The Dreams

 The Dreams 

 They dropped the ball.

They had been preparing for this moment for their entire careers. They were the greatest experts in their field, the best dream-interpreters money could buy. Yet, when it mattered most, they dropped the ball.

Shaken by the dreams of seven skinny cows swallowing up seven fat cows, and then seven thin and beaten ears of grain swallowing up seven healthy and full ears of grain, Pharaoh called the interpreters and demanded an interpretation. The verse states: “Pharaoh related to them his dream, but no one interpreted them for Pharaoh.”[1] To be sure, they tried offering interpretations, yet Pharaoh was unsatisfied with their explanations. As Rashi points out:

“They did interpret them, but not for Pharaoh, for their voice did not reach his ears, and he had no satisfaction from their interpretation, for they said, “You will beget seven daughters, and you will bury seven daughters. 

The failure of the official dream interpreters created an opening for Joseph, the Hebrew slave languishing in prison, to step in to offer his interpretation. Joseph offered the most simple and straightforward interpretation possible. Joseph explained that there would be seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph suggested that Pharaoh appoint someone to collect and store food during the years of plenty which would sustain the country and the surrounding countries during the years of famine. Pharaoh was impressed with the brilliant explanation. He did not think twice. He appointed Joseph - the Hebrew slave, the foreigner - as the second in command of Egypt.

How could the expert interpreters miss such an obvious interpretation of the dream? How difficult was it to figure out that skinny cows and beaten-thin grain represents famine? Why did they drop the ball?

There was one important, yet often overlooked, detail that  did not allow the interpreters to explain that the cows refer to years. When the Torah tells us about the dream, it tells us that there were seven fat cows grazing, and then seven skinny cows emerged from the Nile and here is the critical detail:

“(And behold, seven other cows were coming up after them from the Nile, of ugly appearance and lean of flesh,) and they stood beside the cows on the Nile bank.”[2]

Pharaoh's interpreters were convinced that there was no way that the skinny cows could represent years of famine that would follow years of plenty, because years of famine do not “stand beside”  years of plenty. In other words, the years of famine follow the years of plenty, the two are not experienced simultaneously. The interpreters therefore suggested that the meaning of the dream was "You will beget seven daughters, and you will bury seven daughters.”  The advantage of their interpretation was that seven daughters could be born, from multiple wives, and simultaneously seven other daughters could die, in which case both the “fat cows” and the “skinny cows” would stand next to each other, representing joy and sorrow standing side by side. 

Joseph’s interpretation was novel in that Joseph explained that the dream Pharaoh dreamed was not just a notification of future events. Joseph explained to Pharaoh that the dreams were a call to action. Joseph helped Pharaoh understand that the dreams were not a description of a problem - seven years of devastating famine following and eliminating the seven years of plenty - but rather, the dreams depicted the solution. Joseph explained that the meaning of the key verse “and they stood beside the cows on the Nile bank” was indeed the key to the solution to the problem. The dreams were telling Pharaoh that the only way to survive the famine was if the years of plenty and the years of famine would be experienced simultaneously. G-d was showing Pharaoh that during the years of plenty the people should experience the years of famine by being cognizant of what was to come and by collecting and storing  food for the upcoming years of famine. And during the years of famine the people would experience the years of plenty, by eating the food that grew during the years of plenty. 

In Joseph interpretation there were no years that were exclusively “good” or exclusively “bad”. The good fat cows and the bad skinny cows stood side by side.

Likewise, it is incumbent upon us to realize that in this world there is a mix of good and evil, a mix of spiritual plenty and spiritual famine. Joseph, the dreamer, the ultimate optimist, taught us that at any given moment we may decide what reality we want to live in. Although we may find ourselves spiritually in a situation of “years of famine”, we must be aware that at any given moment we can access the spiritual “years of plenty”.

Joseph taught us that when faced with a challenging circumstance, we must realize that G-d never sends us seven years of famine alone. Embedded in the reality we face, is the potential to discover the “plenty”. After all, the seven skinny cows always stand beside the seven fat cows.[3]

^[1] Genesis 41:8.

^[2] Genesis 41:3.

^[3] Inspired by the teachings of the Rebbe, Lekutey Sichos, Mikets, Vol. 15 sicha 1.