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. 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. 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? 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), 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.
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.
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.
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). 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.]
