Parashat Mikeitz 5785

“The waiting is the hardest part
Every day you see one more card
You take it on faith, you take it to the heart
The waiting is the hardest part.”

–      “The Waiting”, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

When we last left our hero, Joseph had just favorably interpreted the dream of his fellow prisoner, Pharaoh’s cupbearer: “The three [budding grape] branches are three days. In three days, Pharaoh will pardon you and restore you to your post.” (Gen. 40:10-13)

Joseph then added a plea: “Think of me when all is well with you again, and do me the kindness of mentioning me to Pharaoh, so as to free me from this place.” (Gen. 40:10-14). Alas, as last week’s parashah ended, we read: “The chief cupbearer did not think of Joseph; he forgot him.” (Gen. 40:23).

Now, two years later, it is Pharaoh whose dreams require interpretation.

When no one can offer a satisfactory explanation, the cupbearer finally mentions the imprisoned Hebrew youth who could reveal the meaning of dreams. Why did the cupbearer wait until after all the magicians had offered their erroneous solutions? On the surface, he did not want to recall the offenses that landed him in prison. (Gen. 41:9) But the Midrash sees a deeper reason – the time was not yet ripe: “If Joseph came first and interpreted the dream, it would not [earn him sufficient] praise. The magicians could say, ‘Had you asked us first, we would have already interpreted it for you.’ Instead, [G-d] waited until they exerted themselves, and exhausted [Pharoah’s] spirit. Then Joseph came and restored his spirit.” (Gen. Rabbah 89:6)

Now things happen quickly.

Pharaoh sends for Joseph. He is rushed from the pit, given a haircut, dressed in new clothes, and brought before Pharaoh. “I have heard it said of you that you hear a dream and reveal its meaning,” says Pharaoh. (Gen. 41:15). Despite everything that has happened to him, Joseph’s response acknowledges his sense of G-d in his life: “Not I,” Joseph replies. “G-d will see to Pharaoh’s welfare.” (Gen. 41:16)

Pharaoh proceeds to retell his dream.

Have you ever noticed that your dreams could use a little better editing? One minute you’re taking that test for which you are woefully unprepared, the next minute you’re hang-gliding with bears. The Torah uses a word to emphasize these wildly changing dream sequences: הִנֵּה֙ – “Hinei”, meaning “Behold!” or “Suddenly!” The cupbearer and baker each use the word “Hinei” once in their accounts of their dreams. (Gen. 40:9; 16)

Jacob’s dream of the ladder includes four Hinei’s (Gen. 28:12-15).

Joseph’s dream of the bowing sheaves has three Hinei’s, and his dream of the bowing stars has two. (Gen. 37:5-11)

Pharaoh’s dream uses the word Hinei five times.[1] (Gen. 41:2-7) And, since Pharaoh recounts his dream twice, we have a nice, round ten Hinei’s (Gen. 41:17-24):

“In my dream:
Hini’ni – Behold! I was standing on the bank of the Nile.
Hinei – Suddenly! Out of the Nile came up seven sturdy and well-formed cows and grazed in the reed grass.
Hinei – Suddenly! There followed them seven other cows, scrawny, ill-formed, and emaciated—never had I seen their likes for ugliness in all the land of Egypt! And the seven lean and ugly cows ate up the first seven cows, the sturdy ones. But when they had consumed them, one could not tell that they had consumed them, for they looked just as bad as before. And I awoke.
I saw in my dream-
Hinei – Suddenly! Seven ears of grain, full and healthy, growing on a single stalk.
Hinei – Suddenly! Seven ears sprouted – shriveled, thin, and scorched by the east wind – after them. And the thin ears swallowed the seven healthy ears.”

According to the Midrash, when Pharaoh’s magicians interpreted the seven cows and seven ears of grain, they saw them as things in space: ‘The seven good cows — you will beget seven daughters… Likewise they said: ‘The seven good stalks — you will conquer seven kingdoms.” (Midrash Rabbah to Gen. 41:8)

 

Joseph, however, sees the seven cows and seven ears of grain as things in time: “The seven healthy cows are seven years, and the seven healthy ears are seven years…The seven lean and ugly cows that followed are seven years, as are also the seven empty ears scorched by the east wind – they are seven years of famine.” (Gen. 46:26-27) (Perhaps Joseph had received insight into this interrelatedness of space and time when he interpreted the dreams of the cupbearer and baker two years earlier, where the cupbearer’s dream of three branches and the baker’s dream of three baskets each represented three days. (Gen. 40:12, 18).

Just as Joseph had added a plea for freedom to his interpretation of the cupbearer’s dream, here he daringly offers political counsel: “And now let Pharaoh find someone who is discerning and wise, whom you can set over the land of Egypt.” (Gen. 41:33).

The rags to riches tale continues as Pharaoh immediately appoints Joseph as his second-in-command, changes Joseph’s name, and marries him into a prestigious family. (Gen. 41:40-45).

So much happens so quickly in this parashah that we can forget the long, bleak lead-up. The Torah pauses to draw our attention to the passage of time: “Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh, King of Egypt” (Gen. 41:40-46). The last time we heard of Joseph’s age, we read, “At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks with his brothers.” (Gen. 37:2) In the ensuing thirteen years, he had been cast into a pit, taken down to Egypt, sold as a slave, falsely accused, and imprisoned in Pharaoh’s dungeon. Suddenly! – he is raised to great office and saves the entire Near East from a great famine.

Where others – like Pharaoh’s magicians – see G-d in space, Judaism sees G-d in time. Slowly history unfolds, and then – Hinei – Suddenly! Indeed, in describing the Messianic age, the Talmud teaches: “There are three matters that come only when least thought of: the Moshiah, a lost item, and a scorpion.” (T. Bavli, Sanhedrin 97a)

So may it be in our own lives:

Hinei – Suddenly! may we see —
that our life has a path,
that our life has meaning,
and that – as with Joseph – G-d has been with us all along.

Shabbat Shalom.

[1] In the first retelling, we get to five if we include the final hinei uttered upon awakening (Gen. 41:7)
_______________
Rabbi Greg Schindler (AJR 2009). While at AJR, he was honored to serve as President of the Student Association. He is a community rabbi in Westport, CT where he conducts classes in Talmud and Tanakh. He has led Children’s High Holiday services for over 20 years. Each year, he writes and directs a new Yom Kippur comedic play based on the Book of Jonah , including “Jonah-gan’s Island”. “Batmensch”, “SpongeJonah SquarePants”, “Horton Hears an Oy” and more.