh's first dream is a 'no brainer'. It all makes sense to him. That he can use these thoughts to interpret the dream is the way in which Gd enables him to be able to connect the dots. This gift is not granted to the astrologers.

The clincher is that, now, as Rabbi Fohrman puts it so beautifully, the fat cows must look after the thin ones. The situation has changed and that is where Joseph's interpretation of the first dream and Pharaoh's second dream come to the fore.

This is my own interpretation, based on Rabbi Sacks’ teachings. What is Joseph's first dream?

There we were binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf.” (Genesis 37)

What is Pharaoh's second dream?

He fell asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven ears of grain, solid and healthy, grew on a single stalk. (But close behind them sprouted seven ears, thin and scorched by the east wind.  And the thin ears swallowed up the seven solid and full ears. Then Pharaoh awoke: it was a dream! (41)

Both dreams cover a similar theme, namely, the source of food which is wheat. 

Egypt, renowned as the breadbasket of the world was going to be stricken by a severe famine. Joseph was waiting for his own dream to be realised and for this to happen, there would need to be a confluence of both scenarios. In other words, his family would eventually bow down to him in order to receive their sustenance in the form of grain. It only made sense that Pharaoh's second dream underscored his first one, quite literally. It is less of a leap to interpret the second dream if you understand the meaning of the first. Joseph himself states this when he sums up both dreams by saying:

“Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same: Pharaoh has been told what Gd is about to do. The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years; it is the same dream.

As Jews, we know how significant dreams can be, not only throughout the Tanach but, sometimes in our own lives. Joseph was punished by having his prison sentence elongated by two years (according to Rashi) because he placed his trust in the Butler whose dream he had interpreted, instead of believing that Gd was working behind the scenes. Sometimes, like Joseph, we too go through our own chiasm, our very own Atbash and can't see how events pan out for the better. Maybe it behoves us to take a moment, every now and again, and join the dots that make up our own lives. The events that led us to where we are today and where we could be tomorrow. Sometimes, when we feel 'swallowed up', we could look at the story of Joseph and gain some comfort in the knowledge that, as the song goes 'things can only get better'.  They did for Joseph and they can for us too.

Shavuah Tov, Chanukah Sameach and Chodesh Tov.