Parshas Miketz
When Yosef had revealed his dream to his brothers about their sheaves of corn bowing down to his (Bereishis 37:6), they responded with, “Do you want to rule aleinu,” over us? (37:8).
But that was not Yosef’s intention. His dreams were not “aleihem,” about lording it over them. Rather, they were prophetic dreams “lahem,” for their benefit, because Yosef would later supply the food that would save them from starvation.
Indeed, when Yosef, in his capacity as viceroy of Egypt and as the only one with the power to provide food, later encountered his brothers after so many years of separation, he remembered the dreams that he dreamed “lahem” (42:9), for their benefit, not “aleheim.”
Yosef was meant to be freed from jail immediately after he interpreted the dreams of Pharoah’s butler and baker. But he was kept in jail for another two years because he relied on the butler to plead his case to Pharoah to release him from jail, when he should have relied on G-d alone (Rashi to Bereishis 40:23).
What was Yosef’s sin that deserved this punishment? Is it not a rule that one should not rely on miracles? Rather, one should try one’s best to solve the situation on one’s own and only when one has exhausted one’s human capacities will G-d take over?
So, what did Yosef do wrong?
The answer is that the rule of Ein somchin al ha’nes applies only when there is no miracle already in progress at the time of danger. But where it is clear that G-d is already busy working a miracle on one’s behalf, it is presumptuous to believe that G-d needs our help and cannot go it alone.
In this case, miracles were already unfolding before Yosef’s eyes. Although he was not a dream interpreter, he saw that G-d intervened and enabled him to correctly interpret the dreams of the butler and baker, when none of the professional dream interpreters could do so (40:8). If you see G-d’s hand already at work, step out of the way and let Him finish the job.
Pharoah dreamed that he was standing “al haye’or,” on the river (41:1). Before his dreams, Pharoah considered himself to be a god who walked on water. He boasted, “The river is mine and I made it” (Yechezkel 29:3). He thought that the Nile, the nerve center of Egypt’s economy, belonged to him and that he had created it.
But he woke up from his dreams feeling vulnerable. Although his regular dream interpreters told him that the dreams meant that he would have seven daughters and would bury seven daughters, the Torah tells us that this interpretation that focused on his personal life did not satisfy him “l’Par’o,” in his role as Pharoah, the monarch of Egypt.
Pharoah was preoccupied with affairs of state, not with personal matters. He was worried that if the economy of Egypt would fail, he would be ousted from power. He witnessed things happening in his dream that he did not understand and that were beyond his control, like lean cows emerging from the Nile and swallowing fat cows. So, when he repeated his dream anxiously to Yosef, he spoke like a vulnerable human being. No longer was he standing “al haye’or,” on the river, but “al sefas haye’or,” on the bank of the river (Bereishis 41:17). Now Pharoah stood on the edge like everyone else, nervously worried for his physical survival. He no longer walked on water.
When, two years later, the butler finally remembered Yosef, Pharoah sent for him urgently and he was released from jail. Clearly, time was of the essence when Pharoah was in distress. Yet, Yosef did not go to see him right away. He only did so after taking a haircut and changing his clothes (41:14). Why make the mighty king of Egypt wait when there was an emergency?
Rashi tells us that Yosef did so out of respect for royalty. We are cautioned to pray for the welfare of the government because if people do not fear it, they would swallow each other alive (Avos 3:2). Although Yosef might have been delayed for a while, it would have been disrespectful to show up to the king in prison clothes with unkempt hair. Besides, that first impression would remain forever and Yosef would never have been taken seriously as the viceroy of Egypt.
Before Yosef was officially appointed as viceroy to the king, Pharoah gave him the name Tzaphanat Pa’aneach, which means the revealer of secrets. He also insisted that Yosef marry before stepping into his official role. Pharoah understood that Yosef had a direct line to G-d, who revealed to him things that remained hidden from the rest of the world. And like Bilaam, Pharoah also understood that the G-d of the Jews hates sexual immorality (Sanhedrin 106a). Such conduct blocks that direct line to G-d. So, he told Yosef to get married because a person who is without a wife is unprotected from sin (Yevamos 62b).
During the years of famine, Yosef’s wife Osnat bore him two children. Yosef called the firstborn child Menashe, “because G-d has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house” (41:51).
We know Yosef never forgot his father. Even though he no longer lived next to him, his father was an ever-present influence wherever he went and whatever he did. Yosef was able to resist succumbing to the seductive overtures of Potiphar’s wife because the image of his father came between him and his desire (Rashi to Bereishis 39:11).
So, what is Yosef saying? He is not saying he forgot his father; he is saying he forgot his father’s household and the sibling jealousy that was part of it. Yosef had a frenetic job to do. He was running from pillar to post trying to save the greatest world economy from imminent disaster. He simply did not have the time to dwell on petty sibling rivalry.