Yosef: Dreamer and Interpreter
Parshat HaShavua
Yeshivat Har
Etzion
This parasha series is
dedicated
in memory of Michael Jotkowitz, z"l.
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This shiur is dedicated in loving memory of Pesa Wolfowicz, z"l, on the occasion of her yahrzeit, from the Okon family.
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Yosef: Dreamer
and Interpreter
By Rav Tamir Granot
I. The Problem with the Solution of Pharoah's Dreams
a.
When Yosef
is brought for an audience with Pharoah, the Egyptian king receives him thus: "I
have heard it said of you that you understand a dream to interpret it." And
indeed, Yosef's interpretation is accepted by Pharoah as
genuine.
But Yosef will not accept the compliment: "It is not me! God will give
Pharoah a favorable answer." In other words, the answer is not in my hands; it
is not by my own merit. In the same
vein he previously told the ministers, "Do interpretations not belong to God?
Tell me, then." Nevertheless, the story itself proves that Yosef's gift of
interpreting dreams cannot be attributed solely to Divine assistance. The interpretation has its own internal
logic and is suited to the dream both in the case of the ministers and in the
case of Pharoah. Although Yosef, in
his modesty, attributes the entire answer to God, we must assume that this is a
general religious statement about God helping him. He does not mean that God reveals
Himself to him ad hoc, supplying him with the answer in each
instance.
If we agree with the assertion that Yosef interprets
dreams using his special insight, then two major questions
arise:
1.
What clues
does he use to interpret Pharoah's dream?
2.
How does
Pharoah know that Yosef's interpretation was
correct?
The early commentators address these questions, but we are not left with
any satisfactory answer. Some
opinions assume a super-human gift. If this is the case then we have no further
questions but, as stated, this hypothesis does not seem to suit the spirit of
the story. Another opinion asserts
that Pharoah dreamed the interpretation along with the dream, but then forgot
it. He was immediately reminded of
it when Yosef offered his interpretation, and hence Pharoah knew that this was
the correct one. We cannot rule out
this possibility, and we certainly recognize the existence of such psychological
phenomena, but from an exegetical point of view it is better not to rely on
hypotheses that have no basis in the text.
Furthermore, an answer of this type may solve the problem on the level of
understanding the events themselves, but it is devoid of significance from our
point of view.
I believe that the correct exegetical working assumption is that the
Torah is telling us how Yosef solved the dreams, and it is the task of every
Torah scholar to reveal that which is still hidden. In the present instance, the assumption
is reinforced by the fact that the Torah elaborates at great length in its
description of the dreams. This
detail is obviously not meant for the sake of literary ornamentation; rather, it
allows us to follow the process of interpretation.
II. Repetition of the Dreams
In our shiur on Parashat Chayei Sara, we noted the
principle formulated by Nechama Leibowitz concerning the importance of literary
repetition. Let us briefly review
this idea. Repetition in a narrative generally appears where the development of
events is described once by the text itself, and then again by one or more
characters involved in the story.
The repetition sometimes allows us to discover the intentions of one of
the characters (in the case of Parashat Chayei Sara, where
Avraham's servant wants to succeed in finding a wife for Yitzhak) or to see the
development from different angles.
The discrepancy between the events as they are and the way in which they
are perceived by the characters who take part in them may serve as an important
source for understanding the story.
In our present case, the text describes Pharoah's dreams three
times:
1.
Objective
description of the text itself
2.
Description
by Pharoah here we must decide what the purpose of the repetition is, and
which point of view it reflects.
3.
Description
by Yosef for the purpose of interpretation. Here Yosef connects elements of the
dream to parts of his interpretation, and therefore the repetition is a
necessity. In any event, since this
is not a word-for-word repetition, we shall pay attention to this version,
too.
The focus of our discussion is on the repetition by
Pharoah, because it is entirely redundant.
The Torah could simply have recorded that "Pharoah told his dreams to
Yosef" and left it at that. Alternatively, it could have omitted the
description of the dreams in the beginning, and structured the incident
differently: "And it was, after two years, that Pharoah dreamed dreams. He awoke in the morning and called all
the magicians of
Let us compare the three descriptions with a view to discovering their
differences.
FIRST DREAM:
Torah's description (41:1): "
.Behold, he stood at
the river. (2) And behold, from the
river there rose seven cows of beautiful APPEARANCE and fat, and they grazed
in the reed grass. (3) And behold,
another seven cows arose after them from the river, OF BAD APPEARANCE and thin,
and they stood by the other cows upon the bank of the
river. (4) And the cows OF BAD APPEARANCE AND
THIN consumed the seven cows OF GOOD APPEARANCE and fat."
Pharoah's description: (17) "
Behold, I was standing
upon the bank of the river, (18) and behold, from the river there arose seven
cows, fat and of good VISAGE, and they grazed in the reed grass. (19) And behold, another seven cows
arose after them WRETCHED AND OF VERY BAD VISAGE AND THIN; I
had never seen any so bad in all of the
Yosef's description: (26) "The seven good cows are
seven years, and the seven good sheaves are seven years; it is the same
dream. (27) And the seven thin, bad
cows that arose after them are seven years, and the seven empty sheaves blasted
by the east wind are seven years of famine
(31) And the plenty shall not be
remembered in the land because of that famine afterwards, for it will be very
severe."
SECOND DREAM:
Torah's description: (5) "And behold, seven ears of
corn arose on the same stalk HEALTHY and good. (6) And behold, seven ears that were
thin and blasted by the east wind sprang up after them. (7) And the seven thin ears swallowed up
the seven ears that were HEALTHY AND FULL."
Pharoah's description: (22) "
Behold, seven ears of
corn arose on the same stalk, FULL and good. (23) And behold, seven ears WITHERED,
thin, and blasted by the east wind sprang up after them. (24) And the thin ears swallowed up the
seven GOOD ears
."
Yosef's description: (32) "And as to the twofold
recurrence of the dream to Pharoah it is because the thing has been
established by God, and God will hasten to perform it."
Let us now summarize what we learn from the
above:
a.
One set of
differences (those indicated in upper case) involves the use of synonymous words
to describe the fat or thin cows and ears of corn. They do not involve any real difference
in the essence of the dream.
b.
A different
set of discrepancies involves real additions. We must gauge the importance of each of
these individually:
·
"They stood
next to the other cows on the bank of the river" this appears only in the
Torah's description.
·
"I had
never seen any so bad in all of the
·
"When they
had eaten them up one could not see that they had eaten them, for their
appearance was as bad as it had been at the start" only in Pharoah's
version.
It appears that a distinction should be drawn
between the first two additions and the third. The first two apparently reflect the
objectivity (in the case of the first) or subjectivity (in the case of the
second) of the description. The Torah notes the proximity of the two sets of
cows, while Pharoah seems to omit this detail because it seems obvious, or
because he forgets it in his excitement.
Pharoah adds a comment about the cows so as to express the powerful
impression that their appearance made on him. Clearly, there is no room for an
expression such as this in the first description, since from an objective point
of view it adds nothing.
But the third difference belongs to a different category: this is a fact;
not mere impression. Either Pharoah
actually saw in his dream that ONE COULD NOT KNOW THAT THEY HAD EATEN THEM, or
he did not see this, or he saw something else. Whichever the case may be, the Torah
makes no mention of this in the objective description. Why does Pharoah add this fact? Does the
strong impression created by the dream cause him to elaborate based on his own
imagination? What is the significance of this? We shall address this question
below.
As to the disparities in the descriptions of the cows and the ears of
corn, it would seem that these, too, reflect the difference between an objective
reporting of facts, and the subjective impressions of Pharoah, who experiences
the dreams.
Pharoah's descriptions are either brief or lengthy in accordance with his
feelings. The use of the word
"visage" rather than "appearance" seems to reflect his impression. The same may apply to the difference
between the word "healthy," in the Torah's description, and "full," as he puts
it. In the same way, the addition
of the word "withered," and the summary of the description of the second ears as
"good" also appear to arise from the personal nature of Pharoah's
description.
Yosef's quotations from the dreams generally follow Pharoah's
description, for Yosef does not know what Pharoah really dreamed. Therefore his interpretation employs the
expressions "good," "empty," "bad," and "blasted by the east wind," all echoing
Pharoah's terminology.
But, as we have explained, the focus is on the additions that Pharoah
makes, which have no parallel in the original version, and especially the
comment, "When they had eaten them up, one could not know that they had eaten
them, for their appearance was as bad as it had been at the start." Does Yosef
know that Pharoah adds this on his own? This is a critical question. If Yosef knows only the dream as
recounted by Pharoah but not the original dream, he can interpret only what he
is told. And then, if the dream has
prophetical status and it reveals the future, perhaps the interpretation of
Pharoah's dream is mistaken?
Before answering this question, let us address another critical point in
Yosef's answer. Yosef is asked to
interpret Pharoah's dream. In fact,
he does much more. His
interpretation concludes with the words, "And concerning the twofold recurrence
of the dream to Pharoah it is because the thing has been established by God,
and God will hasten to perform it." Here we would expect Yosef to stop talking
but he goes on, proposing a plan to accumulate a fifth of all produce throughout
the seven years of plenty, so as to solve the problem of the famine. He seems to go far beyond interpreting
the dream: "And now, let Pharoah seek out an insightful and wise man, and
appoint him over the
We may regard this as the expert plotting of a man who prepares his
listener and gives him precisely the message that he wants him to hear. In other words, Yosef prepares the role
for himself, and Pharoah's response is exactly as expected: "There is none so
insightful and wise as you." Alternatively, we may regard Yosef's suggestion as
an expression of genuine concern for the welfare of the kingdom. But I believe that neither of these
explanations is sufficient.
Attention should be paid to the fact that Yosef's operative suggestions
actually negate his interpretation of the dream. He tells Pharoah, "The plenty
in the land will not be known because of that famine afterwards, for it will be
extremely severe." But if the Egyptians follow Yosef's instructions, "The land
will not be destroyed by famine"; on the contrary, the plenty will be known and
recognized even during the years of famine, for the accumulation and storage of
food will make it possible to eat even during the lean
years.
III. Solution to the Solution
This problem, I believe, is the key to the crux of the story and the
answers to all of our previous questions.
Let us systematically analyze the progression of Yosef's
interpretation:
·
The
methodology of the solution is: "As to the twofold recurrence of the dream to
Pharoah it is because the thing has been established by God, and God will
hasten to perform it." In other words, the two dreams do not require two
interpretations, but rather share the same one. The same message is conveyed twice, to
show the reliability of their details.
·
The cows
and the ears of corn are symbols.
One represents the plant kingdom, the other the animal kingdom; both
connote abundance. Leanness, of
course, means the opposite. This
part of the dream appears quite simple. The symbols are transparent; their
interpretation does not require any special wisdom. Yosef then interprets the number of cows
and ears of corn as symbolizing units of time just as he did in the dreams of
Pharoah's ministers (three vine tendrils = three days). This element of the dream is likewise
reasonably intelligible; even the magicians could guess at its
meaning.
·
Yosef then
addresses the addition inserted by Pharoah: "They were eaten up but ONE COULD
NOT TELL (lo noda') that they had been eaten," Yosef declares, "The
plenty in the land WILL NOT BE KNOWN (lo yivada) because of that famine
afterwards
." It is interesting that this part of the dream is interpreted
without any direct quotation of Pharoah's words.
·
Now let us
pay attention to the way in which the message is conveyed by Yosef:
"The plenty in the land will not be known because of
the famine afterwards, for it will be extremely severe. And as to the twofold recurrence of the
dream to Pharoah it is because the thing has been established by God, and God
will hasten to perform it. Now, let Pharoah seek out an insightful and wise man,
and appoint him over the
After interpreting Pharoah's addition, he establishes the principle of
the recurrence of the dream as evidence of its reliability, and then he moves
immediately on to the stage of advising.
Here, I believe, his brilliance is revealed. Verse 31, explaining the
addition, is defined by the principle of the repetition of the dream. Pharoah,
in his description, does not repeat a second time the matter of "they were eaten
up
"; he adds this only at the end of the first dream [1]. The other details are repeated with
precision and at length. Yosef
hints here to Pharoah, "I know that this was an addition of your own invention;
you did not dream it. I am
interpreting your addition in order that you will understand that it is a symbol
of your own anxiety concerning the famine and its results. But right away I will propose to you a
way of overcoming this anxiety." In other words, our questions are explained by
each other. Yosef advises Pharoah
as to how to alleviate the suffering of the famine by means of exploiting the
plenty. He does not negate the fact
that the dream is symbolic of a Divine decree which is destined to be
fulfilled. But he does address the
dimension of Pharoah's personal anxiety and despair, by proposing a practical
solution. Yosef's wisdom is
revealed in the fact that he is able to locate the objective kernel of the dream
and free it of its subjective wrapping.
The subjective dimension of "Their appearance was as bad as it had been
at the start" is the omen for a catastrophic future. If the famine is so severe that it will
seem as though the years of plenty never existed, then real devastation awaits
Pharoah, for his part, is impressed by Yosef's God-given insight and
ability to distinguish between the kernel of objective truth and its subjective
wrapping. He understands that
standing before him is a wise man.
Thus, Yosef's suggestion as to how to deal with the famine is actually
part of the interpretation - not the interpretation of the original dream, the
kernel, but certainly an interpretation of Pharoah's innermost thoughts and
feelings, and a practical proposal as to dealing with
them.
If we go back to our original questions, it appears that we already have
the answers. The textual repetition of the dream by Pharoah is essential because
the discrepancy between the original dream and Pharoah's recounting holds the
key to the proposal of a solution, in which Yosef's wisdom is revealed. Yosef understood what was really
troubling Pharoah. Pharoah knew, of
course, that the dream contained symbols of abundance and of famine, but did not
know if this was a decree of destruction; he did not know if he would be able to
deal with it. And it was
specifically because Yosef grasped this that Pharoah recognized his
abilities.
To the above we may add a further significant
dimension:
Why is Pharoah struck with terror; why does he believe that the decree of
famine is absolute, that it will bring about annihilation, while Yosef
immediately understands that the famine is something that can be dealt
with?
I believe that this reflects more than just the personality structure of
each of the two characters involved; it also goes deeper than the simple fact of
Yosef's keener understanding.
Rather, Yosef's view is an expression of a "Jewish" way of handling a
harsh reality, while Pharoah's view is the expression of a pagan
consciousness.
Pharoah lives within a deterministic consciousness. If something has been decreed, there is
nothing to be done certainly not on the level of practical action. Reality weighs down on us, and all we
can do is to recognize it. Yosef
presents Pharoah with the Jewish alternative: the reality is admittedly harsh,
but it should be perceived not as a disaster, but rather as a mission and
responsibility. The famine is a
fact, but the task of leadership is to find ways of dealing with the suffering
that it is likely to cause. This is
precisely the spirit of Yosef's proposal, and it is for this purpose that he is
appointed. Thus, when Pharoah says,
"Is there any man like this, with the spirit of God within him?," he refers
especially to the particularly JEWISH spirit of God by virtue of which Yosef
knew the correct solution.
IV. Understanding Yosef's Turning Point
At
the end of last week's shiur, we wrote:
An examination of the development of the story reveals that its turning point is the stage where Yosef turns into the "interpreter of dreams," and thus his status is "upgraded" to the point where ultimately, at the end of this process, he is appointed second-in-command to the King of Egypt. The event in which the crux of this "turning point" takes place is the interpretation of Pharoah's dreams. Until this point Yosef has not been a personality who determines his own path and is active within the events; rather, events have acted upon him. He is "a dreamer." He is dispatched by his father, he is cast into a pit, he is sold, he is appointed head of Potiphar's household, he is drawn towards sin and then thrown again into a dungeon. It is only when he proposes to Pharoah's ministers that he will interpret their dreams that the beginning of a change makes itself felt. The dramatic turning point is, obviously, where he not only responds to Pharoah's demand that his dreams be explained, but also advises him in a way more appropriate to a Minister of the Treasury or a Prime Minister what he should do in order to prepare his country for the years of famine: "Let Pharoah act to appoint officers over the land ".
In other words, the transition from passivity to activity in his relationship to dreams from dreamer to interpreter is likewise reflected in a transition from passivity to activity in his relationship to reality: from "determined" to "determiner." Yosef, who has been pushed around at the mercy of his environment, now becomes its director.
The understanding of this turning point in Yosef's personality and activity is important for an understanding of his story as a whole. It also gives rise to several questions:
1. What is it about Pharoah's dreams or the context in which they are interpreted that causes this change of heart on the part of Yosef, who arrives unaided at the understanding that he must now take the reigns? How does he change his situation from "fate" to "destiny," using the classic terminology of Rabbi J. D. Soloveitchik? [2]
2. How does Yosef act when he understands that he must guide history rather than being at the mercy of his fate? How did he understand his destiny?
3. As to the three levels of significance discussed above the Divine, the moral, and the real on which of these levels does Yosef's turning point take place, and what is its significance on each level?
I believe that we now hold the key to understanding the entire development, and we can answer our questions:
Yosef dreamed his dreams within a "fate" consciousness - in a certain sense - as a seer of the divine future [3]. In other words, reality is deterministic, dictated; all that is destined to be is set down in advance, and now it is revealed to me in a dream. When he awakens from the dream he runs to tell his brothers about what will come to be and this, understandably, angers them. Yosef fails to ask himself the correct questions: "What is this telling me? What is the dream charging me to do? With which mission is it entrusting me?" This was his mistake and his sin.
The prophet in complete contrast to the pagan fortune-teller (diviner, magician, etc.) does not reveal the future in order to say "what will be," but rather in order that we will know what we must do in relation to it. Very generally we may say of the prophets of Israel that they prophesy in order that their prophecies will not be fulfilled. The threat of punishment is always a call to repentance, which in turn will nullify the punishment. A perfect example of this is the story of Yona.
The moment when Yosef understands that his quasi-prophetic ability is not meant to give him a personal advantage, or just to bring him success, but rather assigns him a mission everything is open to change. Therefore the turning point is the stage where Yosef ceases to act as a dreamer of the future, or a diviner, and starts acting as a "prophet."
Why does this happen specifically when he is faced with Pharoah's dreams?
a. Because Yosef understands now that the fact that he has arrived there by means of an altogether "unreal" series of events, cannot be coincidental. Therefore he asks, What should I be doing with this? What does it tell me?
b. Because, as we have said, Pharoah's dream as it is recounted reflects exactly the tension between the prophetic dream placed before a person as a challenge, and the "pagan" dream that drops fate upon him. When Yosef grasps this, he understands that he is being called upon for a mission that arises from the challenge presented by the dream.
c. Because he understands that the encounter between Pharoah and himself Yosef, son of Yaakov is an astonishing convergence of two completely different stories, which are unified only by an external view. Pharoah is completely unaware of Yosef's story. He knows only his own story as King of Egypt, within which Yosef features in the role of interpreter of dreams and thereafter also as royal advisor. The famine, as he sees it, is an internal, Egyptian problem.
But Yosef understands that the Egyptian context of the story is only the outer "shell." More profoundly, he understands that Pharoah's dream is not meant for Pharoah at all, but rather for himself Yosef. And not only in order to save Yosef or to "organize" him a good job, but in order to bring him face to face with his destiny.
Yosef, as we have said, did not know the significance of his own dreams. But now he hears from Pharoah's mouth a dream that contains the same motifs ears of corn, two groups of ears of corn and a crazy image of the lean ones swallowing up the fat ones. Is this not my own dream, he asks himself. Is this not my dream, in which my older brothers' sheaves bow down to my own?
Then he understands: the first dream showed me that a day would come when my brothers would need my sheaves. Now God is showing me me and not Pharoah how this might come about. Therefore Yosef knew how to interpret the dream, while no-one else could possibly have known - because Pharoah's dream was meant for him all along. Yosef needed no further revelation in order to understand the significance of Pharoah's dream. It was already there. His wisdom stood him in good stead, and showed him how to connect the dreams.
Yosef thinks: "If until now I did not know how their sheaves would bow down to my sheaf, now God has shown it to me: the land is destined to be struck with famine. Severe famine. My forefathers, Avraham and Yitzchak, came down to Egypt at times of severe famine as others must also have done - relying on the abundance of Egypt. If I am in Egypt, I will be in the right place to provide their sheaves but how? By ensuring that there will be sheaves in Egypt; by ensuring that I will be the person responsible for the Egyptian economy." Hence, Yosef's proposal to Pharoah has dual significance. For Pharoah, it reveals the mistake in his story which, as we have explained, is the key to its solution. The mistake in Pharoah's story is understood by Yosef as a window, beckoning him to enter. The place where Pharoah is helpless that is where I am able to act. The proposal of setting aside a fifth of all the produce, and the heart of this proposal "Now, let Pharoah seek out a man who is insightful and wise, and appoint him over the land of Egypt " - is directed towards a single purpose: for Pharoah to appoint him to carry out the project. Yosef's audaciousness is surprising, but it has a religious foundation: If I have come this far, if Pharoah needs me, then there must be something to it. God does not perform miracles for nothing. And indeed, Yosef is appointed by Pharoah to oversee the implementation of the project. Pharoah believes that he has thereby found a solution to his own internal problem as King of Egypt, but Yosef knows that he is thereby embarking on the mission that God has given him; a mission whose purpose ultimately concerns not Egypt but rather the household of Yaakov.
Summary and points to ponder until next week:
To our first question, we responded that Pharoah's own dream, the development of events that lead him to be Pharoah's "salvation," and the connection between Pharoah's dreams and his own, are what cause the change from "fate" to "destiny."
To our second question we responded that Yosef acts with determination to fulfill his first dream, including the submission of his brothers before him, but also by the same token their economic salvation. In fact, all of this is realized through his appointment as second-in-command over Egypt, and his actions in this capacity.
Concerning our third question, we may say that this is precisely the heart of Yosef's turning point - its significance and ramifications. The adoption of a prophetical consciousness means a transition from the level of being bound by a Divine plan set in advance, to the level of acting in order to influence. Thus the levels no longer parallel one another, but rather converge. This transition also changes Yosef's behavior in relation to his dreams from egocentric (hence sinful) to moral and responsible (thus making him worthy of his prophecy).
What remains is for us to explain how Yosef perceived his second dream which we have not yet addressed, and which appears to have no direct connection with Pharoah's dreams. More on this next week.
Notes:
[1] Look at the verses if you do not remember. This phrase is used only in the dream about the cows.
[2] See Rav Soloveitchik's article, "Kol Dodi Dofek."
[3] By this we do not imply idolatry, heaven forefend, but rather the style or manner in which he understands the revelation of the future.
Translated by Kaeren Fish