On the Trail of Blessings: What Did Yosef Want?

I had a short and sweet insight just this morning and Jeff Rohatiner encouraged me to share it on the blog. Torah has a life of its own and the little insight has grown into part 7.25 of the Trail Series. 

Yosef was unable to control his emotions... "I am Yosef! Is my father still alive?" (45:1,3)

Apparently, Yosef was not finished with his brothers. His plan was as yet incomplete, but he was unable to follow through. Compassion for his brothers forced him to reveal his identity prematurely.

What more did Yosef want to do? What was his plan? According to some (Hakesav V'HaKabala; Meshech Chochma) Yosef wanted his father Yaakov to come down to Egypt and bow before him in fulfillment of his second dream. Whatever Yosef's intentions were, it is clear that he miscalculated. He was too weak to bring his plan to fruition.

Strange. Why would Yosef make a plan that he could not carry out? The answer is that Yosef failed to account for something. When Yaakov sent the brothers back to Egypt, he gave them a blessing.

Yaakov their father said to them, ... "The Almighty God - אל שדי - should grant you compassion before that man." (43:14)

Yosef was strong, but he could not withstand the blessing of Yaakov. A divine wave of compassion forced Yosef to abandon his plan and reveal his identity. 

A Father's Blessing

On second thought, Yosef was a very wise man and he should have anticipated this. Yaakov's blessing was not an oversight. On the contrary, it was exactly what Yosef wanted. 

Hashem granted Avrohom the power to bless (12:2) and the power to curse (12:3). Yosef knew that his father Yaakov inherited these powers, and Yosef also knew that blessings and curses function well even when the recipient is unknown. Yitzchok unknowingly blessed Yaakov and Yaakov unknowingly cursed Rachel. Nonetheless, ignorance did not mitigate the effect of their words.

Yosef wanted a Beracha from his father, a Beracha that God should grant him compassion for his brothers. As a teenager, Yosef would speak Lashon HaRa about them, but as a mature adult, he would do no such thing. Unwilling to tell his father that the brothers sold him into slavery, the only way Yosef could get the Beracha he so desperately needed was to orchestrate a ruse. And it worked! Yaakov asks God to grant "that man" compassion and we watch as Yosef's heart melts. 

A Blessing and a Curse

Blessings and curses play yet another role in our story. When Yosef first set his eyes on Binyomin, he blesses him. אלוהים יחנך בני - "May God have pity on you, my son" (43:29). That's a surprising thing to say. Why would Binyomin need divine pity?

Before they depart on their return journey to Israel, Yosef frames the brothers, planting his goblet in Binyomin's pack. When accused of stealing Yosef's goblet, the brothers say, "He among your servants with whom it is found should die!" (44:9). Lo and behold, the goblet is found in Binyomin's pack, and the brothers are guilty of cursing with death the very person they commited to protect.

After the tragedy of Yaakov's curse which killed Rachel, the brothers should have known better than to make such statements. Yosef knew this and he therefore got the brothers drunk before their departure (43:34), weakening their resistance to the natural, impulsive reaction.

Yosef intended for the brothers to curse Binyomin! This was all part of his plan, and this is why he preemptively blessed Binyomin with divine pity. 

Now we have a faceoff. It's the brother's curse against Yosef's blessing. Who wins? Yosef! Unlike Rachel who was killed by Yaakov's curse, Binyomin survives his brother's curse and does not die. What Yosef is demonstrating is that the family legacy, the power to bless and the power to curse, belongs not to the brothers, but to him! Yosef is the inheritor of the legacy of Avroham, Yitzchok and Yaakov! 

This is exactly what the brothers were afraid of. As they understood it, Yosef's dreams foretold that he would seize the family blessings and rule over them. That is why they hated him and now Yosef shows them that they were right. Yosef could seize power, but he doesn't. Instead, Yosef shares the destiny of the nation with all of his eleven brothers. 

In the end, the brothers were right about the dreams, but wrong about Yosef.

[Continue the series with part 7.5 by clicking here.]

Making Your Dreams Come True

How Yosef Redeemed Himself, Revised the Future, and Reunified the House of Israel

Originally published in Nitzachon

[A word of warning: readers of the Trail Series will recognize the ideas presented in the introductory paragraphs. However, this essay develops things further, breaking new ground and containing many new insights. If you liked the Trail Series, you will love this piece, and if you like this piece, then you must read the Trail Series - it provides the backstory.]

Although it is the subject matter of nearly half of Sefer Bereishis, the story of Yosef and his brothers rarely receives the scrutiny it requires. Familiarity breeds neglect. All too often, we rely on the superficial reading we learned in elementary school and fail to relearn the formative events of our nation as adults. This article is a limited foray into the many mysteries of Yosef’s life: his dreams, his dream interpretations, and his complicated relationship with his family. Although some points are speculative, our intention is to stir debate and hopefully play a role in bringing these issues back where they belong: at the forefront of our consciousness.

The saga was born of hatred. “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers and they hated him” (37:4). Exacerbating the situation was the fact that Yosef spoke lashon hara. “He told his father every negative thing that he saw by his brothers the sons of Leah” (Rashi to 37:2). Under these conditions, it is reasonable for the brothers to be upset. However, the intensity of their feelings, the burning jealousy and the hatred, can only be understood in light of family history.

Avraham received extraordinary divine blessings – wealth, power, fame, a country and a dynasty – but not all of his children inherited it. Yishmael was found unworthy and expelled and Yitzchok took all. In the second generation, the same thing happened again. Yitzchok had two sons, Yaakov and Eisav, but Eisav was left empty handed and Yaakov was the sole inheritor. Now we are in the third generation and Yaakov’s sons can take nothing for granted. The big question is on everyone’s mind. Who will get the blessings?

Another worrisome precedent troubles the third generation. When Yitzchok selected his favorite son Eisav, Yaakov took action to prevent the blessings from falling into the wrong hands. He tricked his father and seized the blessings that were rightfully his. The brothers fear history will repeat itself. They suspect that Yaakov will follow in his father’s footsteps and give all the blessings to his favorite son Yosef. And when Yosef speaks lashon hara about them to Yaakov, they naturally suspect that Yosef is walking in his father’s footsteps, attempting to ensure the blessings don’t end up in the hands of an “evil” son.

Yet another piece of family history weighs on the mind of the brothers: that of Yosef’s mother Rachel. Our most influential matriarch, Rachel was a spiritual supergiant; a woman who exemplified selfless caring for others. However, blinded by rivalry, the sons of the other mothers may have had a skewed perspective. Rachel betrayed her fiancé, giving away the secret signs to her sister Leah. And in a bold act of righteous criminality, she stole her father’s treasured teraphim – and lied about it.[1] In short, both of Yosef’s parents are self-confident and forceful personalities, and when they believe something is right, they will do it, even if it comes at someone else’s expense. With genes like these, it is reasonable for the brothers to expect that Yosef will self-righteously seize their birthright. The brothers know that they are worthy and capable of furthering the family’s destiny, and that they need to protect their spiritual future from being usurped by Yosef. This is why they hate him.

And then Yosef has a dream.

The First Dream

Yosef tells his brothers what he saw in his dream.

“We are bundling bundles of grain in the field and my bundle suddenly stands up straight. Your bundles surround it and bow down to my bundle.” (37:7)  

Obviously, telling his brothers about his dream is not going to improve their relationship, but to understand their reaction we must once again turn to family history.

The brothers are undoubtedly struck by the appearance of grain in the dream. Why are the sons of Yaakov in a field harvesting grain? They are shepherds, not farmers! But then the brothers remembered the blessings. Many years earlier, when the time came for grandfather Yitzchok to bless his children, he began with these words: “Hashem will grant you from the dew of the sky and from the fat of the earth, much grain and wine…”

Grain is the first blessing and Yosef is claiming it for himself! The brothers’ suspicions are heightened, but it isn’t until the second dream that their fears are confirmed.

The Second Dream

Yosef has a second dream. He sees the sun, the moon and eleven stars in the sky bowing to him. He shares this dream with his family and the reaction is fierce.

His father yelled at him and said, “What is this dream that you have dreamt? Will we come – I, and your mother and your brothers – to bow down to you to the ground?!” (37:10)

Rashi explains Yaakov’s skepticism.

“Will we come – I, and your mother…? But your mother is already dead!”  He did not realize that it referred to Bilha who raised him like a mother.

Yaakov’s question is a good one, but why is he so upset? Once again, the answer is to be found in the blessings of Yitzchok. Thinking he was talking to Eisav, Yitzchok said, “…You will be master over your brothers and the sons of your mother will bow to you.”

Brother bowing to brother is a central feature of the blessings! As far as the brothers are concerned, the game is up: Yosef clearly sees himself as the sole inheritor and future master of the family. His father’s favorite and a son of both Yaakov and Rachel, nothing will stop Yosef from stealing what is rightfully theirs. Yaakov knows what his sons are thinking and he tries to downplay the dream’s significance, but the damage is already done.

To save themselves and to secure the legacy of Avraham, the brothers take preemptive action and sell Yosef into slavery. The tragedy here is that the brothers’ fears drive them to commit the very crimes they are trying to prevent: throwing a brother out of the family, plundering his share of divine blessings, and lying to a parent. All for the sake of Heaven and all in line with family precedents.

(There is one glitch that cannot escape notice. When Yitzchok spoke of bowing brothers, he referred explicitly to “the sons of your mother.” Yosef’s mother was Rachel, and Benyamin is his only full brother. All the other brothers were born of different mothers. Yosef’s vision of all eleven of his brothers bowing to him does not quite match up with the wording of Yitzchok’s blessing. Yosef and the brothers must have wondered about this.)

Yaakov is upset and the brothers are jealous because they understand what the dreams foretell. Yosef will rule. Yosef will inherit the rights and powers vested in the Abrahamic blessings. Right? Wrong.

It never happens. Yosef never does become king; that role is reserved for the tribe of Yehuda. Nor does Yosef become Kohen; that honor goes to Levi. While it is true that Yosef's two sons are elevated to the status of shevatim, it is difficult to see this as a fulfilment of the dreams or the blessings. Historically, the tribes of Ephraim and Menashe have no leadership role and no greater prominence than any other tribe.

So what became of Yosef's dreams? If the Torah records them, they must be significant. What do they mean?

Bowing Etiquette

When the brothers first arrive in Egypt and stand before Yosef, he accuses them of being spies. 

Yosef recognized his brothers and they did not recognize him. Yosef remembered the dreams he dreamt about them and he said, "You are spies! You have come to find the land's weakness." (42:8-9)

With this false accusation Yosef begins his long torment of the family, which includes the imprisonment of Shimon, months of anxiety for Yaakov, and the framing of Benyamin. What exactly is Yosef doing? Even if it were possible to suspect Yosef HaTzaddik of engaging in revenge, that untenable suggestion is refuted by Yosef's repeated emotional breakdowns. Revenge is sweet, not painful.

According to the Ramban, Yosef was busy making his dreams come true.

When Yosef saw his brothers bowing to him, he remembered all of the dreams he dreamt about them and he realized that neither of them was fulfilled with this [bowing] event. For he knew their interpretation. First, all his brothers would bow to him. This comes from the first dream, "we were bundling bundles of grain" (37:7), "we" means all of his eleven brothers. And the second time, in the second dream, the sun, moon and eleven stars bow to him. Since Yosef did not see Benyamin with them, he came up with this strategy of accusing them [of being spies] so that they would also bring his brother Benyamin to him in order to fulfill the first dream first.

This is why he didn't want to tell them [now] "I am Yosef your brother" ... as he does on the second time [they come to Egypt]. For [if he would reveal his identity now], his father would certainly come immediately [and the first dream would not be fulfilled independently]. Only after the first dream is fulfilled does he tell them to fulfill the second dream.

Absent this [explanation], Yosef would be committing a terrible crime to put his father through pain, making him bereft and in mourning for so many days over [the imprisonment of] Shimon and over [the disappearance of Yosef] himself. Even if he wanted to make his brothers suffer a little, how could he not have compassion on his father? But [the truth is that Yosef] did everything at the right time in order to make the dreams come true.   

As brilliant as it is, the Ramban's approach is difficult to accept. Are we to believe that the meaning of Yosef's dreams is the mechanical bowing of his brothers and his father, in a specific order? What is the significance of that? More disturbing is the idea that Yosef is making his father suffer in the pursuit of a personal agenda. Since when did making your dreams come true become a Mitzvah?  

The Dream Interpreter

The Talmud (Berachos 55b) teaches that dreams are flexible. Dreams have multiple valid possibilities and they materialize however they are interpreted.[2] This gives dream interpreters a remarkable degree of power and Yosef was dream interpreter par excellence.

The truth of this reality is indicated by Yosef's own words to the royal butler:

"For if you remember me, just as I have been good to you, you should please do me a favor and mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this [prison] house!" (40:14).

To ask for the pardon of a man convicted of attempted rape, a foreigner and a slave no less, is no small request, and a newly freed prisoner in no position to ask for favors. Yosef knows he is asking a lot and he tells the butler to do it "just as I have been good to you." What did Yosef do for the butler? All Yosef did was explain his dream and in return for that Yosef asks the butler to request a pardon from the king?! The answer is that dreams follow their interpretation. Yosef didn't just explain a dream; he saved the butler's life, and now he rightly asks the butler to do the same for him.

Cognizant of the power of dream interpreters, my father, Rabbi Noam Gordon, explained our difficult Ramban.  

Of course the plain meaning of Yosef's dreams is that he will be king, but Yosef does not want to be king. He does not want to usurp his brothers’ role and the very idea has torn the family apart. As a dream interpreter, Yosef has the power to grab a dream by the horns and direct it as he wishes. Exercising this ability, Yosef decides to defuse his dreams by interpreting them literally. His brothers will merely bow down to him and that will be the end of it. Once that is accomplished, Yosef can reveal his identity and the brothers will have nothing to worry about. The dreams will be gone.

Now we understand why Yosef put his family through this ordeal. It was the only way to get rid of the dreams. As the Ramban wrote, had Yosef revealed his identity right away, Yaakov would have come straight down to Egypt together with Benyamin and the option of interpreting the dreams literally would have been closed.   

It is a marvelous explanation, but taking things one step further, we end up with a disturbing result. Aside from his own dreams, Yosef also interprets the dreams of Pharaoh’s baker and butler. If dreams follow their interpretation, then Yosef is responsible not only for saving the butler’s life, but also for the death of the baker. Surely Yosef could have come up with an alternative interpretation! Who gave Yosef the right to kill a man?  

Disturbing as it is, this question pales in comparison with the one posed by next episode in Yosef’s career. When the king of Egypt dreams of stalks eating stalks and cows eating cows, Yosef is taken out of the dungeon to explain it. Yosef insists that it is all God’s doing – “It is not me… God is showing Pharaoh what He is about to do” (41:16,28) – but we know that this is only half the story. Hashem empowered Yosef to make the call. Later on, the Torah makes this point explicitly: "The seven years of plenty that Egypt experienced came to an end, and the seven years of famine began, as Yosef said, and there was a famine in all the lands..." (41:53-54). The famine was not "as God decreed," nor was it "as Pharaoh dreamed." Rather, the famine occurred "as Yosef said!" Yosef is the one responsible for the famine.

Yosef is brilliant and creative and he has many options at his disposal, yet he decides to create a horrific famine. Why would he do that?!

A Dream and a Nightmare

Yosef had two dreams. In his first dream, his father is ominously absent. Understandably, Yosef never tells his father about this dream. In Yosef’s second dream, his father is present, powerfully represented by the sun. Another basic difference: In dream number one, Yosef's brothers appear to be his slaves, but in dream number two, they are untouchable and he looks up to them as stars.

Hashem is presenting Yosef with two options. Yosef will be given the opportunity to enslave his brothers, but for that to occur, their father cannot be present.  Alternatively, Yosef can bring his father into the picture as the patriarch of the family, but that requires putting his brothers on a pedestal. It will be for Yosef to choose which vision to bring to life. On a deeper level, Hashem is presenting Yosef with two different versions of himself. Yosef can follow in the footsteps of his father Yaakov and be a Tzaddik or he can be a Rasha like Uncle Eisav. The choice is his.

The idea that Yosef's two dreams prophesize two different futures is not as radical as it sounds. In fact, it can be inferred from the words of Yosef himself. When Pharaoh relates his two similar dreams, Yosef states that the two are one and the same (41:25), and the repetition of the dream indicates that "Hashem has it all set up and Hashem is rushing to make it happen" (41:32). It follows that if one were to have two similar dreams back to back and they did not materialize quickly, that would prove that they were not the same dream. As Yosef's dreams did not materialize for twenty-two years, they must be different. [It is worth noting that despite Yosef's assertion that Pharaoh's two dreams are "one," they in fact speak of two different manifestations of the famine (cf. Meshech Chochma to Miketz).] (This paragraph added 1/23/2020.)

At the very beginning of our story, Yosef was living at home and speaking lashon hara about his brothers. Which brothers, exactly? According to the way the Ramban translates the pasuk, the Torah is clear:

Yosef was seventeen… despite his youth, he led the sons of Bilha and the sons of Zilpa, his father’s wives, and Yosef spoke negatively about them to his father.”

Why did Yosef speak negatively about Dan, Naftali, Gad and Asher? The answer is in the verse. Yosef did not consider them to be his brothers. He did not even consider them to be his father’s sons. They are the “sons of his father's wives." Yosef’s attitude suggests resentment and it undoubtedly has its roots in the early death of his mother Rachel and his strained relationship with her “replacement,” his stepmother Bilha.

When Yaakov reacted to Yosef’s dream, he was correct to focus on the moon, for the moon holds the secret to saving the family. As Rashi explained, the moon tells us that Yosef’s mother is alive and well. Her name is Bilha.

Yosef must make peace with Yaakov’s second marriage to Bilha and he must view himself as Bilha’s son. In so doing, his relationship with Dan and Naftali will be fixed, for he will cease viewing them as “sons of his father’s wife.”

They must be recognized as full-fledged brothers, sons of his own father and mother, and then Yosef will appreciate their strengths, not publicize their weaknesses. From there Yosef can move on to recognizing all of Yaakov’s wives as matriarchs and accepting all of Yaakov’s sons as brothers. If Yosef does that, the family will be whole. Otherwise, we are left with the nightmare scenario of the first dream.

Years later, Yosef is masquerading as an Egyptian viceroy and his brothers are all assembled before him, helpless and at his mercy. Yaakov is far away in Israel, low on food and anxiously awaiting his sons’ return. The time has come for Yosef to make a choice. 

Bursting into tears, he cries out, "I am Yosef!  Is my father still alive?" He then kisses each of his brothers and cries with them (45:3,15).

Yosef is telling his brothers that he rejects the first dream and its dark temptations of revenge and power. What he wants is family. Yosef has chosen dream number two and for that Yaakov must be present, and so Yosef asks, “Is my father still alive?”

Yosef has passed the test and the mystery of Yitzchok’s prophecy is resolved. “Your mother’s sons will bow to you.” By embracing his brothers, Yosef has indeed transformed the sons of his father’s wives into the sons of his own mother. 

Yosef and Avraham

Secrets are buried beneath the surface of dreams and extracting them requires the right tool. Diamonds are mined with explosives. Dreams are mined with questions.

In Yosef’s second dream, he sees the sun, the moon and eleven stars. There is a very obvious problem with this picture. Stars are invisible when the sun is in the sky!

Yosef was not the first man to see stars during the day. Great-grandfather Avraham saw them too, in the midst of the bris bein habesarim.

The words of Hashem came to Avraham in a vision… He brought him outside and He said, “Look now at the sky and count the stars, if you can count them.” And He said, “So will be your descendants.” …The sun began to set… (15:1,5,17)

If the sun first sets at the end of the prophecy, then it must have been in the sky when Avraham was stargazing. How is this possible?[3] After acknowledging that the plain meaning of the text is that Hashem literally brought Avraham outside of his tent to view the stars, Rashi quotes a Midrash that reads the verse allegorically. Hashem said to Avraham, “Breakout from your destiny! You saw in the stars that you would not have a son. Avram has no son, but Avraham does have a son.” Rashi then cites another Midrash. “[Hashem] took him outside of the universe and lifted him up above the stars…” From that perspective, the sun can certainly be seen together with all the other stars.

Stars represent the forces of nature. Divine providence flows through the zodiacal constellations (mazalos),[4] particularly through the constellation in which the sun is currently located (cf. Rosh Hashanah 11b). When Hashem told Avraham to look at the stars during the day, He was directing Avraham’s attention to that month’s mazal. Hashem then said, “So will be your descendants!” In other words, divine providence and blessings will flow into the world through the Jewish People just as they flow through the mazalos. Hashem essentially said the same thing to Avraham years earlier. “Through you will be blessed all the families of the earth” (Bereishis 12:3). This is why the Jewish People have no mazal; they are themselves a mazal.[5] 

Seeing stars by day also represents the extrasensory ability to recognize invisible forces at play in our daily lives. “So will be your descendants.” This is the quality of the Jew. He knows there is a God who runs the world. He knows there is more to life than what meets the eye.

Yosef’s dream matches Avraham’s vision. Like Avraham, Yosef was given the gift of seeing stars by day. It follows that Yosef is the spiritual successor of Avraham, heir to the bris bein habesarim. This may mean that Yosef exists outside of the laws of nature and is not bound by destiny. It may mean that Yosef will be a conduit of blessing and provide sustenance for the entire world. Or it may mean that Yosef will always be cognizant of Hashem’s presence and providence. We cannot be certain of the meaning of the dream, but we do know that all of these things turn out to be true in the life of Yosef.[6]

In the ancient world, pagan man worshiped the heavenly bodies. In Yosef’s dream the scene is reversed; the sun, the moon and the stars bow before man.  This is a fundamental teaching of the Torah: The center of creation is Man. The message of the mazalos bowing to Yosef is that he has the power and the mandate to transcend natural law and bend the world – and his dreams – to his will.[7]

The Seed of Yosef

The divine promise Avraham received under the stars is being channeled now through Yosef. That promise was encapsulated by the words, ko yihiyeh zarecha, “so will be your descendants.” Yosef’s zera will be as uncountable as the stars.

What if Yosef does not want this blessing? What if he wants to share it with his eleven brothers? Is there any way out?

Yosef has a plan. Usually translated as descendants, zaracha literally means “your seeds.” Aside from the zera of Avraham, there is one other thing in Sefer Bereishis which is described as uncountable: the surplus of seeds produced by Yosef. “Yosef amassed produce as numerous as the sand of the sea, until they ceased counting, for it was without number” (41:49).[8]  Yosef the Dream Interpreter has manipulated the meaning of zera!  Redirecting the blessing from children to food, Yosef simultaneously saves mankind from starvation and secures the legacy of Avraham for all of Yaakov’s sons.

Where did Yosef get the right to intervene in Hashem’s plans? Why didn’t Yosef submit to the plain meaning of the blessings and the dreams? Who gave Yosef a license to kill the royal baker and create a world-wide famine? The answer is his own dreams! Yosef’s dreams taught him that he has been vested with the responsibility and the power to unify the family of Yaakov and nothing in the universe is more important. Killing the baker and saving the butler cemented Yosef’s reputation as an effective dream interpreter and ultimately got him out of prison, and the famine is what put Yosef in power and brought his brothers down to Egypt. Man and Nature must bow and collude with Yosef to make his dreams come true, collateral damage notwithstanding.

The Eisav that Wasn’t

Sefer Bereishis ends with a heart-wrenching episode.

The brothers saw that their father died and they said, "Maybe Yosef hates us and will repay us for all the evil we did to him!" They sent a message to Yosef. “Before his death, your father instructed as follows, ‘Tell Yosef to please forgive now the crime of your brothers…’” Yosef cried as they spoke to him. His brothers then went and prostrated themselves before him and said, "We are your slaves."

Yosef said, "Do not be afraid. Am I in place of God? You thought evil of me; Hashem arranged it for the good in order to bring about what we have today: the sustenance of a great nation. Now, do not be afraid! I will support you and your children." He consoled them and spoke to their hearts. (50:15-22)

Yosef's response is strange. They "thought evil” of him?! They did evil to him! And why is Yosef committing to support his brothers? They came pleading for their lives, not asking for a handout. 

The answer is that the brothers are not afraid of revenge; they are afraid of Yosef’s dream. Their offer to become Yosef's slaves was not driven by guilt for enslaving him – Yosef forgave them for that already (cf. 45:5). Rather, unaware that the dreams had already been neutralized, the brothers are acting in accordance with their understanding of Yosef's first dream. As long as Yaakov was alive, the second dream was in play and the brothers were as safe as the stars in the sky. But now Yaakov is gone. The brothers "saw that their father had died.” The second dream had run its course and now the time has come for the first dream to materialize. And so the brothers prostrate themselves before Yosef and declare, "We are your slaves!"

What is Yosef's response? 

"You thought evil of me." You think I wish to strip you of your blessings? You accuse me of fantasizing of a dystopia where I am dictator and you are my slaves? You suspect me of being Eisav reincarnate? You think I am evil?

"Yes, I had that option and I rejected it. You forget that I do not only dream; I also interpret dreams. My first dream, the vision of your bundles bowing to mine – it is not what you think! I do not see enslavement, I see food distribution, and you are bowing in gratitude. Due to my intervention, Hashem turned my dream into an engine for good, to sustain a great nation. My dream does not mean that I shall enslave you; it means I will support you!"

In the end, the brothers were justified in their fears that Yosef would be a “thief” like his mother and a “trickster” like his father. Rachel had the right and the ability to claim the blessing of Yaakov all for herself, but she gave it up for her sister. Yosef also had the right and the ability to claim the family blessings for himself, but like his mother, he gave it up for his brothers. Yaakov had to pose as his evil twin and deceive his father in order to prevent the blessings from falling into the hands of his brother. Yosef also had to pose as his evil alter ego, in the form of a vicious viceroy, and deceive his father in order to prevent the blessings from falling into the hands of his twin, the other Yosef. Like his mother and like his father, Yosef is a holy thief. Yosef the Tzaddik stole the blessings from Yosef the Rasha.

This gives us a new understanding of Yosef’s emotional outburst. “I am Yosef! Is my father still alive?” After all the years separated from family and living in the fleshpot of Egypt, Yosef is grappling with his own identity. Like Yaakov and Eisav in the womb of Rivka, the two Yosefs are engaged in a struggle for supremacy and the future of the Jewish People hangs in the balance. Yosef cries out in amazement, “I am Yosef! Does the Yaakov within me still live?!” With that question, Yosef provided the answer.       

As we read Sefer Bereishis, we watch Yosef grow from a self-centered child damaged by his mother’s death to a man who courageously exercises supernatural powers and lovingly embraces the brothers who tried to destroy him. Emasculating his dreams, Yosef sacrificed the promise of eternal royalty on the altar of family unity. Millennia later, will still bow before the man whose leadership, wisdom and selflessness healed the family and set the stage for the birth of the Chosen Nation.

[If you liked this piece, I recommend reading the Trail Series from the beginning for the full backstory. For a strikingly parallel interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, read this post.]

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[1] What the brothers thought of Rachel can be seen by their reaction when Benyamin is caught red-handed with Yosef’s goblet in his pack. The brothers jeer at him, “Thief, son of a thief! You are an embarrassment! You are truly the son of your mother. Your mother embarrassed our father in just the same way.” (Midrash Tanchuma, Miketz 10)

[2] The Gemara learns this from none other than Yosef himself, as the Royal Butler told Pharaoh, “Just as he interpreted [our dreams] for us, so it was” (41:13). Of course, it is not a free-for-all. Dreams will only materialize as interpreted if the interpreter is qualified and the interpretation is valid. According to Tosefos (ad loc. s.v. posrei chalomos) the mazal of a person at the time of his birth determines his ability to interpret dreams.

[3] Due to the force of this question, the Rashbam posits that despite the clear flow of the text, these events did not all occur at the same time (cf. Berachos 7b, Tosafos s.v. lo haya).

[4] “Every single blade of grass has a mazal in the firmament which hits it and says, ‘grow!’” (Bereishis Rabba 10). For more on mazalos, see Derech Hashem 2:7 and Nefesh HaChaim 3:10.

[5] “Ein mazal l’yisroel” (Shabbos 156a). See, however, Rashi and Tosfos (ad loc.) who qualify this statement.

[6] Seeing stars by day is also a sign of tragedy (cf. Moed Koton 25b), another thing Yosef’s life did not lack.

[7] Every individual is obligated to say, “The world was created for me” (Mishnah, Sanhedrin 4:5). “I rule over man. Who rules over Me? The Tzaddik, for I pass a decree and he annuls it” (Moed Koton 16b). “This is one of the conditions that Hashem set upon all the acts of creation: they are subjugated to the Torah and to those who labor [in Torah]. [The creation] must perform whatever they decree on it and their rule over it is akin to the rule of the Creator, may He be blessed. This is why you will find individual Tzaddikim who control the heavens, the earth, the stars, the sun and the moon” (Ohr HaChaim, Shemos 14:27, s.v. l’eisano). For a description of how the human neshama was designed to influence and control all the forces of the created universe, see Nefesh HaChaim 1:5-7. For the idea that a person immersed in Torah transcends the mazalos, see Nefesh HaChaim 4:18.

[8] The produce amassed by Yosef is called zera in 47:19, 47:23 and 47:24. 

Dream and Self-Destruct: A New Take on the Torment of Pharaoh

When Pharaoh enslaves the Jews, he puts them to work on two projects: agriculture and construction - בחומר ובלבנים ובכל עבודה שבשדה. What are they building? Not housing (which, with their skyrocketing birthrate, would have been useful) but storage facilities. Huge storage facilities. Cities of storage facilities - ערי מסכנות.

Why does Pharaoh suddenly need so much storage space? According to Rashi in Divrei HaYamim (II 32:28), the word מסכנות is used exclusively to refer to granaries - and Rashi proves the meaning of the word from its appearance here in Shemos! An army of Jewish slaves working in the field is going to produce a huge surplus. Obviously, the Jews are building storage facilities for all the extra food. But why? Why is Pharaoh hoarding grain?

"A new Pharaoh arose over Egypt who did not know Yosef" (1:8). According to one opinion cited by Rashi, this was not a new king. (If it were, the Torah would presumably tell us that the old Pharaoh died, as it says later in 2:23.) Rather, the same old Pharaoh who knew Yosef personally was now ignoring him. But what does that mean? In what way is Pharaoh ignoring Yosef?

Years back, Pharaoh had two similar dreams on the same night. In his first dream, Pharaoh sees himself standing by the Nile River. He watches seven fat cows rise out of the water, only to be consumed by seven skinny cows who also come out of the water. In Pharaoh's second dream, seven fat ears of grain get consumed by seven thin ears of grain. 

Pharaoh awoke terrified. ותפעם רוחו - "His spirit was agitated and was clanging inside him like a bell" (Rashi 41:8). In other words, Pharaoh was having heart palpitations. To get a sense of the intensity of Pharaoh feelings, the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar experienced the very same trauma - ותפעם רוחי - when he awoke after having a nightmare about a monster, a nightmare which foretold the destruction of his empire (Daniel, chap. 2). 

Pharaoh has premonitions about his dreams and the interpretations offered by his advisors reflected his fears. They suggested that the dream about the cows means that he will have seven daughters and he will bury seven daughters, and the dream about the grain means he will conquer seven kingdoms and seven provinces will rebel against his rule (Bereishis Rabba 89). However, Pharaoh is unsatisfied. He knows that his dreams are bigger and darker than that.

Called up from the dungeon to interpret the king's dreams, Yosef says that both the cows and the grain represent years (41:26-27). The two dreams are one and the same: seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine, and the repetition indicates that Hashem is hurrying to make it happen (41:32). Yosef was pretty accurate; there were seven years of plenty, however, the famine lasted only two years. With the arrival of Yaakov the drought ended, as evidenced by the fact that the people began planting again (Rashi to Bereishis 47:19).

The premature end of the famine came as a great surprise to the Egyptians. Yaakov's sons understood that the destiny of the world revolves around Yaakov Avinu, but Pharaoh was sceptical. (If the presence of Yaakov can end a drought, why was there a famine in Israel?) Pharaoh could only conclude that Yosef was unreliable. He was a pretty good dream interpreter, but perfect he was not. There were inaccuracies. 

Pharaoh is now plagued not by drought, but by doubt. Yosef might have been completely wrong about the length of the famine. (Indeed, the Midrash cites opinions that the famine was originally destined to last not seven but twenty-eight or forty-two years, cf. Bereishis Rabba 89:9.) Then again, maybe Yosef was right and the famine will suddenly resume sometime in the future? (According to the Midrash ad loc., the famine did in fact resume centuries later in the days of King Yechezkel.) Either way, Yosef was off and that was a frightening prospect. Mistaken about the duration of the famine, he might also be wrong about some of the other details. Yosef claimed that the repetition of the dream indicated that it would begin soon, but what if not? What if the second dream refers to a second famine? The country must prepare itself! This is what the Torah means when it tells us that Pharaoh now chose to ignore Yosef (Rashi to Shemos 1:8). Pharaoh no longer accepted Yosef's interpretation of his dreams.

This explains why Pharaoh put the Jews to work: to prepare for the next famine. The storage facilities used last time will not suffice, for who can say how long the next famine will be? New and larger facilities must be built and the Jews will build them. After all, the famine is the Jews' fault. Dreams always follow their interpretation (even multiple interpretations; cf. Berachos 55b) and Yosef the Jew was the one who interpreted the dreams to mean that a famine will strike Egypt. The Jews created the problem. Let them fix it.

II

Who was right about the meaning of the dreams? Yosef or Pharaoh? The answer is not so simple.

In the seventh plague of hail, the Egyptian harvest is severely damaged (9:25); only the thin and flexible stalks survive (9:32). And in the following plague, the crops that survived the hail are consumed by locusts (10:5). Here we have the destruction and consumption of the Egyptian harvest marked by the number seven. Pharaoh's fears are confirmed: the dreams are still in play! Faced with a new famine, Pharaoh is relieved to have plenty of extra grain in his granaries, but at the same time, the plagues reawaken old fears.

When Pharaoh first entertained the possibility that Yosef was wrong (or chose not to reveal the whole truth), Pharaoh was forced to think out of the box. What if the dreams are not limited to foodstuffs? What if the fat cows represent not years, but the state of Egypt itself? What if, like Nebuchadnezzar, his dreams foretell the catastrophic fall of the Empire?

Pharaoh cannot help but suspect that skinny cows eating fat cows portends the miraculous victory of a weak underdog over the mighty, but fat, Egypt. The enemy looks eerily similar to the Egyptians. Stranger yet, both the victor and the vanquished are sourced in the Nile.

Rejecting Yosef's interpretation, Pharaoh believes his dream to mean that there is a mortal enemy hiding inside the country. The conclusion is inescapable: It's the Jews! Pharaoh warns his people that despite all appearances, the Jews are actually stronger than we are (1:9), and in the event of an invasion, the Jews will join forces with the enemy (1:10). Alarmed by the Jewish population explosion, Pharaoh decrees that all Jewish boys are to be drowned in the Nile. 

Pharaoh is not a madman. His fears are well-founded. In fact, there is far more merit to this interpretation than Pharaoh would ever know. Egypt is compared to a cow, "Egypt is a beautiful heifer" (Yermiyah 46:20), and so are the Jews; the Midrash uses the analogy of a birthing cow to describe the exodus of the Jews from Egypt (Mechilta Beshalach 14:30). Seven starving cows consuming fat cows can thus refer to the seventy Jews who came to Egypt in search of food (Bereishis 46:27) and end up destroying the country. Yosef himself alluded to this interpretation of Pharaoh's dream when he said to his brothers, "Get your father and your families and bring them to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and they shall eat the fat of the land" (45:18). 

Moreover, by the time of the Exodus the Jewish People had almost entirely assimilated into Egyptian culture. The Jews worshiped Egyptian gods (Rashi to Shemos 12:6) and they even looked like Egyptians, "both were uncircumcised, both grew their hair long, both wore shatnez..." (Shir HaShirim Rabba 2:6). It follows that thin cows eating fat cows symbolizes penniless Egyptianized Jews plundering Egypt of all its wealth (12:35-36). Nonetheless, just like the skinny cows in the dream, the Jews remain thin. Hashem starved them in the desert before feeding them Mannah (16:3), and the heavenly Manna had zero fat. (The body absorbed Mannah without producing any waste, Yoma 75b). Only later in the land of Israel do we find that "Yeshurun grew fat and kicked" (Devarim 32:15). The dream is thus a vision of the Chosen Nation living up to its mandate, remaining "thin" and recognizing its dependence on God, despite newfound wealth, independence and the heady illusion of power. 

The thin "Jewish cows" might also indicate that the Jews are exempt from paying for the material and financial damage they inflicted on Egypt. When an animal inflicts damage, payment is collected מגופו, from its own body (Shemos 21:35). In the event that the damager has no value, it is exempt from payment. A skinny, worthless cow will thus not provide compensation for the damage that it inflicts, and in the case of the Jews of Egypt, this is perfectly just. Although the Jews did bespoil Egypt when they left, when you factor in all the years of enslavement, the Jews got the worse end of the deal (cf. Sanhedrin 91a). The description of the thin cows as דלות, "poor" (Bereishis 41:19), can now be taken literally, and we have a new interpretation of the dream: the skinny cows (the Jews) ate the fat cows (the wealth of Egypt), but yet the Jews remained poor - the spoils of Egypt was insufficient compensation for the centuries of enslavement.

Alternatively, cows rising out of the river may refer not to the Jewish nation, but to Yosef. Yosef appeared Egyptian (cf. Bereishis 42:8 where his own brothers don't recognize him) and was called an "ox" (Bereishis 49:6; Devarim 33:17). As Egypt fell and the Jews departed, Moshe used the expression "Rise, Ox!" to bring up Yosef's body from the river bed (Rashi to Shemos 32:4). The idea of the cows representing Yosef is further bolstered by the fact that Yosef and the cows are both described in the exact same way, יפה תאר ויפא מראה, "of beautiful form and beautiful appearance" (Bereishis 39:6; 41:2,18). We might also add that in the birth order of the sons of Leah and Rochel, Yosef is number seven. 

III

Pharaoh could not grasp the full import of his dreams, nonetheless, he understood enough to make him sweat. On the one hand, his second dream may signify a second devastating famine. If true, he needs to enslave the Jews to work the fields and build granaries. On the other hand, his dreams might mean that the Jews will destroy and despoil Egypt. If that is the dream's meaning, he must act to defeat destiny, defend his country, and exterminate the Jews. Unsure which interpretation is correct, Pharaoh does both. First he enslaves the Jews to prepare the granaries. After that is complete, he moves on to the final solution: drowning the Jews in the river.  

In a delicious divine comedy, Pharaoh's attempt to destroy the Jews is what ultimately destroys Egypt and saves the Jews. Due to her father's evil decree, Pharaoh's daughter finds a Jewish baby in the river, and the rest is history. In retrospect, the mysterious skinny cows which Pharaoh saw destroying his country may in fact symbolize the leader of the Jews, Moshe. Pharaoh's daughter named him "Moshe" because, like the cows, she "drew him out of the water" (2:10; משה=משיתיהו). The rise of the Jewish Nation and the destruction of Egypt thus emerges from the Nile - as prophesied by Pharaoh's dreams. In fulfillment of the vision of cows eating cows, the Torah tells us that Moshe looked like an "Egyptian man" (2:19), and in the vision of the Egyptian astrologers, it is impossible to tell if the redeemer is Jew or Egyptian (Rashi 1:22). Tellingly, when the Jews desire to find a replacement for Moshe, they forge a Golden Calf. We might also add that Moshe is the seventh generation in line from Avraham and was born (and died) on the seventh day of Adar.

Pharaoh's first response to his dreams was to release Yosef from prison and elevate him to the highest position in the Kingdom. It was a desperate move. Pharaoh did it because he was delighted with Yosef's positive spin on his nightmare, but little did Pharaoh know that the monster in his nightmare was none other than Yosef himself. In the short term Yosef's interpretation provided relief and seemed to put the dreams to rest, but in the long term it led to his brothers moving to Egypt and ultimately to the destruction of Egypt - as prophesied by the dreams.

As he saw in his dream, Pharaoh stands by the Nile the entire time, watching helplessly as Egypt is destroyed by his own errors of leadership. To his eternal dismay, Pharaoh can only fault himself for first accepting Yosef's interpretation and then recklessly ignoring it and reinterpreting his dream. Dreams follow their interpretation, but Pharaoh's dreams have a life of their own: whatever he does, the dreams adjust and destroy. Pharaoh is not only a passive observer; he is God's puppet, compelled by God-given nightmares to destroy his country with his own hands.   


This too is foretold by the dream. The most basic and frightening feature of the dreams is cannibalization. The reason the skinny cows remain skinny after eating the fat cows is because they are the very same cows! Egypt consumes itself. Pharaoh is his own worst enemy - and it is his own dreams which drive him to self-destruct. In the end, the seven skinny cows coming out of the Nile refer to all the drivers that destroy Egypt: Yosef and Moshe, the Jews, the Egyptians, and Pharaoh himself.

As a postscript, we should point out the fascinating parallel to the dreams of Yosef. Frightened and jealous of Yosef's dreams, his brothers decided to eliminate him. "Let's kill him and throw him into one of the pits... and we will see what will become of his dreams!" (37:20). But Hashem saw to it that their attempt to wreak Yosef's dreams is what brought about their fruition. The brothers' sale of Yosef into slavery is what makes Yosef king and ultimately dooms the brothers to slavery (cf. Shabbos 10b) - the very things they were trying to prevent! Pharaoh suffered the same tragedy. The battle he waged against the nightmare that haunted him is what made it all come true.

Hashem works in mysterious ways, but sometimes he lets us watch the show.

Playing God

A disturbing question hangs over our story. It is an obvious problem and the answer does not yield easily.

When the sons of Yaakov arrive at Yosef’s door in search of food, instead of revealing his identity and openly confronting their unresolved issues, Yosef decides to play games. He accuses them of spying and he demands that they prove their innocence by bringing their younger brother down to Egypt (42:9-15). This is just the first stage of an elaborate scheme that both confounds and torments the family for months.

Why does Yosef pull this cruel prank on his brothers? Is it revenge that he is after? Is his thirst for revenge so intense that it bulldozes any concern for his own father’s distress? Regardless, revenge fails to explain Yosef’s game. If he wants revenge, Yosef ought to simply throw them all in the dungeon. Moreover, revenge is sweet. Yosef should be enjoying himself, not constantly breaking down in tears (cf. 42:23; 43:30).

What is the idea of shlepping Binyomin down to Egypt (42:15)? This seems to be a cruelty aimed directly at the innocent Yaakov (42:38). And what of the planting of the money in their packs (42:25)? Or the framing of Binyomin as a thief (44:2)? What in heaven’s name is Yosef doing?

The answer to all these questions is that Yosef is orchestrating a Teshuvah opportunity for his brothers. At the end of last week’s parsha, Binyomin stood accused of theft (44:12). Yosef claimed Binyomin as a slave and, in the last words of the parsha, told the other brothers to return “to their father in peace.” The crime scene of twenty years ago has reappeared. The brothers can once again eliminate their father’s favorite son!

The brothers sold Yosef because they feared that history would repeat itself. Just as Yitzchak wanted to give the berachos to his favorite son Eisav (25:28; 26:1-4), the brothers expected Yaakov to pass the berachos on to his favorite son, the child of his beloved deceased wife Rachel (37:3). And just as Yaakov had “stolen” the berachos away from his brother Eisav, so too would the power-hungry Yosef attempt to do the same. Yosef was a threat and so they eliminated him – only to create a new monster, Binyomin. Binyomin was the new Yosef, his father’s overprotected favorite. (Like Yosef before him, Binyomin must stay home when all his brothers go out to work, cf. 37:14; 42:4.) The brothers suspected that Binyomin might try to steal their birthright and now their fears have been confirmed. Binyomin is indeed a thief! But it is no surprise, really. It runs in the family.

Years back, as Yaakov was leaving the house of Lavan, Rachael stole her father’s Teraphim, pagan articles used for divination. Lavan took chase, and soon caught up with Yaakov and accused him of theft. Unaware that Rachel had stolen the Teraphim, Yaakov declared that whoever stole them should die (31:32). Our story is identical. The brothers are leaving Egypt and Yosef sends his officer to take chase. He catches up with them and accuses them of stealing Yosef’s goblet. Unaware that it is in Binyomin’s pack, the brothers exclaim, “If any of us (lit. your servants) has it in his possession, he shall die!” (44:8). According to the Midrash, the parallels to the past do not escape the brothers’ notice. When the goblet is found in Binyomin’s pack, they yell at him, “You take after your mother!” (Midrash HaGadol).

What Yosef has done here is reinforce the brothers' fear of a thieving Binyomin running off with Yaakov’s precious berachos. And to ensure their jealousy is primed, earlier that day at lunch, Yosef gave Binyomin five times more food than everyone else (43:34).

Now the brothers have a choice. They can eliminate the privileged Binyomin without even getting their hands dirty. Or they can protect him.

Yosef wanted his brothers to make the right choice, so he made it easy for them to deny Binyomin’s indictment. Before the brothers went back to Israel the first time, Yosef returned their money to their packs (42:25) and he did the same again now (44:1). His overseer claimed that it was a gift from God (43:23), but the brothers knew the truth. They knew that Yosef must have done it and they feared they were being framed (42:35). Now that Yosef’s goblet was found in Binyomin’s pack, the brothers could not ignore the the possibility that Yosef had planted it there. On the one hand, Benyomin has an inherited tendency for theft and was caught with the goods, but on the other hand, the Egyptian governor is a madman with a history of planting incriminating evidence. Whom to believe?

"Yosef saw his brothers and he recognized them... but they did not recognize him" (42:7-8). Yosef recognized his brothers, when they were given over into his hands he recognized them as brothers and had compassion on them. But they did not recognize him when he fell into their hands to treat him as a brother. (Rashi ad loc.)  

Yosef engineered this trauma for the brothers because he loved them. Before revealing his identity, Yosef wants to give his brothers a chance to vindicate themselves. He wants to watch them stand up and defend Binyomin - Yaakov’s favorite, Rachel’s son, and the new threat to their own destiny. After experiencing their hatred, jealousy and false accusations, Yosef wants to witness his brothers judge Binyomin favorably. He wants to evoke the memory of his mother Rachel and watch the children of the “secondary” wives deal with that uncomfortable reality. And Yosef wants to see his brothers express caring and love for their father Yaakov and redeem themselves. Yehuda stands up and, representing all of the brothers, he heroically does all these things. Yosef can now declare "I am Yosef!" and reenter a healed family.

II

A question remains. What right did Yosef have to do all this? It may help heal the family, but it is a risky business and a painful one. Who gave Yosef the right to play God?

The answer can be found in Yosef's second dream. Yosef saw the sun, moon, and stars bowing to him. Celestial bodies take orders from God, not Yosef. Why are they bowing to Yosef? Unless this is precisely the point: Hashem is telling Yosef to play "god" with his brothers. Engineer a Teshuvah opportunity for them and then forgive them. Just like God.

A second explanation for Yosef's behavior is rooted in Yosef's lifelong career in dream interpretation. When the baker and the butler had their dreams in the dungeon, Yosef interpreted them to mean that the baker will die and the butler will live and be freed (40:8-19). Why did God grant prophetic dreams to an Egyptian butler and baker? There is only one explanation. Yosef’s accurate interpretation built his reputation and ultimately led to his own freedom from prison. It turns out that the dreams of the butler and baker were not for themselves at all; they were entirely for Yosef (cf. Rashi to 40:1).

Dreamers must act to bring about the fulfillment of their dreams. The butler would have realized the true purpose of his dreams, but Yosef ruined it by intervening and asking him to put in a good word for him (40:14). This delayed things for two years. In order for the dream to function independently as the catalyst for Yosef’s freedom, the butler had to first forget about Yosef and his request (40:23). Only then could history flow naturally from the human response to dreams. (This explains the Midrash quoted by Rashi to 40:23.)

Pharaoh also has dreams that Yosef interprets, again following the same pattern. As opposed to the Egyptian dream interpreters who thought Pharaoh's dream was about his seven daughters, Yosef knows that Pharaoh is not dreaming about himself. Pharaoh is dreaming about worldwide famine and as king, he is no personal danger. Pharaoh’s dreams are not for himself, but for others – for the salvation of his people and the empowerment of Yosef - but Pharaoh must act to make his dreams come true. These revelations about the nature of dreams do not go by unnoticed by Yosef.

When Yosef’s brothers arrive at his door, the Torah tells us exactly what when went through his mind: “Yosef remembered the dreams that he dreamed for them” (42:9). Not simply “his dreams” nor “the dreams that he dreamed about them.” Rather, “the dreams that he dreamed for them.”

Yosef’s multiple experiences with dreams taught him a fundamental truth. The prophetic element of dreams is never limited to the destiny of the dreamer alone. Yosef’s dreams of his brothers bowing before him could not be for his own benefit. On the contrary, those dreams served as the catalyst for his sale into slavery! Dreams are not for the self; dreams are for others. And dreamers (if they the survive) have an obligation to act.

When the brothers arrived, Yosef had an epiphany. His dreams, the butler's and the baker's dreams, Pharaoh's dreams - the string of dreams are all united and lead to one inescapable conclusion. Yosef is destined to play God with his brothers - for their own good. This was the meaning of his vision of his brothers bowing before him. Yosef the dream interpreter must bring all six dreams to fruition.

Yosef hates his mission, but he suffers through it, crying through it, recognizing that the very dream that instigated the brothers to sell him obligates him to orchestrate their atonement and reunite the family of Israel. But this understanding is predicated on the extraordinary idea that even dreams of power must always be interpreted selflessly.