Rabbi Label Lam | Mikeitz – Shabbos Chanukah 5769
And it was just as he interpreted for us so it was… (Breishis 41:13)
Yosef earned a reputation as a world class interpreter of dreams. Everyone probably knows already that that was how he launched his meteoric climb from reject-prisoner to viceroy of Egypt. What special qualifications or talents does one need to become an interpreter of dreams? Where can one find career opportunities in this field? What are the benefits for the average man in learning this skill set?
The Midrash Rabba discerns a valuable nugget of truth while sifting carefully through the words spoken by the Butler to Pharaoh concerning his experience with Yosef as an interpreter of dreams. “The verse should rather have said, “So it was, just as he interpreted for us†(Why does it say, “And it was just as he interpreted for us, so it was.â€? What’s the difference?) The answer can be found in a bitter sweet story about a certain woman that came to Rabbi Eliezer and said to him “I saw in a dream that the support beam of my house shattered!†Rabbi Eliezer told her, “This means that you will become pregnant and give birth to a boy!†She went from him and so it was. A second time she came to Rabbi Eliezer and he told her the same that she would give birth to a male child and so it was. A third time she had the same dream and she went to Rabbi Eliezer but she could not find him. She told his students about her dream. They said to her that she would bury her husband and so it was. When Rabbi Eliezer heard the wailing and crying about the loss of her husband, he said to his students, “What’s all this!â€They told him about the incident. He said to them, “You killed this man!†so it says in the verse, “And it was just as he interpreted for us so it was…†And it was not written, “So it was like he interpreted for us…†The dream follows the interpretation!â€Â
When I was yet a Yeshiva student, it happened, one Shabbos morning that a problem was found with the Sefer Torah we were reading in Schul. The entire congregation migrated to another Minyan where we joined the reading of the Torah in progress. That Monday morning I was sleeping past my alarm when I found myself startled by a vivid dream. There was a Sefer Torah spread out before me and raised high in the air. Then suddenly it began to fall forward. As it did I sat up in horror and realized that I was late. I dressed quickly and came to Yeshiva. I assumed my usual spot in the corner where I was absorbed in the devotions.
Since it was a Monday, the Torah was taken out and read from. Cohen, Levi, and Yisrael had already made their appearances. Suddenly the Gabai was there motioning with his wrist that he wanted me to lift the Torah. I walked with trepidation to the Bima, still haunted by the dream. Since the regular Sefer Torah was still being repaired they had procured a substitute. As I approached I was cautioned, “Watch out! This Sefer Torah is very heavy!†I was frozen with fear. Then someone else warned, “Careful! The handle is loose!†I made a “timeout†“T†gesture and walked over to the Rosh HaYeshiva and quietly insisted, “I’m not lifting this Sefer Torah!†He looked at me with incredulity and asked why not. I told him, that I just had a dream that a Sefer Torah fell. He responded, “A Sefer Torah falling?!†That’s a good dream!†So I lifted the Torah without any problems.
Later, I asked the Rosh HaYeshiva if I could ask him a question and he told me that he has some time if I wouldn’t mind tagging along while he did carpool. When we pulled up to his house it was pouring rain and the children came running into the car trying hopelessly to duck from rain and all the while he waved them in and repeated, “Rain is good! When they left again to go out to school he repeated as they ran back out into the wet world, “Rain is good!†When the children were gone I had my chance to ask, “Is it really a good dream to see a Sefer Torah fall?†He told me, just like the Midrash, “Everything follows the interpretation!â€Â    Â
The Talmud tells us that dreams are 1/60th prophecy. Most of what’s packed in there is a confusion of anxiety and worry and guilt with an almost undetectable particle of real truth. In this often confusing exile about which King David describes, “We will have been as dreamersâ€, the world and life events are in daily need of interpretation. Finding that little point of light can be a useful art to help push away the loads of useless darkness. The sages say, “The one who is regular with a candle will have children who are Talmud scholars.†This I have witnessed firsthand how, the Rabbi’s family has turned out so magnificently, perhaps because of his insistence on putting a positive spin on everything, even as the dreidel turns.