Adapted by Channie Koplowitz Stein
Do you have a dream? Everyone has dreams, whether they are part of your nightly sleep, daydreaming, or your metaphorical hopes and aspirations for the future. And do you keep those dreams to yourself, or do you share your dreams with family, friends, or your therapist? In Parshat Veyeshev we are introduced to the ultimate dreamer, Yosef Hatzadik Hatzadik.
Yosef Hatzadik Hatzadik has two dreams we know of. He relates the first dream to his brothers: “Behold!, We were binding sheaves in the middle of the field when, behold! - my sheaf arose and remained standing; then behold! your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.” The brothers reacted predictably. They replied, “Would you then reign over us, would you dominate us?” and they hated him even more.
Then Yosef Hatzadik has a second dream which he relates both to his brothers and to his father: “The sun, the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” His brothers were jealous of him, and, while his father seemed to protest, “I and your mother and your brothers will bow down to you to the ground?” his father kept the matter in mind.
Rabbi Epstein z”lin Sefer He’orot is puzzled by Yosef Hatzadik’s actions. What was Yosef Hatzadik thinking about the dreams, and why did Hashem give him these dreams to begin with? Further, if his brothers already hated him and couldn’t speak peaceably to him because their father acted preferentially toward him by giving him a special coat, why would Yosef Hatzadik relate these dreams to them? Did he mean to fan the flames of hatred? And there is yet another seeming anomaly here, notes Rabbi Chanan in Torat Chesed. Usually, jealousy and envy precede hatred. Here, the brothers hated Yosef Hatzadik after the first dream while envy followed the second dream. How can we reconcile these problems?
Let us begin our discussion by noting that there are different kinds of dreams. Rabbi Munk z”l gives us three different categories. The first category of dreams is those brought on by unhealthy and impure “demons” of thought. The second group are dreams which arise naturally from our psychological or physical situation. Both of these dreams contain an element of falseness. However, the third category of dreams contain elements of prophecy through which Hashem communicates with man. Yosef Hatzadik may have related many previous dreams to his brothers, writes the Ktav Sofer, dreams that earned him the nickname of “Dreamer.” But here Yosef Hatzadik is insisting they pay attention to these dreams. These are different. He keeps insisting, “Behold!” He is imploring them not to think of these dreams as part of his imagination or an ambitious psyche, but as messages from Hakodosh Boruch Hu.
Dreams are quixotic, often offering multiple possible interpretations (and sometimes none at all). But interpreting a dream and putting it into words creates a reality, continues Rabbi Munk z”l. Therefore, one should relate one’s dreams to a friend who will put a positive spin on the dreams. Even in one’s own mind, one should interpret dreams and events positively, adds the Tallelei Chaim. Both the positive and the negative can become self fulfilling prophecies.
The Maharal often focuses on the three relationships involved in every interaction: the relationship with oneself; the relationship between oneself and his fellow man; the relationship between himself and God. The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh explains these dreams as Yosef Hatzadik recognizing all three of these relationships. First, Yosef Hatzadik recognizing that these dreams are messages from Hashem, is relating them to his brothers as a message from Hashem, not as a product of his own ambition. He is telling them his dreams as one tells his dreams to his friends, hoping they will see that he loves them and that they will reciprocate. But since these are also prophetic dreams, he is also alerting them that they will need his help in the future. It would be helpful to not to act hatefully to him now.
Since these were prophetic dreams, writes Rabbi Ginsberg z”l in Ben Melech, it was incumbent on Yosef Hatzadik to reveal them to those for whom the message was intended. Therefore, Yosef Hatzadik told the first dream only to his brothers who were represented by the eleven sheaves of wheat. On the other hand, the second dream included the sun and the moon, representing Yaakov, in addition to eleven stars, so Yosef Hatzadik had to tell this dream to his father in addition to his brothers.
How can one differentiate between a meaningful, prophetic dream from the other kinds of dreams? Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin z”l offers the following insight in Oznayim Latorah. If a dream is just a figment of the imagination, it doesn’t make a tremendous impact on the dreamer. However, a dream imparting truth will jolt the dreamer, will fill him with a sense of unease and disquietude until he can find some interpretation to it. Yosef Hatzadik’s dreams bothered him so much, he had to share it. This too, the need to share and the added animosity of the brothers was also part of God’s plan so that the brothers would sell Yosef Hatzadik to Egypt, adds the Ktav Sofer.
According to Rabbi Ginsberg z”l, Yosef Hatzadik himself interpreted the dream and then told the dream and its interpretation to his brothers. They could have presented a different interpretation. In fact, Benzion Firer presents a possible alternate interpretation. In the first dream, the sheaves are surrounding the center sheaf, perhaps ready to attack. Will the center sheaf rise up against them, overpower them, and force them to bow down to him? Will we, the brothers, willingly let Yosef Hatzadik reign over us, or will he dominate over us? The outcome is still questionable. Therefore, this dream increased the animosity but did not create jealousy. The second dream, however, was more transparent. Here everyone is bowing to Yosef Hatzadik without resistance. Therefore, the brothers became jealous as well.
Actually, the dreams were realized quite accurately as the family history transpired, writes Rabbi Pincus z”l. When the brothers came to Egypt the first time, they came requesting wheat, and they bowed down to whoever provided the wheat, not knowing he was Yosef Hatzadik. Only later, when they came back and knew it was Yosef Hatzadik did they bow to him as Yosef Hatzadik.
We know that the tribal ancestors as well as our Patriarchs and Matriarchs were above petty jealousy, hatred and anger. What were these emotions in the fathers of the tribes really about and how do the dreams reflect these considerations, asks Rabbi Ginsberg? After all, even before they threw Yosef Hatzadik into the pit, the brothers convened a beis din, joining Hashem into the trial, and judged Yosef Hatzadik worthy of his sentence for being a rebel against the destined Judaen Monarchy. However, the symbolism of the dreams offers us an insight into the hatred and jealousy of these great men, as Rabbi Yoffe z”l explains. The first dream was about wheat, material superiority. The brothers would need the help from Yosef Hatzadik for physical sustenance. In other words, there would be no change in character, but the brothers’ sheaves, or “pocketbooks” would bow and receive from Yosef Hatzadik. On the other hand, the stars signify light and spirituality. In the spiritual realm the brothers were envious of the future spiritual superiority of Yosef Hatzadik, an envy that would spur them to greater spirituality. In other words, all of this hatred and envy were for the sake of heaven.
Rabbi Matlin continues along this same explanatory arc. Rabbi Matlin agrees that all this hatred and envy were for the sake of heaven. The brothers felt that Yosef Hatzadik was attempting to pervert the will of God. When Hashem gave Avraham Avinu the vision between the halves, Hashem told Avraham that his descendents would inherit the Land of Canaan after having been enslaved in a strange land. Yosef Hatzadik’s dream, however, was not about sheep that could move around with them, but about wheat that would need to be planted permanently in earth as if they already possessed the land. The brothers felt this undermined the original prophecy, and they hated the vision. In the second dream, the implication was that their father Yaakov Avinu would bow down to Yosef Hatzadik. In this instance, the brothers were envious and zealous for the honor of their father.
But the brothers already hated Yosef Hatzadik before the dreams. They hated him for the coat their father gave him. Rabbi Zaidel Epstein explains that their hatred was not the kind of hatred most of us would think, but rather a hatred for the spirituality that this coat represented. This coat, according to our mesorah/tradition, was the original garment Hashem made for Adam in the Garden of Eden. This was the garment that Esau had wrested from Nimrod and that was in Yaakov’s possession. And this spiritual garment created a spiritual envy.
What the brothers failed to realize was that Hashem was giving Yosef Hatzadik these dreams so that he would be prepared for the implementation of Hashem’s plan. The dreams were Hashem’s “heads up” to Yosef Hatzadik, just as later Dovid Hamelech knew that killing the lion and the bear were practices for his future challenges and roles. Yosef Hatzadik, in relating these dreams, is asking his brothers to join him in what will inevitably be the future mission. He is asking for their help and support. The brothers, on the other hand, are interpreting the circle of sheaves as a royal entourage.
In these stages of our history, Bnei Yisroel lived in the two lands known for their immorality, Canaan and Egypt. Yosef Hatzadik would soon leave the support of his family in Canaan and be immersed in the culture of Egypt. He will be the proverbial canary in the coal mine. That Yosef Hatzadik withstood the culture of Egypt and the wiles of the wife of Potifar served as the model for Bnei Yisroel who would also retain their moral values in Egypt. As Rebbetzin Smiles adds, Yosef Hatzadik’s sheaf arose and stood up against the temptation of Potifar’s wife. Potifar himself had put Yosef Hatzadik in charge of his entire household, “except for the bread in his house,” a euphemism for his wife, symbolized by the sheaf of wheat, the raw material for bread. In the 210 years that Bnei Yisroel lived in Egypt, only one person succumbed to the immorality of Egypt.
Nevertheless, we must still consider these dreams as prophecies of future monarchy, as Yosef Hatzadik himself probably did. This prophecy was definitely fulfilled, however briefly, when Yosef Hatzadik was the regent over all of Egypt, including his brothers. However, within Klal Yisroel itself, in spite of the monarchy being destined for the tribe of Judah, there seem to be two ruling lines interwoven in the fabric of the nation, writes Rabbi Lopiansky in Golden Apples. Our first king, Saul, was a descendent of Yosef Hatzadik, and our tradition tells us that a Moshiach ben Yosef Hatzadik will precede Moshiach ben Dovid. What is the point of Moshiach ben Yosef Hatzadik if the final savior will be Moshiach ben Dovid? What do Yosef Hatzadik’s dreams really mean?
Dreams come at night, in the darkness. Dark night is a time of immobility One cannot move forward physically. Yet it is at night, during sleep, that one’s neshama/soul is set free from its earthly body, and can see a vision beyond itself, a vision of his better spiritual self and arouse him to reach that image of himself. That is the purpose of dreams, continues Rabbi Lopiansky, for without that vision we would never move forward.
This was the purpose of Yosef Hatzadik’s dreams and Yosef Hatzadik’s descent to Egypt, to set the stage for the descent of Bnei Yisroel while keeping the vision of the moral compass and spiritual high intact. This was the purpose of having a king from the house of Yosef Hatzadik precede the king of Judah, so that Bnei Yisroel would have a vision of leadership before the permanent king rose to the throne. This too will be the purpose of Moshiach ben Yosef Hatzadik, to arouse us to the concept of redemption and prepare us for the full redemption of Moshiach ben Dovid. It is the dream that is the impetus to reach a goal.
A person needs to dream, to have a vision. It is dreams that give us insight into ourselves and provide us with visions of greatness, writes the Tallelei Chaim. The dream is our catapult into the realm of the spiritual that propels us from the realm of the physical. Yosef Hatzadik the Dreamer is the paradigm for greatness and leadership.