Parasha: Miketz · Aliyah: Second (Gevurah)

ופותר אין אותו "and no one can interpret it." This means that there were numerous interpreters but none that he considered satisfactory to him. He did not consider the interpretations to be appropriate to his dream.

ואני שמעתי עליך, "and I have heard concerning you, etc." Here too the word לאמור needs explaining. Besides, why did Pharaoh have to say תשמע "you will hear the dream?" Isn't it obvious that Joseph could not be expected to interpret a dream he had not been told yet?"

Actually, the Torah described that Pharaoh was very clever, trying to commit Joseph to interpret the dream by not giving him any excuses not to do so. He told him that he had been told that Joseph himself had described himself as an interpreter of dreams. Now he either had to interpret Pharaoh's dream or admit that he was a swindler and had interpreted dreams incorrectly. When Pharaoh said to Joseph: "I have heard it said about you that you listen to a dream and interpret it," he meant that this was what Joseph himself had claimed. Pharaoh was partially correct; Joseph had indeed invited the chief butler and the chief of the bakers to "tell" him their dreams so that he could interpret them (40,7). It may be assumed that the chief butler reported the events to Pharaoh faithfully. It is also possible that Pharaoh surmised that his senior ministers would not have volunteered to tell a Hebrew slave their dreams unless they had been invited to do so. Now Joseph had to interpret Pharaoh's dream in order to justify his reputation.

ויען יוסף את פרעה לאמור, Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, etc. The word "לאמור" here refers to Pharaoh's claim that Joseph claimed he only had to hear a dream and he already had its interpretation ready. בלעדי, "this does not depend on me." Joseph corrects the impression Pharaoh entertained about him. He explains that G'd knows the interpretations of dreams and informs certain human beings of this. The same had taken place when Joseph had told the chief butler and the chief of the bakers that the interpretations were G'd's, not his. He had invited those men to tell him their dreams in the hope that an interpretation could be found. He had never claimed an exclusive on that knowledge. This is also why he added: אלוקים יענה, "G'd may provide the answer." He added the word שלום in order to warn Pharaoh not to take offence if perchance the interpretation would not be to his liking and would presage something unpleasant. He should not accuse Joseph on the basis of "the dreams follow the interpretation chosen by the mouth" (of the interpreter). Even if he were to come up with an interpretation that forecast trouble, he was only G'd's mouthpiece, the source was G'd.

Joseph may also have had something quite different in mind when he said: "may G'd answer the peace of Pharaoh." He emphasised that in contrast with ordinary interpreters who are able to bend the meaning of the dream according to their choice, he, Joseph, could not do so. He could only relate the objective meaning of what Pharaoh had seen in his dream. [Berachot 56 lists a variety of dreams and how the interpretation which seemed to contradict the impression left on the dreamer came true, thus proving that much depends on the person who interprets the dream. Ed.]

את האלוקים עושה הראה לפרעה. "G'd has informed Pharaoh of what He is about to do." Berachot 55 mentions that there are three matters concerning which G'd Himself makes public annoucements; abundance of crops, famine, and a good leader. The Torah informs us that G'd had informed Pharaoh in his dream concerning all these three matters. There would be a period of abundance of agricultural products; there would come a famine; Pharaoh was given a chance to appoint a leader who could head off the impact of the famine. Even though Joseph did not mention who that person should be, the fact that G'd had withheld the interpretation of the dream from all other potential candidates for such leadership and had brought Joseph to Pharaoh's attention through the chief butler who had told him what happened to him, made Joseph a natural choice for this appointment. When the Torah says: הגיד לפרעה, this means that G'd gave Pharaoh the means to make the necessary provisions. Joseph himself spelled this out for Pharaoh in verse 33.

יהיו שבע שני הרעב, "there will be seven years of famine." The reason that Joseph did not describe the seven years of plenty as such in verse twenty six was simply that even during the present period food was plentiful in Egypt. The great plenty that would characterise the next seven years was not such a contrast to the existing conditions. The only thing that was different was that the adjective גדול could be applied to those years of שבע (verse 29). Joseph stressed only what would be radically different from the present.

Inasmuch as the increased harvests during the coming seven years were merely designed to offset the lack of harvests during the seven years following, Joseph did not describe those years at once. The major message of the dream was the eventual famine.

הנה שבע שנים באות שבע גדול, "There are seven years coming of great plenty, etc." Joseph stressed that these plentiful harvests would be experienced "in the whole land of Egypt," and again mentioned בארץ מצרים, in the land of Egypt in the following verse, whereas he could have simply that בארץ, "on earth." He wanted to make it clear that whereas the plenty would be found only in the land of Egypt, the subsequent famine would be world wide. This is why he said וכלה הרעב את הארץ, "the famine will destroy the earth," when he described the effect of the famine. We find confirmation of all this (41,56) where the Torah describes the famine as extending all over the earth. When describing the effect of the years of plenty, however, the Torah merely speaks of "the seven years of plenty in the land of Egypt came to an end (41,53)." This shows clearly that the abundant harvests occurred only in Egypt itself. Were it not so the words "in the land of Egypt" would be misleading. Joseph realised all this by the appearance of the cows. When the lean cows were described as so exceptionally thin and poorly, this could not have been so if the whole earth had experienced abundance in the years preceding the famine. Egypt could then have imported food which the other countries had accumulated during the years of plenty. It was therefore clear to Joseph that the famine would be world wide whereas the plentiful years would be restricted to the land of Egypt.

ועל השנות, "concerning the repetition, etc." Joseph alluded to two things. 1) the actual repetition; 2) the minor changes in the second half of the dream, i.e. the fact that the second part did not feature cows. Had both parts of the dream featured cows, Pharaoh might have thought that the impression made upon him by the first dream had caused him to lie down a second time. The reason for the way in which Pharaoh had dreamt the dream was that G'd wanted to show him that all this would begin to happen almost immediately. Pharaoh was not to think that the very change of venue, i.e. ears of corn instead of cows, indicated that the dream was meaningless as a vision of the future.

וממהר האלוקים לעשותו, "and G'd will carry this out promptly." Joseph deduced this from the two parts of the dream both being dreamt during the same night instead of during consecutive nights.

ועתה ירא פרעה איש נבון וחכם, "Now let Pharaoh see to an understanding and wise man, etc." The reason that Joseph made himself the king's adviser when he had only been asked to interpret the dream was that Joseph wanted to tell Pharaoh why G'd had revealed all the information of what He was about to do. The only reason for this was to encourage Pharaoh to appoint the appropriate officials to deal with the future. Furthermore, the manner in which the lean cows had devoured the fat cows without leaving a trace was clear evidence that during the lean years survival would depend on the produce of the years of plenty. Joseph therefore told Pharaoh to make the appropriate provisions.

איש נבון וחכם. "An understanding and wise man." The man should know how to store agricultural produce so that it would not rot. The word חכם, wise, referred to someone who was an engineer, could deal with numbers, etc. The reason Joseph first mentioned the qualification נבון was because it was most important to preserve the harvests in good condition.

יעשה פרעה פקידים, "let Pharaoh appoint trustworthy officials, etc." Joseph realised that the reason the dream was needed was to ensure that the Egyptians would make prudent use of the years of plenty. Had they not been made aware that the years of plenty would be followed by years of famine, they would become careless with the storage of food after the first year of abundance. Not only would they not build silos, they might even decide to plant less in order to maintain the prices. As a result they would not bother to plough. When they would see another year of bumper crops their negligent attitude would only be further reinforced. This is why G'd explained in Pharaoh's dream that the surplus during the coming seven years was only meant to compensate in advance for the absence of crops during the following seven years. This is why Joseph felt compelled to advise Pharaoh. He wanted Pharaoh to involve as many people as possible in the task of storing and preserving food.

When Joseph spoke about וחמש, he meant that Pharaoh should imbue these officials with a sense of urgency when they would assume their tasks. It could also mean that Pharaoh should impose a harvest tax of twenty percent which would serve as the national grain reserve. This was an innovation, seeing that normally the farmer only has to tithe ten percent of his grain harvest to the king (compare Samuel I 8,15). Pharaoh would do the people a kindness with this tax; he would not touch the grain during the years of plenty, thus not competing with the farmers who were marketing their own grain. I shall explain the procedure in my commentary on the verses following.

לשבע שני הרעב, "for the seven years of famine." First of all Egypt would provide a reserve for itself; as a secondary consideration they would serve as the pool other countries i.e. הארץ could draw on. Joseph added the consideration that the rest of the earth should not starve to death.

הנמצא כזה איש, "Can we find a man such as this one etc.?" The reason that Pharaoh did not say הנמצא איש אשר "can we find a man who, etc.," is because he would then have created the impression that there were people with Holy Spirit only that they did not possess it in the degree that Joseph did. Pharaoh wanted to make it plain that he did not think anyone else possessed the Holy Spirit.