This Shabbos, the 10th of Shevat, is the yahrzeit of my Zaidy, Rabbi Sholom Klass, z”l. My Bubby, Irene Klass, z”l, had her yahrzeit two months ago; they are both greatly missed in my life.
This Shabbos we read the parsha of Beshalach, it is the parsha of Yetziat Mitzrayim. I heard a beautiful and very thought provoking dvar Torah regarding the dreams of Yosef in Sefer Bereishit, which was about how Bnei Yisrael wound up in Mitzrayim in the first place. I felt that this dvar Torah reminded me of my grandfather.
Sefer Bereishit is full of dreams. If we look through all these dreams, we will see that the Torah goes out of its way to tell us that all the dreams were at night while the person was asleep. We all know that dreams happen when one is asleep, usually at night. Why does the Torah have to make it a point to tell us that?
The first dream is by Avimelech (20:3): Hashem appears to Avimelech in the dream of the night. The next dream is Yaakov’s; on his way to Charan, he stops at Har Hamoriya, he sleeps there and dreams (28:11-12). And then in verse 16, the Torah tells us that he wakes up. Further on we find that the baker and the butler both have a dream while in jail with Yosef, and again the Torah makes it a point to tell us in 40:5 that they both dreamed a dream in one night. And finally Pharaoh himself has a dream, as is recorded in 41:4-5, He woke and slept again and dreamed again.
But the most famous dreamer in the Torah is Yosef himself. However, regarding his dreams, we are only told that he dreamed, no mention of sleep or night. In 37:5, Yosef has a dream, and in verse 9 he has another dream. Why is that? What is different about Yosef’s dreams that the Torah does not make a point of telling us that it was at night, like all the other dreams?
And why does the Torah record all these dreams, what should we learn from this? As we know, most dreams are false, and are just extensions of experiences and thoughts we have during the day.
I heard from Rabbi Shneor Ashkenazi, that the answer is because Yosef dreamed these dreams all the time! These were not night dreams! These were Yosef’s aspirations, his ideas, his agenda, his mission for life.
In his first dream, Yosef dreams of sheaves of wheat bowing to him. The brothers were angry at him and hated him for it, this dream made no sense to them. Why would Yosef be dreaming about sheaves of wheat; they were all shepherds! Had he dreamt that all their sheep were bowing to his sheep, that would have made more sense. But where did wheat come from? They were not farmers! So they hated him for having such arrogant dreams of ruling over them. In his second dream, Yosef dreams that his parents represented by the sun and the moon, were bowing down to him. Here it says that the brothers were jealous of him, not hated as in the previous dream. Because, the brothers understood as well as his father, that no one dreams about his parents bowing to him, this must be something that might actually come true, so for that they were jealous, because they felt threatened by this idea.
Yaakov understood that Yosef’s dream was his vision for life, he had a different outlook on how the Jewish people should interact with the world. Until now, they were all shepherds: Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov and all the sons were all shepherds. They felt that this was the best “profession” for a Jewish person, it is a secluded type of job, and leaves ones mind free to be connected to Hashem, as opposed to working the land which involved a lot more time and interaction with the world. Yosef felt that the Jewish people were supposed to be involved in the world, that they could interact and be involved with finances and running governments, and remain a holy person connected to Hashem. This was something new, not tried before. The brothers were afraid of this and could not accept this. Yaakov, on the other hand, was willing to see if this would work; as the Torah tells us, he kept the idea in the back of his mind. Yosef was sent to Mitzrayim to pave the way for the Jewish people.
As we all know, Yosef was very successful; he implemented his dreams, he was involved in the world, ran an empire, and remained a holy Jew.
The reason that the Torah spends so much time and verses telling us these dreams is to teach us that each and every one of us comes to this world with such a dream – not a night time dream, but a mission dream. Each one of us is unique, and each one of us has a mission to accomplish. Many of us are so busy living our lives that we do not have time to get in touch with our dream.
My grandparents were blessed to be able to understand their dream, and implement it like Yosef.
My grandfather had a dream of starting a Jewish newspaper in English, to reach millions of Jews all over the world, to bring Torah into their homes, and to be a voice for them and the State of Israel. Together with my grandmother, they were able to achieve this dream, all the while remaining true to Torah and connected to Hashem. Zaidy was first and foremost a talmid chacham, who spent most of his time learning and giving shiurim. Bubby was right by his side, supporting his Torah learning, publicizing the paper and doing a lot of chesed. They were honest to the core, and always spoke in Torah. They were shinning examples of Torah im derech eretz.
It has been many years since my grandparents have passed. I am very grateful to Hashem that I had the zechus to see them and to learn from them first hand. They are still an inspiration to us and to many people, because, when one achieves his dream, his mission, it lasts long after one is gone.
Zaidy, we, your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, are trying to follow in your footsteps, creating homes of Torah learning, of being involved in the community, of giving shiurim, of doing chesed. We are trying, like you, to find our dream, and be”H achieve it. Thank you for paving the way for us.
